Katherine MacAlister is relieved to discover great food in a relaxed atmosphere is still the order of the day at a popular hostelry

I love The Hollybush. I’ve only been once, just after it re-opened under the new ownership of Luke Champion in April.

Everything was shiny and new then, including the staff, faces gleaming, tables scrubbed, floors polished, menu fine-tuned and I was blown away by the food.

I’ve missed it ever since. Really missed it. So a few months down the line, I returned, slightly trepidatious in case it wasn’t as fantastic as I’d remembered. Worried that they were just having a good day and once the dust settled it would turn into every other mediocre boozer. Fingers crossed that I hadn’t exceeded my own expectations.

As soon as I walked into the Witney stalwart, I knew it was going to be alright. The Hollybush just feels special, you can tell the staff care, there is a real air of anticipation and excitement that’s palpable and yet it’s relaxed and unpretentious, welcoming, a proper hostelry.

Luke was in the kitchen on the night we visited, so the new manager, the lovely Gerrard John, looked after us instead. We sat outside in the beer garden at the back of the Corn Street pub, surrounded by a much younger crowd.

Too many good pubs, especially ones serving great food, get taken over by middle-aged foodies. Not so here, the two tribes living happily alongside each other, plenty of room for both.

After a delicious Cotswold gin and tonic accompanied by some beer battered gherkins (the vegetable equivalent of a pork scratching) and some delicious marinated artichokes, we moved inside for dinner, choosing several of the tasting plates for starters – smoked haddock croquettes (£5) and the braised pig cheeks with spiced lentils, apple and coriander (£7.50).

The smoky, creamy, cheesy, fishy parcels were magnificent but the pig cheeks stole the show, turning out to be one of the best dishes I’ve eaten all year, the smoky, deep southern sweet and sour flavours including a hint of ginger, was so good I could have drunk the juice from the bowl. Instead, it braised the pig cheeks beautifully, the lentils a vessel for the succulent silky smooth taste.

Having peaked too early, I then opted for a salad as a main, a rather innocuous and worthy sounding charred broccoli, chilli & ginger with green beans, feta, toasted nuts & seeds (£12.50), but what materialised, proving the Hollybush’s standing yet again, was a brilliant concoction of Asian veg brought to life by the intoxicating, dark, zesty Oriental herbs and spices incorporated into the dressing.

The pan-fried Orkney salmon fillet, crayfish tails, new potatoes, cherry tomatoes & watercress £15.50), although much more traditional and straight forward, was equally well received and beautifully cooked.

We could have ploughed on, but after eating so much, dessert eluded both of us, and we defaulted, opting for coffee instead.

I’m still kicking myself actually, because the options, which included lemon posset & fennel shortbread crumble, cherry & almond cheesecake, the Hollybush honey pot or a chocolate & salted caramel sundae, all sounded amazing, if providing the perfect excuse to return to The Hollybush, my new favourite place.

So thanks Luke, for remaining consistent and proving that passion, flare and ingenuity do count. All that effort has finally paid off.

The Hollybush, 35 Corn Street, Witney
01993 708073