Go West

Angela Swann can’t wait to revisit a cosy place where the food is cooked to perfection.

ATTENTION all foodies! Hitch up your wagons and head west – to West Oxfordshire that is, and the busy market town of Chipping Norton.

For there you’ll find, tucked in between the antique shops and estate agents, a cosy little eaterie offering top notch modern British food that’s beginning to make a big name for itself since opening in December.

Cocking a snook at the credit crunch and waving talk of recession away with a jus-soaked spatula, chef Nick Pullen and partner Sally Daniel upped sticks from Portsmouth and opened Wild Thyme, a ‘restaurant with rooms’, cleverly spotting a gap in the market in Chippy for high-end nosh. We arrived to check it out after a flurry of posts on the chippingnorton.net forum and were immediately impressed by the cosy, but stylish, interior.

Despite being a chilly Saturday evening, we were shown to the last free table in the place.

Or so we thought ... half an hour later we were amazed to see a party of 10 troop, in Tardis-like fashion, through to a second room in the rear.

Offering a select range of dishes with locally-sourced ingredients – all homemade from the delicious sun-dried tomato bread to the chocolate truffles handed out with the bill – Wild Thyme’s seasonal menu is well thought out and makes mouth-watering reading.

SO WHAT DID YOU HAVE?

For starters, I had the seared Cornish scallops and parmesan with cauliflower puree and crispy pancetta. The scallops were cooked to perfection, lightly golden on the outside and juicy inside, while the cauliflower puree tasted so good I had to stop myself licking the plate.

My vegetarian husband spent a few minutes torn between the wild mushroom and sherry soup and the Rollright goat’s cheese tartlet before plumping for the latter. He was more than happy with his choice, particularly the tangy filling and the accompanying caramelised beetroot, hazelnuts and lambs lettuce.

For mains, he enjoyed the multitude of flavours in his butternut squash and Crudge’s cream cheese ravioli with spinach, walnuts and parmesan, while I tucked into whole roasted Ducklington partridge, braised red cabbage, roast chestnuts and chipped Jerusalem artichokes – a beautifully wintry dish with a rich depth, which I savoured like a fine vintage wine.

With just the right amount of time to relax between the courses, we contemplated the sweet menu, noting some intriguing combinations such as beetroot and chocolate fudge brownie.

In the end, I had the chocolate and hazelnut creme brulee, which consisted of whole soft hazelnuts in a light creamy, chocolately crème under a crispy topping – it has to be tasted to be believed.

Obviously deciding he hadn't already had enough cheese, he ordered the local cheeses, which included a couple by local popstar-turned-farmer Alex James and Kingham cheesemeister Roger Crudge, accompanied by quince chutney and homemade biscuits.

WHAT ABOUT THE SERVICE?

Discreet and friendly, Sally is on hand with knowledgeable advice about which wines to choose – she picked Penny’s Hill McLaren Vale Vintage Fortified Chiraz from Australia to accompany the cheese board, which sent Himself home with a crimson-lipped grin of satisfaction spread across his face.

AND THE PRICES?

Not particularly cheap; the mains are priced around £10.50 to £18.50 with slightly less expensive items on the lunch menu, but we both agreed you certainly get what you pay for, if not more.

VERDICT: A wonderful way to spend an evening – truly fine dining in the intimate atmosphere of a lovely Grade II listed building, albeit easy to miss, occupying a thin sliver of space in a terrace of shops and offices.

Perhaps we could persuade someone to rig up a giant red arrow in the sky, because believe me, you you really DON'T want to miss it....