The Sir Charles Napier

Ask a local if there's anywhere good to eat in the area and they're bound to direct you to this lovely old pub-restaurant, such is its reputation these days for the quality of its food. The old red-brick inn, perched high up in the Chiltern Hills overlooking beech woodlands, has had a stylish modern-country-pub makeover in recent years and the result is an interior that makes you feel right at home. Think open fires, beams, comfortable sofas, vases of fresh flowers and interesting original sculptures all around (a snail in the bar, a tiger and a polar bear in the large garden). Throw in some smooth jazz and friendly, casually dressed staff, and you've got the measure of the ambience of the place. When it comes to the food, head chef Chris Godfrey is firing on all cylinders, sourcing tip-top, seasonal ingredients and treating them with flair and imagination to produce clean, precise, beautifully presented dishes. Take a starter of ultra-fresh, hand-picked crab bound in a light mayonnaise and accompanied by a celeriac remoulade, finely sliced radish and a wonderfully gooey-centred salt-cod scotch egg with a crispy breadcrumb coating. John Dory with cauliflower risotto, wasabi arancini and red kale is a truly awe-inspiring main course, the flavours acutely balanced, the quality of the fish superlative and the timing of its cooking - and that of the risotto - as accurate as can be. Proceedings end on a high with a first-class warm spiced apple financier with blackcurrant poached pear and frozen yoghurt - the kind of dessert you wish you could have second helpings of. All the peripherals are of an equally high standard, from the warm granary rolls and chunks of rosemary focaccia with unsalted butter, to the exemplary espresso with chocolate truffles.