The Tree Hotel, Iffley

In line with its long-practised policy of keeping out the proles, the village of Iffley remains unvisited in the evening by anything so vulgar as a bus. I mention this at once for the benefit of drinkers who might be tempted by the Great British Beer and Cider Festival taking place between tomorrow and Sunday at The Tree Hotel. Since no sensible imbiber will want to drive there, visitors will either have to hoof it from the bus stop in Iffley Road or take a cab.

Rosemarie is a drinker – once described as such on Page 3 of The Sun, as if this were her sole raison d’etre (not quite). She is likely, I feel sure, to suggest we tramp Treewards sometime over the weekend. Could she resist the products of breweries such as Hook Norton, Castle Rock, Thwaites, Bateman’s and Dukies — to name but five of the 14 beermakers showing their wares? Dukies? Can this be a mistake, since in Googling to check its spelling, I was directed to just one website, the Tree Hotel’s?

Part of the Iffley scene for more than a century, the hotel takes its name from an elm tree on the site that lasted for more than 350 years before succumbing to Dutch elm disease in 1974. Nearby had stood the village stocks.

In 1954, when the celebrated author and journalist S.P.B. Mais ‘dropped in’ on the village for The Oxford Times, he too commented on the lack of public transport. “By some fantastic miracle Iffley remains both in appearance and in character a real old, very old, English village. It has become embedded among its modern surroundings, like a pearl in an oyster.”

Mais pointed out, too, that the hotel, under landlord Mr Webber, was the only one in Oxford to be featured in the Good Food Guide, the first edition of which had been edited by Raymond Postgate just three years earlier. The entry spoke of “liberal helpings of plain, well-cooked food and fresh garden vegetables”. He also mentioned the Tudor Cottage opposite, an excellent restaurant that survived into my early days in Oxford, Michelin-starred, I think.

The Tree Hotel is coming up to ten years in the ownership of Rajinda and Kavita Pal, whose various businesses include another hotel of the same name at Cadmore End, near High Wycombe. Their changes at the Iffley property include the transformation of the main bar at the front of the building into the Annora Restaurant, named for the daughter of King John’s enemy William de Braose who became an anchoress living in a cell attached to Iffley Church.

So much history! Now to the present. Rosemarie and I dined at the Tree, our first review visit since 2005, on a recent Wednesday evening. Not known to me before I booked, was that Wednesday is Ladies’ Night (one of a number of featured evenings here), when it’s half-price grub for them. This explained why so many women were present, including a party close to us in the bar that included three of my female colleagues.

We chose the bar for the greater opportunity this offered for ‘people watching’ in comparison to the Annora. Kavit was moving around the tables, cheerily greeting the diners. “Come far?” she asked one couple. “Only from Florida.”

With a menu split between Indian and British dishes, we had agreed earlier that I would eat from the former section and Rosemarie from the latter. The plan changed on arrival, however. “Sorry,” said Rosemarie. “I can’t resist the smell of curry.”

We started with a plate of beautifully crisp poppadoms, with lime pickle, mango chutney and sweet chilli chutney. Since these accompaniments were described as a “pickle tray” on the menu, we were a little disappointed not to find our favourite chopped onion and coriander.

Rosemarie continued with a dish new to the menu, a quintet of juicy king prawns, marinated with kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass, and coated with crispy sesame seeds. They were served with a dipping dish of sweet chilli sauce. I enjoyed gullafi seekh kebabs, which were traditionally made with minced lamb, onion, tomatoes, bell pepper and spices. There were three of them — slightly more generous than was necessary — and, despite their somewhat unfortunate appearance, were much enjoyed.

So, too, were both our curries that followed. Had it not been for the lamb starter, I would probably have sampled the new dish of Monty’s lamb rogan josh, named in honour of India’s last viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, whose favourite it was. Rosemarie tried it instead, and reported the slow-cooked meat tender and delicious in its rich sauce with chillies, fennel seed powder and garam masala. My choice was chicken jalfrezi - good-sized chunks of breast meat in a thick sauce of tomatoes, onions, pepper and chilli.

We both had pots of plain rice, nicely tacky rather than glutinous, and shared a crisp naan bread. As we ate, we noted other people heading for home with their own supplies of curry. The Tree does a takeaway service, with the food kept warm in compartmentalised Tiffin ‘cans’, which customers can wash out and used again and again.

We both drank white wine by the glass. Mine was a refreshing unoaked chardonnay, Tanguero, Finca Flichman, while Rosemarie had Chilean sauvignon blanc (Los Boldos). To round off this most enjoyable meal, I had a pear poached in red wine, while Rosemarie tackled a hot chocolate brownie, with chocolate sauce. There was vanilla ice cream with both.

Opening times: 8am-11pm every day
Parking: Plenty on site
Key personnel: Owners Raj and Kavita Pal, manager Namit Julka and chef Jaivardhan Sharma
Make sure you try the... starters of crab and potato cake (£5.95), gullafi seekh kebab (£6.95) and sesame prawns £6.95); main courses of braised lamb shank (£13.50), sea bream with new potatoes and garlic spinach (£13.95), Monty’s lamb rogan josh (£10.45) and jalfrezi chicken (£10.45), and puddings of gulab jamun (warm donuts in syrup, £5.95), chocolate fondant (£5.75) and poached pear (£4.75)
In ten words:
European and Indian cuisine in a friendly, well-managed village inn