The Observer
Jay Rayner found a “terrace, wine-led restaurant overlooking the River Kennet” in a former banking hall-turned-Japanese restaurant in the middle of town – “it feels like being in a cross between fin de siècle Paris and Renaissance Venice…. a romping wave of bubbling chatter, clinking glasses, laughter and impressive food.”
The wine side of the business, run by founder Patrick Vaughan-Fowler, a former sommelier in London, “manages the neat trick of being serious without taking itself too seriously” – the latter suggested by the restaurant’s odd name.
Chef Sam May’s cooking, meanwhile, is “not just smart and thoughtful. It’s also well priced, like they really want your business. Everything is in the low teens or below, apart from a steak which gets to a lofty £18.”
Jay Rayner - 2024-08-04The Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell was mostly pleased with the ‘British tapas’ he found in an “elegant townhouse” near the 18th-century bridge over the River Kennet, although at times it was “trying a tad too hard” – as with the ‘no-waste’ butter: “I did hark back after those days when it wasn’t compulsory be clever with butter”.
There was a “glorious dish” of cheese custard and dish of the day was a “large rustic layer of pork belly”, but a plate of flageolets had too much bite and too thick a dusting of herbs, while the chocolate mousse, bathed unnecessarily in olive oil, was “more pale and interesting than deeply rich and sexy”.
William Sitwell - 2025-03-30Daily Mail
Tom Parker Bowles found “the sort of local restaurant that fills one with faith in mankind” at this four-year-old venture from owner Patrick Vaughan-Fowler and head chef Sam May.
“Divine” skewer starters were followed by ham and cheese croquettes “of subtle beauty, the shell as crisp and delicate as spun sugar, the centre a molten morass of oozing delight”. Mains were “joyous in every way” – a great hunk of pork belly with brittle crackling; a “brilliant” pheasant schnitzel in a sprightly cider sauce; sides including “unforgettable” whole carrots slow-cooked in a sweet-and-sour sauce.
“This is clever, generous modern cooking. Never arch or pretentious, rather elegant, sensual and unashamedly voluptuous. An occasional crack or crunch – of roast pig skin, radish or breadcrumbs – reminds one that life is not all sybaritic softness.”
Tom Parker Bowles - 2026-01-25
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