Mighty Oak serves a royal feast
The Queen's Oak, Church Lane, Finchampstead RG40 4LS 0118 996 8567 theQueen'soak.com
ALFRESCO is in. And with the sunny weather here, it’s perfect timing. Pubs are now able to open their gardens to welcome back customers, and where better than The Queen’s Oak in Finchampstead, run by landlord and chef Paul Brotherton? Nestled in the beautiful Berkshire countryside, it is a country pub that’s also fairly close to Wokingham.
Paul has an impressive pedigree: he’s worked with Raymond Blanc, and he’s bringing that food knowledge to the borough.
Things are different: you need to book in advance and the experience is in the great outdoor.
On arrival, we were greeted by Tom. He checked us in, ensured we had sanitiser and took us to our garden table, before taking a drinks order, leaving us free to explore the mouthwatering menu and admire the beautiful garden.
While I sipped my drink, I was struck by the friendliness of The Queen’s Oak team: Tim, Paul and Harry take time to make customers feel valued, it was evident that they regard them as friends
My main was a Fillet of Grilled Sea Bass, on a warm new potato salad (£17.95). It came with citrus olives, confit red onions, sunblush tomatoes, crispy fried squid, green beans and salsa verde. It tasted as good as it sounded.
The seabass was cooked to perfection, with a beautifully crispy skin but the flavour of the wild garlic, capers, Dijon mustard in the salsa verde bought a real depth to the dish. It has to be one of the best dishes I’ve had in a long time.
My husband chose The Queen’s Oak’s Sunday Roast (£16.95). It was a very generous portion of 28-day dry-aged sirloin of beef, served with braised red cabbage.
The secret to its tastiness? It was cooked in cider.
Crispy roasties were in abundance, along with carrot and swede mash, broccoli, and an enormous Yorkshire pudding. This was accompanied by a separate rich and flavoursome gravy so you can decide how much or little to add.
He swiftly cleared his plate to great satisfaction.
My teenage son is a burger connoisseur, so opted for the Queen’s Oak burger with streaky bacon, Monterey cheese, dill pickle, red onion relish and Parmesan chips (£16 or £14.50 with chunky chips).
All food served at The Queen’s Oak is freshly homemade and this was evident with the chunky burger which oozed with succulence and tenderness. The relish was tangy and fresh, bursting with flavour, served in a lightly toasted brioche bun.
My daughter, who is younger, chose a Cheeseburger with Chunky Chips (£8) from the children’s menu, although Paul is always happy to offer most adult dishes as children’s sized portions, for those youngsters who want to be more adventurous.
Both children devoured their meals with delight.
It would be fair to say that my family has a sweet tooth, so desserts were much anticipated. Both children immediately opted for the homemade Baked New York Style Oreo Cheesecake (£6.95), which was topped with an Oreo, and strawberry and chocolate sauce.
It was a generous portion with a crumbly chocolate biscuit base, and a rich and creamy filling with crushed Oreo biscuits.
Based on the sounds of contentment from both children, this certainly hit the spot.
My husband and I decided to be romantic and share a sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and ice cream (£6.95) – one of the best I’ve ever tasted, making me wish I’d ordered it just for me.
It had a light and airy sponge, and a sweet, but not sickeningly sweet sauce made this indulgent but not heavy.
With regards to drinks, The Queen’s Oak offers a very impressive range of gins, along with draft beers, bottled beers, wines and, should the mood need it, Champagne.
The Queen’s Oak is highly recommended: The food was amazing, and the service was faultless. Just make sure you book in advance to avoid disappointment.
The pub is open seven days a week from noon, closing at 11pm nightly except Sunday (9pm).
Food is served weekdays noon2.30pm and 6-9pm, noon-8pm on Saturdays and noon-5pm on Sundays.