If you're not a local, it's worth travelling to this inviting cottage, with its comfortable dining room and white-clothed tables to enjoy Stephen Mercer's cooking, delivered with a fierce desire to delight and keep lifting standards. Some dishes remain at regulars' insistence, such as the Malaysian dancing prawns entree: five juicy offerings in a hot mayonnaise, with spicy eggplant crisps. Classic techniques are on show in main courses, typically meats done two ways. A crunchy, duck-and-mushroom cigar might accompany a slow-cooked breast with fig. Similarly, a rich chicken confit in duck fat complements a Milawa breast that's lifted by a crusty farce of mushrooms and truffles. The cooking is experienced and assured, flavours harmonising like a choir. No wonder, then, that desserts deliver: a large friand of berries might be accompanied by flavours of burnt butter, strawberries and pistachio. Ute Mercer leads friendly front-of-house service: this husband and wife are clearly still on song.