546. Wildmoor Oak Inn.

 

  In a recent blog I worried that the Wildmoor Oak Inn was no longer that which it once was. Still I don’t give up easily. I had read that the self-described gastropub - which it may reasonably be described as - was serving an acutely tempting dish of dressed crab and frites (not chips, French fries or anything else) and I felt I this was an offer I could not refuse - who could?

  Alas my ambitions were not achieved. I journeyed there for Friday lunch only to find the crab-frites were not available till the evening. Misere me. The truth was that the dish had been so popular the day before that the gorging masses had wiped out the restaurant’s crab supplies and none was left for Friday lunch. I rallied from the profound disappointment and pulled myself together and my distress lessened as I perused the menu and restored my anticipation. All was not lost.

  I rapidly restored my morale with a twisted vimto from which much pleasure was extracted and then delighted in my starter of a fine tart of “hand-picked” white crab and crayfish served very nicely with shellfish mayonnaise and balanced with slices of radish for texture and chicory to balance the richness of it. The pastry was excellent - thin and beautifully crispy. The flavour of the crab came through very pleasingly. It was served on a prettily decorated china plate which doubtless was once part of a vintage set.

  The main was a triumph of bravely uncomplicated English cooking - nothing was over elaborate - a beautifully cooked and delicious fillet of lemon sole - soothing in its texture and flavour and simply and victoriously served with a fine lemon and parsley beurre noisette and capers along with, for me, the most perfectly cooked tenderstem broccoli- for once the stems were tender and the vegetable had a lovely sweetness to it. I will not forget to mention the accurately cooked new potatoes, boiled admirably and rejoicing in nothing more complicated than the beurre noisette. Chefs - never do anything more to new potatoes than that - don’t roast them or sauté them or find any other way to remove the joy from them.

  Imagine my elation when I discovered that my chosen dessert was as equally simple and, possibly for that reason, equally delicious as my main course. I chose raspberry Bakewell tart with pistachio ice cream. Again, as with the starter, the pastry was excellent, the sponge a good texture and the frangipan not oversweet and there was a distinct flavour of pistachio in the ice cream.

   This had been a delightful meal and I left fully determined next week to have a go of getting my paws on the crab and frites.

19 June 2026

Rating:- 🌛🌛🌛🌛