KATHERINE MacALISTER vists an old favourite which has undergone a bit of a transformation.

Sam Hornblower was a bit sniffy when he heard I was doing a review.

“Yes, I read your last one about the Star,” he said pointedly.

“It wasn’t bad though was it?,” I asked.

“No, but I don’t know how anyone who liked the old format will enjoy the change,” he said gesturing around the restaurant in Stanton St John.

“Although two people walked out yesterday when they realised we had changed the menu,” he said, scratching his head in exasperation.

But then when you take on a pub like the Star, which was as predictable as a pipe and slippers, what do you expect?

People loved it, because on a hot sunny day, eating a Ploughman’s in its garden was hard to beat. Not that Sam has painted the place in black gloss with mirrors on the ceiling, but a new fireplace and an updated menu has alerted everyone to the fact that there’s a new chef in town.

And Sam and wife Hattie, pictured, are making a massive effort.

Gone is the enormous laminated menu and instead there are five starters, five mains, four grill selections and four desserts, plus specials.

We started lunch with the smoked peppered mackerel pate with oatcakes (£4.95), the parsnip and honey soup (£4.95) and the smoked haddock fishcake with roasted pepper salad, poached potato and squid ink puree (£4.95). And all were delicious. The soup came with a parsnip crisp and we could have drunk it straight from the bowl – delicious. The pate was nice enough but I would have preferred toast instead of biscuits, which made it all a bit dry.

The fishcake was sumptuous and perfectly matched with the roasted pepper salad, although the additional potatoes were one ingredient too many, considering the fishcake’s content.

The mains were less successful. The marinated halloumi tower (£11.95) came with masses of wedge chips, sauce, a field mushroom and slow-cooked tomato and was too much, and was crying out for a salad to set it off instead. Ditto the mushroom and caramelised onion parcel, celeriac, sweet potato and potato rosti with mushroom sauce (£12.95). Filo pastry on rosti? Again too much. The steak, Wadworth ale and onion pie with suet pastry (£11.95) was wonderfully rich and wintery, but should have just had a puff pastry top rather than the heavy suet offering.

But the puddings were real winners – the cinnamon doughnut with coffee ice cream and rich dark chocolate sauce (£5), had me whimpering like Homer Simpson, the apple crumble and cream (£5) and the warm chocolate brownie with strawberry coulis and pistachio ice cream (£5), were similarly well received.

So there we go, a mixed platter, but you can see the huge potential at work here. I’m endlessly hopeful for the Star, because the basics are all there, Sam’s just trying too hard.

He needs to take away some of the fancy legwork and balance dishes better, but he’s definitely one to watch.

* The Star, Middle Road, Stanton St John, OX33 1EX.

01865 351277