Tim Hughes is impressed by the excellent Asian food, cheery service and civilised surroundings of a secluded suburban treasure

Despite having a hand-picked team of chefs from the Subcontinent, the Tree Hotel at Iffley has always been a slightly odd place to eat Indian food.

Its Sunday carveries are excellent, with as wide a choice as you could imagine. It also does decent Italian, Thai and various other cuisines, but that scattergun ‘all things to all people’ approach has, in the past, perhaps been to its detriment. That, I am happy to report, is very definitely not the case now.

Tucked away in leafy Iffley village, this handsome establishment, up on its grass mound, is a real destination restaurant. It’s not exactly on the way to anywhere, but that only adds to its respectable sense of isolation.

Turn off busy Iffley Road, and one instantly feels in the country, with the Tree Hotel holding its own as a rather grand village pub. It’s calm, quiet and civilized – though, on the weekday we called in, slightly quiet – though that was no bad thing.

The night was something of a celebration – a chance to meet up with a pair of photographer friends, one of whom, a tall ginger Scot, was only back in Oxford for just a few days between assignments in Morocco and Indonesia, with a flight early the next morning. He was in a hurry, had barely started packing, was hungry and craving a curry. He is also a vegetarian. The pressure was on.

Fortunately, chef Sarbjit Singh (pictured above with colleagues Daniel Rockett, Nadya Gancheva and Namit Julka) was more than up to the task.

We started with an Indian sharing platter for two (£13.95) plus onion bhajis (£4.50) for the big veggie.

The platter was a meal in itself. kali mirch tikka (grilled black pepper chicken), boti kebabs (marinated chunks of lamb), a quarter tandoori chicken, harabara kebab (spinach and pea fritter) and an extra onion bhaji with mint sauce – which the veggie stole.

Tandoori and tikka chicken can be unforgivingly dry, but not this. The meat was succulent and evidently freshly cooked. The lamb was juicy and well-cooked, as were the bhajis, which were firm and caramelised on the surface but light fluffy and peppery within.

The whole platter disappeared at light speed, nicely seen on their way by a drop of the reasonably-priced Malbec (Michel Torino from Argentina, of course), at £15.95 a bottle. Its hearty plum, ripe blackberry and spiced autumn fruit flavours offset with a subtle oakiness, which works well with heavily-spiced Indian food.

For mains, we avoided the temptation of steaks and lamb shanks, though they sounded wonderful, and stuck to the curry agenda getting between us, a Kashmiri lamb Rogan Josh (£10.95), Jalfrezi paneer (£10.25) and, at my request, a Thai prawn green curry (kaen kiew warn phak – £13.95).

All were excellent, especially the lamb which was served in a rich gravy and flavoured with saffron and the Thai curry – which was surprisingly authentic, and served with lots of rich creamy coconut milk, flavoured with kaffir lime.

While prices are not particularly cheap, dishes are served with rice and there’s lots of it – certainly enough to fill us up – even the lanky Scot.

Despite being full, there was none of the sweaty stuffed feeling the three of us have experienced elsewhere on curry nights. The ingredients are high quality and fresh, and the cooking is excellent with Sarbjit demonstrating a light touch in the kitchen.

We’ll all certainly be back at the lovely Tree Hotel – with its relaxed air of friendly sophistication. Perhaps we’ll try its Lebanese cuisine, its Italian or good old British fare... but probably, and most likely, just for a really good curry.

The tree hotel

63 Church Way, Iffley village, oxford. 01865 775974