Address: Toot Baldon, Oxford, OX44 9NG

Telephone number: 01865 340001

Website: www.themoleinn.com

Date of visit: 28 February 2010

Approximate cost per head for 2 courses: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Hook Norton and a very reasonable wine list with plenty under £20 a bottle

Summary:

This place is in the middle of nowhere. You have to leave a B road to go onto “undefined roads” to get to this pub.

When you get to Toot Baldon, carry straight on with the common on your right. Unfortunately, I followed my sat nev that suggested that I turn right at the common. After driving over terrain that requires a proper 4X4 not suvs, I ended up in someone’s garden in the dark. I had to retrace my route back onto the “main” road.

When you finally get there, you will find a delightful pub with a large car park.

The outside of the pub has a fine looking out door dining area and I can visualise that it will be very nice when the sun shines.

Inside is a smallish drinking area attached to a large well lit dining room.

My friends have been waiting for a significant period whilst I was exploring the “terrain”.

Now, please note that this pub host a Jazz Sunday  lunch at the end of every month. I assumed that it was packed out as some items on the menu were sold out that evening.

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We had the confit of duck, sea bass, roast pork and the 28 day steak.

I would like to point out that the menu carries a paragraph on where they source their meats etc. There was a great write up about the organic chicken but I could not find a chicken dish on the a la carte menu.

The confit was pronounced as very salty. Confit is one of those dishes that you can over do it with salt and sometimes the quatre epices. The temperature of the confit would also determine the final texture. Overall, this dish was not judges to be good. The roast port was my choice and I liked it very much but it was served with a Yorkshire pud and  no crackling. The vegetables that came with it were enough to feed 3 people.

The other dishes were judged to very good but there was a complete lack of vegetables with it. The cod was lined with a thin layer of  spinach and sat on a bed of mash whilst the steak was served with a bowl of chips and a slice of tomato and a few leaves. We should have ordered sides but we were not warned by the waitress.

For desert, we ordered the bread and butter pudding which was served with Bird’s Custard. When we enquired as to why it was so special (custard0, we were told that most of their customers prefer packet (powder) custard rather than home made custard. I was told that it was very good. Another diner had the chocolate and orange mousse. It was also very good.

Starters were under £7 or under £13 (two sizes) and main courses were from £12 to £17.95. Deserts were  £6.95

Our conclusion was that we would definitely come back but not on the evening after the jazz lunch.

Eddie