The Walnut Tree - the joy of eating well

I have had some magnificent meals at the Walnut Tree, a few years ago when Franco Taruschio (the long time incumbent) announced that he was moving on I made the pilgrimage with a gang of chefs for a Parthian luncheon: many courses, many wines, many missed trains! One dish stood out. As we guzzled oysters by way of a prelude, Franco stuck his head out of the kitchen and asked if we would like some "bread soup". The large tureen of highly concentrated clear broth contained crunchy little vegetables, scallops, langoustines – and there, floating serenely centre stage, was a single lonely piece of bread. What's in a name? After Franco the Walnut Tree has been buffeted around from person to person until it has finally ended up with Shaun Hill at the helm.

There is something very practical and straightforward about Shaun Hill's food. Dishes are sophisticated but never fussy. Careful sourcing doesn't tip over into chauvinist irrationality. Hill's loyalty to British cooking accommodates plenty of other influences, so "crab empanadi.llas", "Jansson's temptation", "tortellini", "Jabron potatoes", "sweet pasta with quince" all seem quite at home on the menu.

Despite the accolades from the Michelin men, the dining room at the Walnut Tree is plain and comfortable, no tablecloths, well-spaced tables, solid cutlery. Service treads that vital line between efficient and friendly. Starters cost between £9 and £14; mains between £12 and £23; puds are £7. There is also a brace of set menus – two courses for £18; three courses £24. The wine list may lure you out of your financial safety zone, but for cooking of this quality the menu prices are agreeably un-grasping.

Starters range from simple dishes such as "turbot with shrimps and dill", this is almost a miniature main course, a fillet of turbot, perfectly cooked and with a traditional sauce, buttery with dill and small brown shrimps. Similarly "scallops with lentils and coriander sauce" a perfect combination. Or there's a "Lancashire cheese soufflé with potato salad" light, cheesy and very good indeed. The best pick prize, however, probably goes to the "hot pheasant pudding with bacon and sage" – very good texture, very savoury a genuine triumph.

Mains carry on the theme of careful combinations of taste and texture. A Dover sole comes with Jansson's temptation (the baked, smoked-sprat-spiked, potato dish). A loin of Berkshire pork comes with the belly and cheeks – three different and equally charming piggy flavours. Or there's a partridge with chestnut stuffing and Jabron potatoes - a second cousin to pommes Dauphinoise. This is a very difficult menu to choose from, "loin of venison with Pithiviers"; "calf's liver and black pudding with cassis sauce", everything sounds so good. Puds range from baked Alaska to sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream, or an exceptionally fine egg-custard tart with Armagnac prunes.

I make no bones about it, I am very fond of Shaun Hill's food and am delighted that he has found the perfect stage for his talents. The Walnut Tree is that bit bigger than the Merchant House (where Hill played his part in booting up the Ludlow food revolution) and this restaurant is somewhere you will always eat well.

The Walnut Tree, Llandwi Skirrid, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 8AW (01873 852797 www.thewalnuttreeinn.com)