Cooper's Reviews

We were not expecting much of the food while staying for a night in a British hotel in the off season. However, the Swan at Streatley tuned out to be exceptional. The Foie gras and chicken liver parfait with chopped Sauterne jelly was wonderfully light and full of flavour. The sauce Gribiche with the gougeons of sole had bite texture and tang. Roast cod on a bed of risotto nero with perfect peppers and accompanied by sampfire was a true delight. The pan fried duck, a perfect pink, accompanied by a beetroot puree was a classic with a twist. The wine list too is interesting and varied and a bottle of Graves for under thirty pounds offered excellent value. All staff knew their roles and acted them impeccably but unobtrusively, showing a service orientation that is hard to find these days. Breakfast was a perfect example of how a morning should start on a dull February day. We look forward to dinner again tonight and hope to return in future.

Having read the review on Square Meal and looked at the web site, we visited the Artichoke for the set lunch. Sadly, although the decor is appealing and the service friendly and professional ,the quality of cooking did not meet the required level. As starters, croquettes of oxtail were over floury, glutinous and lacked flavour (hard to do with oxtail) and the hot smoked salmon need to have been rather close to the fumes. Game casserole was small, lacked the richness of flavour that game should posess and appeared to be just the offcuts from the free range venison on the a la carte menu. The vegetarian option, a cheese souufle was hugely over cooked and should not have been released from the kitchen. The wine list is confidently priced and does not represent value. Every establishment can have a bad day and we may visit again if passing through but a first experience was not good.