The Black Horse, A Heartwood Inn — Restaurant in South Oxfordshire

I wasn't expecting a meal of this quality when I walked into The Black Horse - I noticed that the menu was at a price level that I would normally avoid (about 15-18 pounds for a main course), but there really isn't much choice after 9 o'clock at night in Thame - everything closes, apart from the pubs.

I chose smoked pork belly - if you've ever had good pork belly, you'll remember the first time you had it; mine was in China, and the memory of the delicate tenderness of those strips of meat is something that still lives with me.

It's quite a minimal dish - I think I got four halves of baby potato, a chunk of cabbage some crackling and two strips of belly - but what a combination of textures and flavours! The pork melts in your mouth. You get a succulent burst of sweetness, surrounded by the extravagance of the smokiness. At this point, you could choose to pop one of the four sticks of crackling in with it, and get the salty crunchiness harmonising with everything.

The cabbage was juicy, light and giving - perfectly steamed.

Add the gravy and a tangy chutney that had a bit of a bbq sauce/brown sauce spice to it, and you have a really good simple dish.

I'll remember this town because of it.

For dessert, I had Judes ice cream. £5.50 for three scoops. The pick of the flavours is probably the coconut. You can get a tub for that price though. A surprisingly tasty Illy cappuccino was the perfect conclusion; dark roasted, but amazingly no acidity or even much bitterness at all - very reasonably priced at under £3.

Now, I can't speak for the other options on the menu - but if they're anywhere near as good as this, you'll not regret paying a bit more - it's a guaranteed memorably good meal, after...

I haven’t been here for a few years. Previously I have always had excellent meals and service and on booking online it used to ask about allergens or any notes (eg celebrating an anniversary and they’d decorate the dessert plate) now it no longer does this.

We had to declare allergens (as we weren’t asked) and were told the allergen menu was only available online via a QR code, but none of our party had any phone signal to view it. The waitress dropped chips on arrival, tried to clear our plates before we had all finished the starters and forgot to provide cutlery for the second course which we had to ask for. We all had the grilled steak for the main course and mine was grizzliest meat, full of connective tissue, that I have ever eaten. I could barely get a steak knife through it and had to leave most of it. The others also found theirs tough. We weren’t asked how we would like the steak cooked, it all came up the same and in general the portion sizes were rather small.

They did offer to change the main dish but by this point most of the party had almost finished their meals and it would’ve been a sad wait for an alternative to arrive, so they offered complimentary desserts, which we accepted.

Whilst appreciating the attempt to rectify the issues with complimentary dessert, given this was a birthday celebration and the restaurant had been chosen especially to celebrate this based on previous excellent visits, it was a rather disappointing experience due to the food quality...

This place is incredibly hit and miss. We’ve been coming here fairly regularly since it opened and we’ve had some good (but not exceptional) meals and some absolutely terrible ones. I brought my friend for dinner hoping it would be a good meal but unfortunately not, got two huge slabs of (abnormally fatty) belly pork that came with a hard wedge of cabbage and a pork scratching crisp (literally!). The sauce was cold. My friends steak was over cooked and gristly and her potted crab starter looked like primordial gloop. I then went with my partner a week or two later and we had two beautifully cooked steaks and a mediocre chocolate dessert. It needs to be far more consistent! The menu is also trying too hard to be diverse, the result is a hotch potch of world cuisines and 1970s nostalgia. It also needs to be updated more often and more throughly, we are so bored of this menu. And it’s seemingly the same at every Blanc establishment. The staff are mostly great, the waitresses in particular have always been very good, the bar staff are less friendly and attentive. We often sit at the front surrounded by dirty tables which should be cleared by one of the three staff lingering around the bar with nothing to do. May not be your department but you’re the same team and represent the same establishment and brand. It doesn’t make a...