Ashendon Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: “The team is small but work incredibly hard to create beautifully presented dishes that always hit the spot” at this “lovely pub” between the Chilterns and the Cotswolds, where Matt Gill’s cuisine provides “excellent food” from an à la carte menu that, while “rustic”, bears no relation to pub grub.

2022 Review: You can eat like a Rothschild at this gastropub on the Waddeston estate, dining on meat from the estate’s farms and vegetables from Baron Rothschild’s walled garden at Eythrope. The pub serves “really excellent food” and is set in “pleasant countryside”, with profits going to support the historic Waddesdon Manor, now owned by the National Trust while the Baron retains the estate. There is also afternoon ‘teapas’ – a selection of savoury small plates and more traditional scones and cakes.

2022 Review: This rural pub (complete with beams and roaring fire, and also accommodation) in a lovely Buckinghamshire village still achieves solid ratings, and – notwithstanding gripes from the occasional reporter about its takeover by Oakman Inns in late 2019 – most feedback rates the food as “very good”.

2021 Review: “Delicious fresh fish” is the star of the “always reliable” menu at this attractive sixteenth-century coaching inn on the Oxon-Bucks border. “Strong wine list”, too.

“Individual and with lots of character” – Frederic Desmette’s lovely little French/Belgian restaurant where “the chef greets, cooks and often serves the nicest food”. Its loyal fan club continue to enjoy it and rate it highly, saying “it‘s always a pleasure to visit!” Top Menu Tip – “best scallops ever, fabulous turbot and amazing salmon”.