An idyllic riverside location in a picture-perfect village isn’t enough. When you’re forking out for a gastropub on the Thames, you want really good food and service, and – after trying a few along the way – that’s what we eventually found at The White Oak, Cookham.
Though our mooring at Bourne End looked to be a bit “ulu”, as they say in Singapore – meaning inconveniently far-flung – it was in fact only a ten-minute walk from Bourne End village, and five minutes from The Spade Oak pub. On the plus side, The Spade Oak has alfresco seating and an interesting menu; disappointingly, both the food and the service were patchy: over-brown chips came with my cod (£11); Roy’s delicious fillets of sea-bass (£16) were served lukewarm the first time round; and other people’s drinks took forever to arrive. (Intrepid Roy got ours directly from the bar.)
There must be a connection between The Spade Oak and The Ferry at Cookham Bridge, nearby: the menus are identical, and the service equally poor. We’d stopped in at The Ferry on our new bikes for a couple of halves of cider, which did eventually come; but having witnessed the sorry confusion, decided not to return for dinner. A pity, that, as it has a nice alfresco setting right on the river and was literally 150 metres from our mooring.
Instead, we tried our luck along Cookham High Street. I loved the ambience of Bel and the Dragon, which came highly recommended by a couple of our marina friends,and could have spent a week curled up with a few of its marvellous collection of old books. Disappointingly watery cocktails (£8) – especially Roy’s martini, even the second time around – drove us away after one drink.
Across the road, the menu at The King’s Arms was almost identical to both The Spade Oak and The Ferry – just laid out differently. So, after a glass of French chardonnay (£6) at young and buzzy The Crown, which marks the end of the High Street, we headed back to the boat for a chicken curry that I’d made “just in case” – fortunately, as it turned out.
The White Oak
Finally, we made it to The White Oak in The Pound, Cookham, a pleasant 15-minute walk from our mooring near the bridge. It fully deserves the moniker “gastropub”; it’s #1 on TripAdvisor, and you can see why. Spacious bar, well-proportioned restaurant and lovely garden were all full to capacity on Friday, 22 July – the first day of the summer, according to the manager. (The last day of the school term?) Even so, the service was lovely, the atmosphere convivial and the food excellent.
We opted for the day’s set menu (£15 for two courses; £19 for three). To start, breaded beef rib, horseradish and carrot salad for both of us. To continue, we shared both the slow-cooked pig cheeks, sultana and caraway ragu, mash and burnt savoy, and the smoked haddock, squid ink and leek risotto.
For dessert, just one sticky toffee pudding with ice cream to share, and all washed down with the unoaked Chilean chardonnay (£20) pictured below. Fabulous.
The Bounty Pub
Marina neighbour Al (who, by the way, lives on a boat named “Alestorm”) said we should visit The Bounty if we found ourselves in Bourne End. You can only get to this popular establishment by boat, or by crossing the pedestrian and railway bridge*, turning right and following the river for a couple of hundred metres.
At this welcoming, relatively cheap and decidedly cheerful joint, shirtless mad dogs and Englishmen happily roasted in the sun, while Roy and I cowered under what little shelter there was to polish off some jolly good cod and chips (£11). Happily, the friendly service included a lift back across the river to the Bourne End Marina, just five minutes from our mooring.
* In the days when The Bounty was Al’s local, he recalls, it was only a railway bridge, and they used to walk across the railway track, flattening themselves against the sides if a train came along. The pedestrian bit was added later for a bit of ’Ealth & Safety. (He also recalls popping into the pub on a Friday night and not getting home until Sunday.)
