The Waterside Inn, located in the small 16th century Thames-side village of Bray, is the UK’s most celebrated restaurant; it has held 3 Michelin stars continuously since 1985 and will retain those stars for at least another year because the Covid pandemic has made it impossible for Michelin to do its usual visits and ratings in 2020.  As soon as The Waterside Inn reopened in mid July 2020 I managed to make a reservation for Sunday dinner and overnight accommodation.  Some 15 years had passed since I was last at The Waterside Inn and I was so looking forward to returning, especially after being stuck at home for 4 months during the pandemic.

The evening began with a negroni and some lovely salted almonds, taken in a one of the snug summer houses overlooking the almost deserted River Thames, while Mr A and I awaited my sister and her partner, who were joining us for dinner to mark my sister’s birthday.  Although the weather was not at its best, the beauty and tranquility of the setting was so comforting.

We entered the spacious dining room at 7pm and were delighted to be seated at table 1, in a corner between two floor-to-ceiling windows, which gave us both light and charming views of the terrace and river.  I ordered a bottle of Michel Roux Champagne to celebrate the occasion, and to accompany the anticipated canapés, and also some mineral water. Rather surprisingly they only offered Hildon water, which isn’t my favourite.  Considering this French restaurant only has French wines on its wine list, I’m surprised it serves only English water, when so many excellent French ones are available.

In these Covid restricted times only an a la carte menu of classically French food is offered (ie no tasting menus) – and you get to keep your menu to take home or make notes on.  The Waterside Inn used to only give a priced menu to the head of the table, which I admired, but all menus have prices on these days. It’s worth noting that all those prices include tax and service.

We chatted and spent quite a while studying the menu, but only after we ordered our meals were canapés brought to the table.

A charred piece of peppered mackerel on a seaweed rice cracker was good, a duck ragu tartlet with asparagus puree was richly comforting, and a little fishcake was one of the best fishcakes ever! 9/10

My hors d’oeuvre was “Flaked Devon crab with langoustine tails, chilled and smooth tomato consommé, basil coulis”.  My first impression was that the dish was smaller than I’d anticipated (maybe my home crab dishes are too big?). The tomato consommé turned out to be a gel, and I think I would have preferred a liquid with a bit more tomato flavour.  The crab was very nice but I thought the langoustine tail was a little tough. But it was a very pretty dish. 9/10

I had a taste of Mr A’s “Pan fried escalopes of foie gras with cherries and almond crumble, kriek beer sauce”. It was awesome and an easy 10/10

The covid-reduced menu offered 6 hors d’oeuvres, 6 entrees and 4 desserts.  Australians (and some Americans) please note that the French word ‘entree’ means ‘main course’, not ‘starter’!  I assume they think ‘entree’ sounds like ‘entry’, so that’s what they call ‘starters’.

For my entree I had chosen “roasted free range guinea fowl breast and confit leg stuffed with leeks, sweet garlic flavoured Anna potatoes, truffle sauce”.  Part of my reason for ordering this was as a test to see if they could make a traditionally dry piece of meat tender. Well it was the most tender guinea fowl breast ever! (achieved by brining and minimal cooking I’m thinking/guessing).  The leg meat was less remarkable; I thought it would have been richer and more flavoursome, and the leek in the middle of it seemed more like a chef trying to show off than anything. The same comment fits the Anna potato too.  Most disappointing for me was the truffle sauce just didn’t have the truffle flavour I love. No, I’m afraid this dish didn’t impress me to 3 star levels. 8/10

Once again Mr A ended up with the nicer dish – “grilled tender rabbit fillets, celeriac fondant, glazed chestnuts, armagnac sauce”, but even it didn’t have the wow factor.

Mysteriously we were brought two side salads with our main courses, which we hadn’t ordered. They were just leaves, but they didn’t appear on the bill at the end.

After struggling to make a decision on whether to have a cheese course, our waiter suggested a small selection of cheese followed by smaller versions of their rhubarb soufflé for dessert, which we all agreed upon. Our selection of English and French unpasteurised cheeses all had great flavour. Chutney, some walnut bread and crackers came with the cheese, but there was nothing that wowed. 7/10

The rhubarb souffle was perfectly made, and quite delicious with the compote added to it at the table. 10/10

As we finished our dessert chef/proprietor Alain Roux toured the dining room to say hello to his guests. I really appreciate it when chefs do this!  FYI in the image above you can see that chef Alain was wearing a full-face visor, for infection control.  Some of the waiters also wore one of these, and others wore surgical face masks.  There weren’t any gloves worn, but I assume they wash or sanitise their hands frequently; pedal operated sanitiser dispensers were provided all over the property. So I was perfectly content with the virus control measures adopted by the Waterside Inn (and happy that waiters still topped up wine and water glasses).

By this stage I was quite full and very tipsy. We didn’t order tea or coffee, but we were nonetheless presented with plates of pretty mignardises, which my sister snaffled in a doggy box!  Despite not tasting them, the selection and quantity of delightful little treats was worthy of 10/10

I think it was because I was a little tipsy that I thought ‘what the hell’ and splashed out £53 on a glass of Armagnac to help my digestion. I recalled the Waterside’s digestives trolley from my last visit, which impressed with several very old vintages. I chose a 1966 because it was the closest to my birth year. Very smooth!

The booze numbed and cocooned me enough to settle the table’s bill without too much pain – £1,128.50.

With the beautiful restaurant setting, the highest service levels and the company I was in, I had a superb experience at The Waterside Inn. But the food wasn’t noticeably “3 Star”.  I must say that in the past couple of years I’ve been a lot more impressed by the food served up to me in 2 star establishments. C’est la vie!

Overall score 9/10