"The Best From Land and Sea",
Oxford Times, January 6 2006

Christopher Gray visits the Plough at Clanfield – once the county’s highest rated restaurant – which is enjoying a stylish revival with a menu focusing on game and seafood.

Martin Agius remembers being taken for special treats at the Plough at Clanfield when he was aged eight. Forty years (or so) later he is the proud owner. With a swiftly changing menu built around game and seafood, he aims to restore the high reputation the hotel enjoyed in its youth. On the evidence of my first visit last week, he is making an admirable start.

By the time Martin first got to know it, the Plough had been transformed by owners Harry and Jean Norton into what was perhaps the county’s finest place to eat. In those days, before Raymond Blanc, it was Oxfordshire’s only starred establishment in the Egon Ronay Guide. It gained the honour in 1976 – as I reported at the time – in the same edition that Oxford’s Restaurant Elizabeth “lost the star that it has held as long as anyone can remember”. Thus began for the Elizabeth a long period of decline, which a recent correspondent to The Oxford Times vehemently argued had not occurred. Odd – or perhaps not – that it should have been a lawyer who so misrepresented the facts of the case.

Competence rather than excellence was the story, too, at the Plough (unless Gabrielle Lavelle chooses to tell another one) after the Nortons left in 1980. But even when the food didn’t hit the mark, the charm of the 17th-century building was a powerful compensation. It remains very lovely today. How true to the spirit of Christmas it was for us to arrive last Thursday, amid a heavy fall of snow, and step into a bar of baronial splendour, packed with pictures and antique furniture, and with huge open fires burning merrily at either end.

Settling before one such blaze, a Christmas tree at my back, with a menu in one hand and (very soon) a glass of Bush Vine Sauvignon Blanc in the other, I pondered that here was a scene that Charles Dickens himself might have savoured. Perhaps you’ll forgive this less-than-original observation if I remark that Martin is no slouch in matters Dickensian, having once been in business at Brotherton’s, in Woodstock – with a descendant of the great man. Since those days, he has been running two successful Fisher’s restaurants, the first in St Clement’s Oxford, and a more recently opened one in Bristol.

Though my last experience of the Oxford Fisher’s on my birthday in August, was not the happiest, I recognised that this was a blip. The restaurant is known for a rich variety of fish and this is certainly being provided, too, at Clanfield. A couple of weeks ago, the menu featured yellow fin tuna, red mullet and Dover sole. Last Thursday’s choice included halibut, swordfish and bass.

But it is game, perhaps, that provides the menu’s main interest, since opportunities to eat this healthy fare in restaurants are not often found. I have noted before in this column that this is a strange situation in an area such as this where game is plentiful and often quite cheap. Hare, woodcock, partridge, pheasant and duck, among other delights, feature on the menu from time to time. (Might I suggest to chef Colin Mabbutt that he also try a grouse and steak pie, one of Jean Norton’s ‘signature dishes’, as we now call them?).

Last week’s offerings included pheasant breast with apricots and tarragon, jugged hare teamed with sultanas and pine nuts, and seared duck breast with poached plum, potato pancake and a green peppercorn sauce. I chose the fourth option, however, which was a Haunch of Ashdown Venison [£14.75]. It was served with slice, more like chunks, with a redcurrant jus, aboard a round of celeriac rosti topped with red cabbage. Well-cooked melt-in-the-mouth and distinctly gamey, the meat provided an interesting study in contrast with the venison I enjoyed just before Christmas at the Mole, in Toot Baldon, where game is also taken seriously. There the haunch was served in one piece, still pink and much less well hung. Both were excellent in their different ways.

I began my meal with an eggy and very smooth Salmon Mousse [£5.50], with a warm ginger and chervil sauce (there was plenty of home-made bread to mop it up). Rosemarie started with three Cornish Scallops grilled with hazelnut and coriander butter [£7.50]– each of which came with an unwelcome addition of grit – and continued with a lovely fresh Whole Grilled Plaice [£12.50]. Scraping away most of the topping of smoked salmon, baby capers and orange butter, she said its upfront flavours rather detracted from the delicacy of the fish. I actually thought it tasted very good, but agreed it looked a bit unappetising.

As a rare seasonal treat, we ordered a pudding each. Mine was a Glazed Lemon Tart with yummy marmalade ice cream, while Rosemarie had Baked Cream with Apricots – something between a crème brulee and a panna cotta – served with langue de chat biscuits. Both were £4.50, and both very good.

