Telephone: 01234 823633
Address: 3 Radwell Road, Milton Ernest, Beds.
Shame on the inhabitants of Bedford, Kettering, Northants and even Milton Keynes. I sat alone in the small, sunlit dining room of The Strawberry Tree on a golden autumn afternoon. Not just on my own, you understand, but solitary, single, sole, the one and only luncher. The aspect was charming, the room light and agreeable, the service attentive and the food - well, we'll come to that presently.
The thing about eating on your tod is that it gives you time to mull over matters that otherwise get forgotten in the maelstrom of conversation. For example, have you ever seriously kept tabs on how wine changes flavour depending on what you eat? I had ordered a bottle of Karolinghof Riesling Kabinett 1999. It's not often that I wander into the Elysian fields of German wines when eating, although I am partial to a glass or so of lightly chilled Mosel on a warm summer's evening and, as the peerless Superplonk will testify, I have a passion for wines made with the obscure and little used scheurebe grape. But when it comes to matching German wines to dainty dishes, well, somehow I find myself, like so many, passing rapidly over what are usually rather meagre offerings in the wine list.
I had chosen to eat smoked haddock with curried potatoes and poached egg; Gloucester Old Spot chop with sage crust, spinach, rosti and ceps sauce; and sable biscuit with poached pear and ginger ice cream. Now, that's a fair range of flavours with which to have to contend. I could have worked at trying to get the perfect match for each, but life's too short, and it's mostly bosh anyway. It struck me that the riesling would have as good a chance as anything of going the distance, so the champion of Karolinghof it was.
And it was the most enlightening performance. With the first course the wine was spicy and cool, tempering the sprightliness of the potato and shining against the smokiness of the haddock. With the pork, it became genial, gently flowery and lightly honeyed, with enough residual acid to hold its own against the proteins. And with the pud, it turned bone dry and slightly spritzig, ie it seemed to have the faintest of faint bubbles in it. So, you see, there is illumination to be found whatever the circumstances.
There was a fair degree of illumination in the food, too. Each dish had a careful, studied air. The arrangements showed well on the plate, but without being obviously showy. The food was tasteful, in every sense of the word, and, although clearly conceived with the conservative tastes of the Bedfordshire bourgeoisie in mind, there were enough details to suggest that a rather more probing culinary intelligence was at work. The currying of the potatoes, for example, was done with a subtle touch and worked very well with the haddock (think of kedgeree and you'll see it makes sense). There were lardons of smoked bacon incorporated into the rosti, which sent smoky echoes sounding through the potato. The sable was as perfect a piece of pastry cookery as I have come across recently - thin, crisp, biscuity and buttery - and the ginger ice cream had real heat to it, which was a terrific contrast to the coolth of the rest of the dish.
The cooking is in the hands of Jason and Andrew Bona, who have taken over the kitchen from their parents. Indeed, it was Mother Bona who cared for me with crisp solicitude. The Strawberry Tree is a rare example of a true restaurant de famille, in that one generation has succeeded another, giving the place purpose, character and an uncommon sense of continuity. The garden outside, complete with magnificent medlar tree (although no promised strawberry tree), was mature and well kept, to a degree that only comes with close attention spread over a number of years. Altogether, The Strawberry Tree, complete with gemütlich thatched roof, is pretty and accomplished.
Lunch came to £62 in all, with about half of the total expenditure spent on non-food items. These prices should not be enough to keep the gourmets of Bedfordshire away, if they have any sense, that is. It's not as if the county is bursting with choice eateries. That's why The Strawberry Tree should be patronised regularly and treasured continually.
· Open Wed-Fri, 12 noon-1.30pm; Wed-Sat, 7.30-8.30pm. Menu: dinner £35. All major credit cards. Wheelchair access (no WC).
