North Stoke, British, Modern - Restaurant Guide

“A fabulous setting right on the River Thames” – a stretch of water admired by writers from HG Wells to Kenneth Graham – makes this former boathouse ideal for “al-fresco dining” – or a “superior traditional Sunday lunch”. If most reporters reckon “the cooking is OK but nothing to write home about”, it’s “still a good place to sit and just look at the view”.

2022 Review: “This superb gastropub” – an eighteenth-century inn “two minutes from the Thames and convenient for London day-trippers” – serves “interesting food with some high gastronomy”: “all produce is locally sourced, and bread made and butter churned in-house”. Husband-and-wife patrons Nick & Mary Galer (both ex-Fat Duck Group) “clearly care about what they do and look after their diners”. Ratings dropped a notch this year amid reports of “the odd off note” – possibly they “need a bit more practice after lockdown”.

One of the UK’s first wave of modern gastropubs (est. 1989, pipping the Eagle in Farringdon by a couple of years), this Chilterns village boozer serves an “imaginative menu which changes daily” in a “great atmosphere”. But there’s more to it: founder Paul Clerehugh is a former guitarist with 1970s glamrockers The Sweet, and organises “great music nights” in the pub’s heated marquee, attracting an eclectic line-up of performers (George Harrison in the early years; last year, Nigel Kennedy, the Bay City Rollers and Geno Washington).

“A great little place with a changing menu” that “consistently delivers imaginative, tasty dishes” along with “terrific cocktails, a good wine list” – “and the beer is pretty good too”. Chef and co-founder Aimee Collins “shows creative thinking about flavours and textures rather than curiosity for the sake of it”; she teamed up with Rob McGregor & Sam Smith of nearby micropub ‘The Keep’ to open this crowdfunded venue, which was named with a nod to past Wallingford resident Agatha Christie. The trio have also opened a country pub, The Bear at North Moreton.