The Crooked Billet, Henley

We drove to the Crooked Billet last weekend from South West London, pooh-poohing reports of how difficult it is to find. I don't know what our SatNav was thinking but on the way there we drove down single track lanes, with grass growing in the middle, through a forest. I was dying for a bit of country air and definitely got what I asked for. On the way back we managed to stick to tarmac roads and were in Henley in about 10 minutes so I think it was just our SatNav being adventurous on the way out.

The pub is very charming, and really nicely decorated; cosy and olde worlde, but not chocolate boxy. There are picnic style tables out the front for when the English summer decides to make a fleeting appearance, and indoors has a few different areas. We had two small children in our party and were in a largish room with two other biggish groups with kids. The other areas were all grown-ups. I don't know if this was on purpose but if so it was very sensible to have all the kids in one room so no-one else was bothered by the little monsters.

Food-wise I was very pleased with the menu and our friends, who hadn't read the SquareMeal reviews, were thrilled as they were expecting Fish ‘n’ Chips pub grub. There was a prix fixe with about 5 or 6 options for each course, and a lovely à la carte with international flavours; my seared tuna with tapenade tasted very Sicilian, my husband's Moroccan lamb was lovely and spicy and the lemon sole with seared scallops had a summery Gallic touch. Decent wine list with a well-priced prosecco and a reasonable number of wines by the glass. We paid £42 per couple for starters, mains, coffees and a bottle of prosecco (no other booze as driving back to London).

I would definitely go here again. It would be a lovely haven to visit for crews/families who are in Henley for a few days and fancy getting away from the madding crowd in a very English country pub.

A year or so has past since I last visited, mainly because I found cooking standard to be so variable, there being better gastropubs than this to be found. Quality ingredients are used, but on one occasion chef sacrilegiously managed to crucify 4 scallops. Sunday lunch is probably a safer bet here. Though in a prettyish spot, the interior decor, now tired is tending to knock away charm that the place probably had in another era……dining outside is a good Summer option. Rumour has it that Paul Clerehugh has ‘raised his game’ recently. I am not curious enough to investigate myself yet, so if anyone else knows how it fares I’d be interested to know. I’d put this on a par with Sir Charles Napier at Chinnor (again more than a year since I dined there).