Home-made chocs and coffee back beside the fire completed a memorable dinner, on which we complimented the charming manager Toby and his team before we left.

"The Picturesque Plough"
Limited Edition, April 2006

There’s a wise old saying “Find out what you are good at, and stick to it.” It’s a strategy that is certainly proving successful for The Plough at Clanfield.

This quaint old hostelry, in a charming Cotswold village near Oxford specialises in game and seafood.

The hotel, which has been under new management since late last summer [2005], boasts a simply splendid menu packed with traditional dishes given creative modern twists.

What head chef Colin Mabbutt doesn’t know about cooking game and seafood simply isn’t worth knowing.

Owner Martin Agius, who has two other successful restaurants in Oxford (recently voted one of the top 10 fish restaurants in the UK by The Times) and Bristol, has brought in a new manager, Alan Brazier, to run things at Clanfield.

Alan has many years’ experience in the hotel trade and he says this policy for offering the best game and seafood is paying dividends.

As well as regular local visitors the hotel attracts discerning diners from far and wide. Being able to stay the night at the hotel means they can enjoy a drink without having to negotiate those country roads later.

The house, originally an Elizabethan manor house dating from around 1550, has been a welcoming hostelry since the mid 1600s. Today there is a new extension offering extra bedrooms (some with four-poster beds) bringing their total to 12 en-suites, while the restaurant spills out on to the front terrace and lawn for meals, coffee, tea and drinks.

The atmosphere is one of cosy comfort and relaxed charm. Low ceilings with wooden beams, old oak floors and roaring log fires conjure up the sort of setting American visitors to these shores simply can’t get enough of.

Being close to Blenheim and a handy location from which to visit the Cheltenham and Newbury racecourses also brings new faces to the inn.

But it is the food which keeps them coming back for more.

Alan explains: “We pride ourselves on sourcing the best seafood. Because we have three busy restaurants under Martin’s ownership, we can put in the orders t some of the better suppliers and they are happy to give us their finest products.

The game is very seasonal. Whenever we can we get our game as locally as possible, but obviously there are certain seasons for certain animals. The venison is farmed, but the pheasant and rabbit are shot. The menu may have to vary slightly according to what we can buy, but there is always going to be a good selection on our menu. It is what we are known for.”

When we visited, treats on the menu at The Plough included haunch of ashdown venison, with potato rosti, braised red cabbage, pear and sultana chutney and spiced redcurrant jus; locally shot pheasant breast with apples, mustard leeks, cider sauce and raison purée; jugged hare and seared duck breast; and for fish lovers, fillet of halibut served with new potatoes, wild mushrooms, bacon and lardoons, shallots and a shellfish sauce; whole lemon sole and pan-fried fillets of seabass. There are always vegetarian options as well as a dish which falls neither under game nor seafood.

All I can testify is that my halibut was the most perfect piece of fish I have enjoyed in a long time. Halibut is usually delicious, but the texture can be spoiled if not cooked with care. This was simply wonderful and I can heartily recommend this dish.

Waitrose Food Illustrated, April 2006

A wisteria-clad Elizabethan manor house in soft Cotswold stone is the setting for this lovely restaurant. Stone fireplaces, flagged floors polished smooth by generations of feet, beams and oak doors prevail in the old part of the house, where you'll find the dining room – or, rather, a series of interconnecting, intimate dining rooms – and the cosy bar/ lounge.

There are effectively two menus (one fish, one game) though diners are free to mix and match and vegetarians are, of course, catered for. My starter of terrine of pheasant [£5.95] was accompanied by a sweet shallot dressing and served with perky bitter leaves, sharply dressed to contrast with all the silken loveliness. And the toasted, homemade apricot bread that went with it was a triumph.

Stuart said his venison fillet with Manchego, lemon juice and basil oil [£6.25] was a fantastic marriage of flavours, which was rather annoying as I was hoping to save that cliché for my main course of halibut with new potatoes, wild mushrooms, lardons and shallots in a shellfish sauce [£15.50]. Instead, I shall have to say that the wonderfully firm, meaty fish was more than a match for its muscular accompaniments. Stuart chose pheasant breast [£12.75], served with apples, leeks, cider sauce and raisin purée and, again, there wasn't an ingredient out of place.

We ended our meal on another high note – a fabulous, unctuous, crackly-topped crème brûlée [£4.95]– before taking our coffee and homemade petits fours back through into the lounge to relax in front of the fire, before stumbling off to bed.

Liz Marcy