Peter Eaton had us from the first bite of slow cooked beef cheek with Parmesan hasselback potatoes, meaning it was a fait accompli by the time we’d moved onto the apple and calvados pannacotta with blackberry consommé and beignet, let alone the inventive starters!
The White Hart in Fyfield chose well when recruiting their new head chef; Peter Eaton‘s pedigree stretching from Homewood Park in Bath to Le Manoir, The Vineyard near Newbury, Coworth Park, Quince Tree in Stonor and latterly The Woodspeen.
‘It’s great to be back in the kitchen enjoying myself again. I walk in the door and think ‘let’s go’. For me the lights have gone back on’
After a few months recharging his batteries, he’s now back in the driving seat, this time at Oxfordshire’s renowned, award-winning, historic gastropub, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary, and has been working his magic there already.
“It’s a busy pub, but Kay and Mark Chandler have poured a lot of love into it, so it’s great to be back in the kitchen enjoying myself again. I walk in the door and think ‘let’s go’. For me the lights have gone back on,” he says, joining us for a chat, and after such a memorable meal we were like putty in his hands.
you can see why The White Hart is so delighted that Peter has come on board, but equally, with their 20 year reputation to uphold, Peter won’t be resting on his laurels
So what are Peter’s goals? “Despite its reputation, The White Hart has still surprised me. They’ve built something really strong here, But it’s good to bring fresh blood in the kitchen, some new ideas and a different perspective and I hope I tick all the boxes. I intend to bring all of that to the table and so far the feedback has been really good,” he says.
As for adapting his style to fit the ethos of The White Hart, Peter says: “I don’t like tweezers and faff, just good produce cooked well. Yes, I want the food to look good, but for me it’s all about taste, that’s always been my journey.
“Consistency is key. That’s what my mentor Gary Jones (the renowned former exec head chef at Le Manoir) taught me at Homewood Park in Bath, and I’ve carried it through my career.
‘for me it’s all about taste, that’s always been my journey’
“So we’ve got a few new dishes on the menu, that reflect who I am as a chef. And Kay and Mark have been very good in letting me have free rein in terms of the dishes and running the kitchen – it’s really uplifting for them to have that confidence in me.
“So it’s not about getting stars and producing seven course menus, but about making sure The White Hart customers and regulars enjoy and remember their meals here, and keep coming back.
“Mark is still exec chef, so it is a collaboration, but he has officially taken a step back from cooking day to day, although he is still very much involved, working closely with the team to create dishes inspired by the seasonal produce from our kitchen garden, which he also enjoys designing and planning himself.
‘The White Hart looks after their staff, which means I can have more of a work/life balance and a family life’
“Some of his incredible kitchen team have been here for 20 years, which says everything you need to know, because The White Hart looks after their staff, which means I can have more of a work/life balance and a family life,” Peter adds.
As for Peter’s food, we are already huge fans. We tried both the soups because it was impossible to choose between them. The cauliflower with ham hock, blue cheese, buttermilk and chive dressing (from the set lunch menu: £25 for two courses, £28 for three) blew our socks off, the pickled cauliflower nestling in the bottom of the dish, the ham hock salty and succulent, the cheese plentiful but not overpowering.
The pumpkin soup with truffle cream and a pumpkin arancini (the pumpkin grown in the pub’s plentiful kitchen gardens) was silky, rich and piquant, without that bitter almost metallic taste, the flavour and consistency as enlightening as the presentation. A picture perfect dish.
Peter’s attention to details is most evident in dishes such as the duck liver parfait with smoked duck breast, treacle bread and fig chutney (also from the set menu) something you find on numerous menus, but here, apart from the stellar quality of the pâté, that treacle bread was miraculous, dense but light, crumbly and moreish, and the fig chutney crunchy with seeds.
for us, the dish of the day was the Black Bomber custard, cheese sable, charred leek emulsion and red onion chutney. So accomplished in both presentation, texture and intensity of taste
The treacle cured salmon with beetroot, beetroot yoghurt, soy glaze and orange emulsion (£14) was art on a plate, the colours of the marinaded fish with the charred orange and indigo of the kitchen garden’s beetroot as intoxicating as its taste.
Elderberry poached pear also caught our attention, served here with whipped goats cheese, a crunchy hazelnut dressing and a watercress salad (£11), so delicate but carrying a real strength in the sum of its components.
But for us, the dish of the day was the Black Bomber (cheese) custard, cheese sable, charred leek emulsion and red onion chutney (£12). So accomplished in both presentation, texture and intensity of taste, from the soft, buttery, cheese sable biscuit base, through the pert, strong custard and the softer, herby emulsion, the tart rich chutney and crispy onions. It was superlative.
We’ve already mentioned the slow cooked beef cheek (from the set menu) which literally fell apart, the shine on the glaze telling us everything we needed to know.
‘Consistency is key. That’s what my mentor Gary Jones taught me and I’ve carried it through my career’
The pumpkin and sage ravioli with lemon, charred broccoli, almonds and a ricotta sauce (£25) also stopped us in our tracks, the pasta light and perfectly cooked, the sage and pumpkin filling gentle against the parmesan tuille and the sharpness of citrus.
But if you really want to sum up Peter’s cooking just order the side of greens with a béarnaise – because the sauce defied belief – fragrant but tangy, the tarragon underpinning it all, we were in awe!
if you really want to sum up Peter’s cooking just order the side of greens with a béarnaise – because the sauce defied belief
The afore mentioned pannacotta (£11) was enhanced with beignets like little puffy doughnuts, the fried dough enhancing the silky pannacotta and the sour blackberries perfectly.
The big revelation however was the chocolate fondant (£12)- no surprises there right? Wrong, because here it was the base of the dish, covered in petals, nuts, crumbled honeycomb and a pistachio ice cream, the white chocolate custard poured on top to balance the bitterness and gloopy depths of dark melting fondant within. Genius.
So yes, you can see why The White Hart in Fyfield is so delighted that Peter has come on board, but equally, with their 20 year reputation to uphold, Peter won’t be resting on his laurels. Which is why he is loving every minute.
The White Hart, Main Rd, Fyfield, Abingdon OX13 5LW. https://www.whitehart-fyfield.com
