The Goose at Britwell Salome

The Goose at Britwell Salome first attracted attention when its chef Michael North propelled it to star status in the Michelin Guide four years ago, making it the only starred establishment in the county then apart (of course!) from Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, and himself (at 26) the country’s youngest chef to be thus honoured.

Mike has since moved on to his own place, the much-garlanded Nut Tree at Murcott, now also Michelin-starred. But Ryan Simpson, in charge of the kitchens at The Goose since June of last year – and, indeed, of the whole place as its general manager – has been determined that standards stay high. He had his reward last week when (again at 26) he was named the country’s Up-and-Coming Chef of the Year in The Good Food Guide, which gave a pleasingly high ranking of five to the restaurant itself.

Inspectors comment on “consistently excellent” cooking that is “just the right side of adventurous”, with well-sourced ingredients on a menu in the modern British mould with French flourishes. (Ryan worked in four French restaurants earlier in a career that has also included stints at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and – his last post – the celebrated Winteringham Fields in Lincolnshire.) They speak, too, of the “superb-value” set lunch. The present one (check it online) has mackerel and rabbit terrine among the starters, roast mullet and partridge among the mains, and a choice from cheeses, apple tart and chocolate mousse to end the meal. All this for £17.95 (£14.95 for two courses).

I own to creating deliberate ambiguity in the preceding paragraph. A terrine of mackerel and rabbit? Mullet and partridge served together?

Not in these cases, as it happens, but such surprising fusions of flavour (Ryan acknowledges a French influence) are a feature of the new autumn à la carte menu Here, for example can be found three starters in which products of the land and sea combine: carpaccio of Chiltern Hill muntjac with crayfish (and mango and shiitake mushrooms), pan-seared Lyme Regis scallops with veal sweetbreads (and butternut and date chutney) and pan-roasted Berrick Salome wood pigeon with salted cod brandade (and beetroot, tamarind and lotus root).

The third was my choice when Rosemarie and I dined at The Goose last week on the day the Good Food Guide appeared (thought we’d better get in before the mad scramble). The dish looked good and tasted even better. The pigeon was served in juicy, deep-red chunks that I took at first to be segments of fig. Its rich flavour teamed well with that of the mashed-up salt cod, with the sweetness of the beetroot purée and deep-fried slice of tamarind.

Rosemarie, meanwhile, was singing the praises of her portion of Paignton crab, deliciously fresh flavoured, and offered with a sweet pink grapefruit jelly hiding a dollop of caviare, mixed peppers and a fritter made with the dark crab meat.

Before reaching this stage of the meal, we had already had our appetites whetted (indeed, partly satisfied) with three ‘on the house’ offerings. We shared assorted olives and gougères (deep-fried choux pastry ‘balls’) with parmesan while making our orders in the comfortable lounge section of the restaurant, before moving across to our table where an amuse bouche – cups of creamy celeriac soup with apple and walnuts – was soon supplied. There was excellent home-baked bread, too, in four varieties; I especially liked the one with olives.

There was a choice of six main courses. Besides the ones we chose, Ryan’s team were producing roast loin of veal with braised stuffed artichokes, mille feuille of braised kohlrabi and wild mushrooms, pan-roasted Highland grouse – a popular dish with other customers, I noted, even at £28 – and pan-seared Torbay wild sea bass, with tomato, aubergine and peanut, leeks and saffron potatoes.

I opted for oven-baked Brixham plaice fillet. This was cooked to perfection and served with a smooth parsnip purée, sliced runner beans, verjus sauce (from acid grapes) and a topping of sultanas and matching-sized balls of cucumber. All was perfect, except for the beans which proved to be (tricky things that they are) rather elderly and, as a consequence, spoilt by rasping, inedible strips of cellulose. Apprised of the problem, Ryan was profuse in his apologies and pledged to be more careful in future with this home-grown product.

There were no problems for Rosemarie with her slow-roasted Oxfordshire pork shoulder, except perhaps – and this is hardly a problem – in its over-generous size for one of her modest appetite. There were two big chunks, pink in colour (but fully cooked Ryan explained later) with confit pig’s cheek, celeriac and apple, savoy cabbage and truffle.

I passed on pudding, though I nibbled at the sweetened blackberries that garnished Rosemarie’s lemon ‘cheesecake’. The inverted commas are applied (our remarkably well-informed Bulgarian waiter Dilyan explained) because this is Ryan’s own ‘take’ on the popular dish, using lemon curd, fromage blanc and a crisply-baked base of digestive biscuits.