Harwood Arms

The Harwood Arms is a smart restaurant with the conceit that it's a gastropub. While you can pop in for a pint - and a few local toffs do - dinner reservations are so sought after that you'll have to book days, or even weeks, in advance. If you manage to bag a table, you're in for a treat that reminds you just how good simple, classic British cooking can be.

Scotch eggs are a signature dish: served piping hot, with the interior molten, and the venison shell pliable and thrillingly flavourful. Game is always a strong hand: on our visit, a shoulder of venison for two people, served on a wooden slab with horn-handled carving tools, looked like something from a Tudor banquet. The deer meat was unusually tender, the slow-braised fibres of meat moist, the accompanying buttery mash as rich as custard; and it came with a celeriac salad to refresh the palate. A starter of country terrine was also exemplary, the texture delicate and even, the bosky flavours complex. Puddings are all as proper and correct as Mary Poppins - trifles, fools, possets - and true Brit, without any dodgy Dick Van Dyke accents.

Drinks haven't been forgotten: the regularly changing real ales usually feature Battersea's Sambrook's and three guests, while the wine list is a corker, with over 30 wines available by the glass. It's an attractive spot too, with cream and grey paintwork, and plenty of natural light thanks to the big windows.