540. Spring Dining (1) Wildmoor Oak Inn.

 

  I have been out and about dining this spring. I can’t say I have altogether enjoyed myself. The restaurant business seems depressed - well, we know it is don’t we? - money is short and prices are high. Restaurants everywhere are offering cheaper dining options. Dining establishments which I have seen full just a year or so ago. are nearly devoid of diners. Things must be bad when I have been able to reserve a single dining table on two occasions at Upstairs by Tom Shepherd (though admittedly not until the autumn).

  In the past two or three weeks I have lunched twice at The Wildmoor Oak Inn which has been close to empty on both occasions. I remember that the year before the place was heaving with happy ladies who lunch. Not all that long ago, a second restaurant, The Plough, was opened at Wollaston and I’m not sure if Pete Jackson, the Head Chef, is spending most of his time there but I think the food at the Wildmoor Oak has lost its edge. On the first of my recent visits I had a charcuterie starter which was a little short of charcuterie for the price, and then the haddock and chips which was pretty good and then a very inelegant and over large meringue dessert, a play on a peach Melba using inadequately tender peaches, which was too oversized to finish. 

  Then, a week later, I returned to find the charcuterie was again rather more scanty than I was hoping for and the main course of ham hock and mushroom pie with mash to be very ill conceived. The pie was a crust rather than a full pie and I would have expected enough effort would have been put in to produce a pie with a base for the price charged. Ham hock is of course salty and the ‘pie’ certainly was very salty to the point where it approached inedibilty. The slices of mushroom in the orange gravy under the crust were pleasant but I think there’s a lesson here and that’s “don’t use ham hock as a pie filling” and also that a chef should sit down and eat what they’ve prepared. The mash was edible but failed to raise any degree of enthusiasm in me and, though admittedly there was a lot of gravy under the crust, A little sauce boat of grave to pour over the crust may have made the dish look less stark.

Rating:- 🌛🌛

Visited twice early May 2026.