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Feathers Hotel Bistro, Woodstock

Talk about a Mad Hatters tea party. Our visit to The Feathers in Woodstock challenged anything Lewis Carroll could come up with.

But, as with all good stories, this has a happy ending.

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

To cut a long story short, we had booked to dine in the a la carte restaurant in the famous Woodstock hotel because it now boasts a very young Gordon Ramsay protegé, Russell Bateman, as its new head chef.

But after being ushered instead into a meeting room with about as much soul as a James Brown tribute band, where we waited for our table, we were then told most of the mains had sold out - leaving the squid, some chicken and a sea bass.

For £46 a head (without wine) we wanted more for our money so decided instead to chance the hotel's bistro instead.

AND THEN WHAT?

Just down the corridor, framed with awards including Time Out's best UK bistro 2007 was a charming, tiny gastropub.

Within seconds a small plate of olives, cheese straws and baked almonds surfaced and we began to relax.

When the food arrived we were glad we'd changed our minds - smoked haddock vichyssoise and ham hock terrine with sauce gribiche and granary toast, for starters, both of which were served in beautifully contemporary plates and bowls and tasted great - the ham cut coarsely and the soup had big flakes of haddock in the creamy potage, with portions being more than generous.

Our accompanying wine (the bistro's got eight house reds and whites) also helped hugely.

Next up was the chicken, bacon, leek and rosemary pie (chips and veg were extra), and the green olive and tomato risotto with parmesan and rocket.

The risotto sounded better on paper, the result being rather overcooked and mushy, with the olives added afterwards and little sign of the aforementioned parmesan or rocket, but the pie was delicious and we really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

The puddings won hands down though; two of us asked to have the chocolate baked Cuban chocolate pudding with fresh lime and chocolate chip sorbet off the a la carte menu. It was superb, quite superb.

The bistro cheese plate was similarly tasty and we finished off vowing to return.

VERDICT: It's not cheap but this really is the kind of place you can go to savour great food in distinguished but relaxed surroundings.

Time Out has a point. As for the a la carte restaurant, we are none the wiser. As Alice would say, "curioser and curioser".

4:31pm Thursday 15th May 2008

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