William Sitwell reviews Olivier at The Chequers, Aston Tirrold: ‘A seriously wonderful wine list’

The pub-style décor is smart, but not overly so
Inside The Chequers: the pub-style décor is smart, but not overly so

Until October 2021, Olivier at The Chequers, in the Oxfordshire village of Aston Tirrold, was called The Chequers. Then the place faced closure for the usual reasons: Covid, cheap supermarket booze, no pork scratchings… But being an upmarket sort of village (you should see the gaffs in those parts – souped-up red-brickers, fancy cars on the driveway, wet rooms, statement wine walls), a few locals mustered and bought it.

After major renovations it reopened in September 2022, and chef Olivier Bouet and his wife Stephanie remained to run it. And, wanting you to know this, persuaded the investors to rename the place ‘Olivier at The Chequers’, presumably a compromise since Bouet, for reasons of total clarification, wanted it called ‘Olivier is still at The Chequers’.

Actually this is no bad idea. Because it’s what we all chat about isn’t it? ‘Is blah still cooking at the thingummy?’ And they either are, which is a blessing, or they’re not, which is a blessing. So the great solution to this is to force places to add the chef’s name to the sign (nicely on-message Starmersque intervention). Then we can get back to talking about the weather.

As to The Chequers, Olivier may be stove monkey-in-chief but that’s actually the least interesting thing about it. One point to record is that Tim Henman is among the shareholders and a little bird tells me that his non-tennis obsession is wine. So I’ll credit him with one of the greatest assets of this place. It has a seriously wonderful wine list being both full of gems and fabulously affordable.

Do we have shareholder Tim Henman to thank for The Chequers' impressive wine list?
Do we have shareholder Tim Henman to thank for The Chequers’ impressive wine list?

Traumatised from our recent hotel check-in – ‘We’re not staying here,’ we chorused, something to do with it looking like a prison, smelling weird and being run by Munsters – we savoured our Mâcon Milly-Lamartine 2022 as though it were the greatest wine we’d ever drunk.

Then there are the staff: collectively, utterly charming in that sort of natural, professional way that can’t be taught.

And there’s the décor: smart, but not overly so, with uniform sets of comfy chairs, and everything – walls, chair covers, blinds – in shades of olive green. There’s a bar lined with tan leather stools, indicating that you can treat this place like a pub, but really it’s a restaurant. The menu for which is gastropub with a French leaning.

So there are tempura prawns, soup, soufflé and sweetbreads, venison escalope, daily Cornish fish and pasta. And specials so numerous you’ve forgotten what they were by the time they’ve finished telling you (although, as a pro, I can report they included tuna or steak tartare, lobster tempura and duck breast).

We shared some bites of breaded pig’s trotter first, lovely crisp morsels with soft piggy flesh and a mayo dip coursing with hot chilli.

Emily started with the tuna tartare, melting and deftly mixed with herbs and served with little homemade pancakes. While I sipped a Mediterranean fish soup. It was rich in taste and well-seasoned but a little thin. If only it had some nice bits chucked into it. Which only now I realise it was supposed to have, but I was too busy enjoying the place to send out a search party for the advertised ‘croutons, garlic mayo, cheese’.

The tuna tartare is melting and deftly mixed with herbs
The tuna tartare is melting and deftly mixed with herbs

Main courses were pork belly (think lovely fat and crunch chastened a touch by miso mayo) and homemade, al dente pasta turned with spinach and mushrooms, and we ended with a delectable chestnut and chocolate cake with toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream.

I can happily confirm that good staff, fine wine and Olivier are firmly at The Chequers. They just need to locate the fish soup paraphernalia.