Our pro says...

The #instamoments begin before we’re even inside. We pose under the treehouse, by the bird boxes, beneath a leafy bower. It’s all very silly but we walk in with big smiles that are returned by staff as sweet as any Dominique Ansel creation. *I was not recognised.

The menu is a celebration of the art of the pastry chef in all its glory – pasta, pies, tarts and more. The £3 bread basket alone contains sourdough, garlic-studded focaccia, lavash and brioche (listed in ascending order from ‘pretty good’ to ‘glorious’). The downside to this farinaceous fervour is that the menu’s off-kilter. With the chicken liver millefeuille unavailable, we struggle to compose a nicely varied order.

Our first dish, a whole baked camembert with friable thins of buttery croissant for scooping the molten lava, nearly finishes us off. It’s an outrageous assault of fat-on-fat and we’re not not into it. If that baked cheese is an escapee from a gastropub, our ricotta-filled pasta parcels, twisted into candy-striped ‘sweets’, could grace the menu of a fancy Italian ristorante. Though not picture-perfect (the sauce lacks sheen and there are tears in the pasta), it delivers a cute trompe-l’oeil effect with a sunshine yellow sauce that looks like lemon butter, but is actually marjoram-scented golden tomato cream. The meal’s crowning glory is venison pithivier, layered with celeriac and Savoy cabbage, and swirled with juniper-scented jus. It’s skilful, oh-so-trendy, and a steal at £17.

The sharing desserts, finished tableside, are Boomerang clips waiting to happen. An oversized crème caramel with jumbo tuile is good but too much for two. Excellent espresso provides digestive relief.