We visited The Summerhouse for Sunday lunch today, our first visit since last summer. Good news for Richard E… Things may have greatly improved since his last visit. We were almost put off from going, but decided we would check it out for ourselves.

A lovely warm afternoon, we booked a late table and decided on reading other reviews, not to get too hung up on a waterfront table. We had a friendly welcome from a vaguely familiar looking maitre d', and were shown to a table inside, which actually turned out to be a good spot, as the afternoon sunshine gave a lovely glow to the restaurant, and it was much nicer looking out, than the times we have sat at a waterfront table looking in. So that's my first tip. Don't fret over sitting at a water front table.

More good news; the food is still of a very high standard, three of us were dining, two shared the meze of hummus, taramasalata, tzatziki, halloumi, olives and pitta bread, my husband had prawn cocktail all of which were fresh and tasted fab. To follow we all chose differently one had fishcakes with poached egg and hollandaise on a bed of spinach, one had fillet of sea bream, and finally, the most amazing tagliatelle with prawns, chilli and garlic. I can honestly say the food we ate was really good, well cooked, well presented and pretty much to the same high standard we remembered.

The service was efficient, attentive and we were spared any napkin waving. Towards the end of our lunch we still hadn't worked out why the maitre d' looked familiar and asked him, it turns out he arrived just a couple months ago, and we recognised him from Worral Thompsons' restaurant Notting Grill. If the service we received was down to him, then I would say The Summerhouse is in a safe pair of hands, and Richard should give it another go, particularly as he liked it so much before. Perhaps they were going through some changes at the time he visited.

And the final bit of good news for Claire W, they hope to stay open this winter.