Peppers Bistro, Deddington (From The Oxford Times)

Peppers Bistro, Deddington

2:31pm Wednesday 7th April 2010

• Print
• Email
• Share

After a succession of nights out during the previous week, we decided we might as well go for bust with a further restaurant meal last Thursday before settling down to a stay-at-home(ish) Easter weekend. News that the Holcombe Hotel, in Deddington’s High Street, had been stylishly revamped and renamed reached me just as I was wondering where we might spend the evening. Peppers Bistro & Hotel looked to be just the ticket.

It was donkey’s years since I had visited the place. I dimly remember a long-ago lunch there after which I talked to its then boss about his previous career as an inspector for one of the national restaurant guides. This gamekeeper turned poacher (or should this be the other way round?) told me of the occasion when London’s oyster bars were forgotten until the day before the book went to press and he had to do a lightning quick survey of most of them. His experience confirmed that you can have too much of a good thing.

In those days, Deddington had not long been deprived of much of its passing trade through the opening of the M40, and had yet to build itself into a travel destination in its own right. The charm of the place had never been apparent to drivers grinding their way through the village; only when you turned off into the side streets did you experience the delight of a place that regularly won best-kept village awards. In these quieter days, the appeal has come to encompass the High Street too, with its ochre Hornton stone buildings, of which Peppers is one.

The hotel belongs to a small and enterprising company that also runs the Deddington Arms just around the corner, and other establishments including the Cartright Arms at Aynho, which I reviewed warmly last year, and the White Hart in Dorchester, always a must-for-a-drink when I visit the Abbey.

The Holcombe’s change of identity is characterised in a whole new decor, which Jon Lewis’s pictures eloquently present, and an offering of ‘Bar, Bistro and Beds’. In the first two departments, we judged ourselves well satisfied; a bed was hardly necessary.

In deference to the spirit of the place as I remember it, I could not resist beginning with a dry sherry. It was an excellent Tio Pepe which I enjoyed while Rosemarie had a first taste of the Chilean sauvignon blanc, supplied with suitable attentions by the chatty Romanian waiter.

The food here can be summed up as a blend of fashionable tapas dishes – which can be ordered in combination or singly as a starter – with main course offerings of steaks, pasta and pizzas. The style worked well for us and, indeed, for many of those around us from whom could be heard approving comments.

I started with “oven-baked portobello mushrooms” from the tapas list. In fact, it was mushroom singular and a little insubstantial as a stand-alone dish. But I could not fault its flavour, with its stuffing of sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella, and its accompanying rocket salad dressed with a balsamic reduction.

By comparison, Rosemarie’s black tiger prawns appeared much more generous. There were nine of them, peeled, pan-fried in garlic butter and served with lots of fresh coriander. Generosity, too, was a feature of her main course, certainly in respect of the first-class chips that came with her home-made burger. This was offered with no invitation for her to say how she would like it cooked – an omission that was overlooked until it arrived, rather too well-done for her taste. The matter probably got forgotten amid debate about whether she would a like cheese topping – which she eventually decided to go for.

I chose salmon tagliatelle from a range of pasta dishes that also included chorizo penne, spag bol and lasagne, among other favourites. The pasta was nicely sticky, with lots of flakes of hot-roasted salmon, chopped spring onion and a creamy white-wine based sauce.

For pud we shared a portion of hot chocolate fondant, oozing with gooey filling, and vanilla ice cream, A pleasant surprise came at the end of the meal when we filled out a loyalty card application form for the restaurant and were immediately rewarded with a ten per cent reduction on the bill.

• Print
• Email
• Share