Out and About - Winter 2021

A Sorcerer of Sauces The former Blackbird pub at Bagnor has gone, it has a new name, Renaissant, and has had an interior makeover. Head chef and owner Dom Robinson is serving up a modern interpretation of classical French cuisine in taster menus: “It’s what I love and where my passion is”. ANGELA KNIGHT discovers that Dom’s passion has translated very well to the food he serves up

W e ate at The Blackbird pub some years ago and remember the interior resembled a vintage style sitting room with a clutter of china ornaments and dark wood furniture. The pub has recently been transformed into a fine dining restaurant and renamed Renaissant. It has new chairs, crockery, art works, white table cloths, napkins and pristine loos. The walls are a sophisticated cream and dark cinnamon with a wooden floor. In the background jaunty French music plays softly and pot plants have been placed decoratively in corners; the ambience has been

The interior has been completely redesigned

Left, saddle and farci of venison with carrots, a smooth mashed potato, cardamom and sauce bigarade

very much improved. Renaissant had only been open for less than two weeks when we arrived for lunch in the small hamlet of Bagnor with the River Lambourn

before a matinee performance at the nearby Watermill theatre, so we only wanted a glass of wine each. Mark showed us a gadget which enables bottles to be opened

tasty sauce. The ravioli was very delicate and contained scallop and salmon as well. Both dishes were delicious, the sauces so scrumptiously sumptuous that we had to order more bread to mop up the sublime flavours. For our second tasting course we both couldn’t resist the saddle and farci of venison with carrots, a smooth mashed potato, cardamom and sauce bigarade (the Provençal name for bitter orange). Mark told us that the venison bones were first roasted, then put in a stock pot

running through this picturesque setting. We were greeted warmly by Mark, a South African who was Front of House on the day, and whose daughter Renee is an assistant chef to Dom Robinson. We were planning to have lunch

and sampled then resealed. Called a coravin, it pumps argon gas into the bottle to replace the oxygen. He said the wine could be stored for up to a year. He recommended that we try a red South African Pinot Noir 2018, Sauerwein, ‘Nom’. Nom being the forgotten African Goddess of Agriculture. Mark tells us that the menu is changed every six weeks, but the staples are crayfish from the river outside and foie gras. To start I ordered a ravioli of Kennet crayfish and sauce Nantua and my husband John had the vegetarian option – a ragout of borlotti beans and squash, taleggio, lemon thyme in a

for 24 hours into which the

Ravioli of Kennet crayfish and sauce Nantua

Plenty of bread to soak up the sauces

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O&A WINTER 2021