Miraculously this was my first time coming to The Perch, drawn out to Binsey by the Irregular Folk Summer Sessions Weekender; it won’t be my last visit. We spent most of the time inside due to the afternoon’s driving rain, but my word would those gardens be stunning in the sunshine. Inside it’s quite like Wolvercote’s Jacob’s Inn for its relaxed affluence and gentrified country feel. There are expensive stoves in each end of the main building, to keep it cozy but unsooty, and appealing jenga-like logs stacked up to the ceiling that are too beautifully cut to have ever been intended for burning.

We were seated in a cushioned corner of a reasonably empty restaurant, though we were told we were lucky to get a table as they were pretty booked out for the rest of the Saturday afternoon/evening. Despite being near a speaker, the music wasn’t too loud and was actually a surprising and pleasing mix of Laura Marling, Birdy and nostalgic end-of-night country anthems.

We were attended to almost too immediately after being handed menus, and informed of the day’s specials, a goats cheese mousse to start, and an enormous steak (£25) or a whole lobster (£30) for the mains. The normal lunch/dinner menu had already caught our attention, however, and after a bit of dillydallying, the three of us decided to go for two starters to share. The Dorset crab on toast was uncomplicated and moreish on substantial brown soda bread, with some mixed leaves on the side. It wasn’t tiny, and it was tasty, but was still probably overpriced at £8.95. The other starter, Manor Farm asparagus with poached duck egg, parsley crumb and Winchester cheese (£7.25) met expectations, with the hard cheese filings particularly interesting.

All the mains we went for were £12.95, the West Country goats cheese, roasted beet, orange and pickled carrot salad being the main of choice for one of our party; with a side of chips, because sometimes you just need chips. She described the salad as light and refreshing; a well-balanced combination of creamy, tangy and sweet, and a perfect summer dish. It certainly looked vibrant and almost fomo-worthy.

The other two of us each went for the ale-battered fish served with triple cooked chips, peas, thick homemade tartar sauce and a chunk of lemon. It was a great choice. The batter was not too greasy, hard or strong of flavour, and the fish beneath it was soft and delicious, though we never did discover what fish it was. The triple cooked chips were fluffy, crunchy and piping hot, the requested mayonnaise homemade, and the ketchup the ideal glass-bottled Heinz. The peas were thankfully unminted or mushied, and served in a little ceramic dish on the plate to protect them from depressingly rolling into the condiments. It was a testament to how good a fish and chips it was that when the time came for triaging the rest of the plate for impending fullness, one of us prioritised the fish and the other the chips. The only sadness of the dish was provided by the dish itself. Rather than a regular plate it was a very pretty bowl-plate with a precarious tipping point not far from the centre.

The puddings sounded tempting, English and often jam-based, but sadly we didn’t think we’d manage them. After rejecting dessert it did take rather a long time to get the bill, and longer still to correct it with a discount entitled to us by our Irregular Folk Summer Sessions wristbands, but the service on the whole was decent.

Overall it's good quality food in a pretty setting. You're kind of charged for the view too, but when it's that good, it's just about worth it.

The Perch will be open under new ownership as of 23rd April 2015

There are loads of good things about the Perch. It’s a beautiful setting: a lovely building in fantastic gardens, and, reached in the chill dusk after a walk along the canal and across Port Meadow, it looms like a storybook hostelry lit up in the half-light, promising warmth, sustenance, and good cheer. Inside, the reality is much more modern, but the old world quality is maintained with exposed beams, a huge fireplace, and slightly cottage-y décor, including wall-mounted plates with mirrors set in their centres, charmingly mismatched milk jugs and a proper bone-handled butter knife. Service is definitely up-to-the-minute, though; staff are shyly welcoming, showing very distinct personalities, and very efficient.

Our starters were both good, although proscuitto with celeriac remoulade edged ahead of the goat’s cheese salad with walnut and wafer-thin radish. The Perch strikes a good balance in terms of portion size; starters and desserts are small and delicious, and main courses reasonably substantial; some verging on the hearty in my view - which means you get to try different dishes without exploding, but that hopefully people with big appetites won’t be left feeling underfed as can sometimes happen in comparable establishments. The bread they give you while you wait to order is super; soft and quite salty and ever so slightly warm and doughy. They only give you a little, which is good because otherwise I would have eaten loads of it. Mains: It’s difficult to praise a steak – what do you say? This was a good steak, good quality, well cooked; though I could wish that a French restaurant would plump for a more flavourful French cut, instead of a safe but dull sirloin. The Duck Confit with a white bean cassoulet and spinach was a bit too much for me, although on reflection, as I ate pretty much all of it, maybe it wasn’t. Very rich, on the salty side for confit, and quite simple, this dish was tasty but overpowering. It needed the addition of the spinach to tone it down, and for my tastes, would have benefited from a contrasting flavour to break it up. But maybe I’m weak. There’s also a totally tempting wine list – much of it out of my price range. I wish they offered more by the glass, but I can understand why they don’t, and what they did offer was very good.

Pudding was smashing. My companion, not always one for the gastronomic experience, was a little taken aback when presented with the tiniest cheesecake you’ve ever seen, but he very soon conceded that the portion size was devilishly well thought out, delivering a potent sugar and fat hit without over-facing the diner. I was still struggling happily with a lemon tart (sharp, nice bitter sauce) of more conventional dimensions a good ten minutes later.

I liked the Perch a lot, and will certainly return. It’s definitely more restaurant than pub, so I imagine it’s better to plan to have lunch rather than just a drink in the garden, but the food and the location are both worth the walk out of town. £85 for two people, three courses with wine and coffee.