The Quince Tree

There can’t be many cafes in the home counties that accept filthy cyclists as warmly as The Quince Tree. Though not specific themed around two wheelers, the café has a healthy atmosphere which is enjoyed by families and locals alike.

I had a very good meal with friends earlier this evening at this delightful restaurant in rural Oxfordshire, not far from Henley. The Quince Tree has a bar and an informal dining area at the front and a more formal restaurant at the back. My friends and I ate in the latter. We all enjoyed our meals. Mine began with «The Quince», a Scotch egg flavoured with chicken and tarragon. My main course was steak and stout pie, with vegetables and triple-​cooked chips. For dessert, I had chocolate soufflé, followed by a coffee. It was all delicious. The bill, including 2 bottles of excellent Chilean Merlot between 5 of us, came to £50 per person. Good value! The service was OK, but did not perhaps quite match the quality of the food. Our waitress was unable to advise on the wine list and did not always remember exactly who had ordered what. Those are both things which customers are likely to expect of a restaurant of The Quince Tree’s calibre. But that is a minor point really. It did not in all honesty detract from a thoroughly enjoyable and convivial evening. The toilets are worth visiting. That is because you reach them via a kind of secret door disguised as a bookshelf! A memorable touch! The Quince Tree is a very good restaurant/​gastropub. ⁸⁄₁₀.

Stonor is a tiny village about three miles north of Henley on Thames in the Chiltern Hills which is designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty. If I think of my English childhood, more than fifty years ago, this is how I remember the countryside although I suspect that nostalgia, distance and time have let me see my memories through rose colored glasses! Even so, I remember February almost anywhere in England as horrible and most English food from that time being either mediocre or downright terrible so perhaps i can be objective after all. The Quince Tree is new and it’s a pub, restaurant, coffee shop and deli in a village that’s so small that there are no street addresses that I could find. My eldest son and his family live about a mile away and this trip was to stay with them etc.etc. Anyway, I had two meals at The Quince Tree, during my visit, one for breakfast in the coffee shop and one for dinner. The former was simply a ham and egg croissant plus a reasonably good cup of coffee. This isn’t much to judge a restaurant on but I really couldn’t fault it; certainly the coffee could have been better but that’s true of everywhere I’ve been in England. The staff are all young, welcoming and seem to be chosen, in part, for their looks. The buildings are light and airy — I didn’t go into the pub, and very nicely finished. This goes for the bathroom too. I arrived about twenty minutes after the deli had closed one evening to buy a loaf of bread and they happily opened up to serve me. This isn’t all that common in England. Dinner, or «the last supper», on my final night was really great. There seems to be a trend away from elaborate contrived meals, no matter how good they are, back towards more simple meals, often using less common and cheaper cuts of meat, For instance, I had a braised shin of beef, L. had a grilled filet of brill (a bit like sole) and J. had a stuffed shoulder of lamb. A week later, I can’t remember what we started with except that it was all beautifully done. Simple food and reasonably well priced (although the deli is expensive and quite small).
Worth a trip!