by Philippa Ratcliffe

There has been and will continue to be many plaudits for Alex Payne and his team of the Thames Table experience at Crockers of Henley who have been getting glittering reviews from GQ Magazine, The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent to name but a few plus being holders of a Michelin Plate, they can’t be more than a pinch of carrot dust away from popping a star as one of their many accolades.

Some may feel that eating at Crockers is out of reach or out of budget for them and this is often the case with restaurants of such high quality as Crockers, but they have just launched Ember as part of their offering which includes the choice of a very reasonable tasting menu at £60, an a la carte menu and wait for it a set menu coming in at £20 for two courses and £25 for three. We thought that Experience Henley should pop along and check it out and see whether it’s case of teeny portions a la nouvelle cuisine (remember that?) or proper value for money as a prix fixe menu should be.

We sat in the lovely new Reading Room overlooking the internal courtyard. It was excrutiatingly tempting to eat off the a la carte menu as the dishes on there sounded amazing but we were off to the cinema after and had planned to have the fixed menu so that’s what we did and we were not disappointed. We did have a nose at the dishes from the table behind us as they ordered Orkney scallop, chicken fat, sea buckthorn and truffle which looked and sounded amazing as did the chateaubriand with bone marrow for two.

Each course of our meal was generous and created with passion and talent by Ember chef Tom Westerland. We have to shout about the Tiger Bread with Branston Pickle Butter and Godminster Cheese. Once you’ve eaten this, you won’t want to eat any other bread and butter, we guarantee you. Light and fluffy bread on the inside with a delectable crunch on the outside and the sweet, umami rich whipped butter and melt in your mouth creamy godminster cheese – divine!

We tried both the starters which were of a generous portion, no scrimping here. Delicious smoked mackerel with beetroot and a moreish bowl of earthy celeriac veloute…could have swam in that. In fact I ran my finger around the bowl to scrape up every last drop. Food should be enjoyed folks!

Followed by a hunk of Stokes Marsh Farm beef cheek doused in a rich sauce accompanied by a glorious crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle beef fat rosti. Are you drooling yet?

And there’s more, you have a choice of either Sticky toffee pudding, salted caramel, banana ice cream or Local cheese, charcoal crackers, Wiltshire truffle honey.

Honestly we were stuffed, full, satiated. It is such great value for money, it’s definitely worth booking yourselves in for a taste of what Crockers can offer that is more than easy on the pocket for the calibre and quality of the dishes you’ll eat.

The set lunch menu is available for lunch everyday. To see the Ember menus and to book, visit crockersuk.com/ember-restaurant-menus-henley/