An internationally-renowned chef has taken the reins of the White Oak in Cookham. Clive Dixon (pictured), former head chef of the Hinds Head in Bray, met owners Henry and Katherine Cripps in 2007 when he regularly popped into their Three Oaks restaurant in Gerrards Cross.

His CV reads like a who's who of fine dining, from the Michelin-starred Lords of the Manor in the Cotswolds to Pierre Koffmann's restaurant at the Berkeley Hotel in London and consulting for five-star hotels in the USA and India, including the Waldorf Astoria Park City in Utah.

Now Clive has become a partner in the White Oak with complete control over the kitchen. Reporter Sophie Flowers went to try the new menu.

"When I heard that the chef who would be overseeing my dinner was Michelin-starred, I have to admit that my heart sunk a little.

I'm not one for froth and foam and tiny parcels of food piled on top of each other, so I was fully expecting to still be hungry when I returned from my evening out. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Clive Dixon describes his food philosophy as being 'obsessed by produce' and the menus are designed to be based around fresh, high quality ingredients which are seasonal and sustainable.

This certainly came across on the impressive menu, which the night I was at the Cookham restaurant featured slow cooked beef cheek, shepherds pie with crispy lamb's breast, and steak and chips. There's also a menu designed to recreate the spirit of a French Auberge, where the customer can eat what is best that day, which highlighted red mullet soup and duck confit.

To start with I went for the goats cheese croustillant with wood roast peppers, green salad and olive tapenade. The smooth goats cheese was wrapped delicately in a crispy pastry shell filled with a combination of tasty olives and peppers, complimented by the freshest watercress salad I think I've ever tasted.

My partner went for one of the market specials - a starter of monkfish scampi with tartare sauce. It was practically swallowed whole by him, washed down by the beautiful rose champagne we were given, but 'it needed a lemon', he said. I'm not sure Clive would agree but when it comes to seafood starters my partner is as inflexible as a lobster's claw.

For mains, I enjoyed the vegetarian option of parsley risotto, with confit celeriac, garlic, oyster mushrooms, tuscan oil and parmesan. To say the flavours complimented each other would be an understatement, as the mushrooms, garlic and parmesan are my favourite tastes rolled into one in a perfectly-cooked risotto.

Again my partner went for one of the market specials, veal sirloin on the bone with morel mushroom sauce, spinach and delmonico potatoes. Traditional but different is how he described it, and it was a beautifully cooked piece of meat served with a cute oven-baked pot of creamy garlic potatoes with a crispy top.

The generous portions mean that by this point we were pretty full and sat back and relaxed in the smart yet cosy surroundings which have been short-listed in the industry's awards for best designs.

The bakewell tart, with yoghurt ice cream and cherries, was recommended so my partner went for that while I enjoyed the apple crumble with granny smith sorbet and apple caramel sauce. Henry told me that the sorbet is made with two kinds of apples, one for the crispness and one for the sweetness, to make it's perfect blend of juiciness, and it was melt in the mouth with the individually oven-baked crumble.

This meal definitely taught me a lesson about judging a book by its cover; and for wholesome, home-cooked food at it's best, with a delicate flair of finesse and excellence, you can look no further than the little village pub on the Pound."

The White Oak

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