Restaurant Tristan

A staircase leads up from a sitting area to this first-floor restaurant, with its beamed vaulted ceiling, upright wall timbers, boarded floor, and slabs of colour from modern art. The building might date from the 16th century, but the menu is bang in the 21st, and there's plenty of imagination and technical skill behind the kitchen's output. Smoked eel is creatively paired with pork belly and served with apple and parsley root and flavoured with vanilla, offered alongside perhaps duck liver parfait with marmalade. In similar vein, among main courses turbot is partnered by daube of beef and served with beetroot and salsify. Flavours are distinct and dishes well balanced, as in squab pigeon with dates, chocolate, pistachios and celeriac purée, or lemon sole with mushrooms, crab and Jerusalem artichokes. Puddings offer a futuristic take on familiar favourites, such as banana tarte Tatin with lemon sauce and caramelised walnut and parsley ice cream, or passionfruit soufflé with fromage sorbet.