The story
The White Hart is a modern British restaurant and pizza kitchen at Main Road, Fyfield, Oxfordshire, OX13 5LW, a short drive from Oxford. The AA awarded it two rosettes for culinary excellence in 2026.
Mark and Kay Chandler run the pub as a family business, and the kitchen makes its bread, pasta, ice cream and even the horseradish for Sunday roasts on site each day. Much of the produce is picked in the kitchen garden hours before service. Wild garlic, mushrooms, blackberries and elderflower come from nearby woodlands and hedgerows, so the menu shifts with the seasons.
The Good Food Guide, which lists the restaurant as Good for 2026, described a November meal that opened with goat's cheese mousse and deep-fried goat's cheese bonbons with fig chutney. Pan-roasted duck breast came with preserved plums, kale and mashed sweet potato. The custard tart with poached pear, pear ice cream and honeycomb was the highlight.
The 15th-century building has a beamed dining hall, a stone fireplace and a mezzanine. In warmer months, pizzas come from the wood-fired oven in the orangery and the garden pergolas. The sourdough uses flour from a local mill, and the herbs are grown in the gardens. The cellar holds more than 60 wines, each tasted by Kay and the team, and the bar serves cask ales from independent breweries alongside homemade seasonal cocktails.
Recognition
Details
History
*Peter Eaton (long-serving executive chef at the Woodspeen) has replaced Grahame Wickham as head chef.* ‘It’s the whole package,’ affirms one of the White Hart’s many advocates. The setting is a sprawling 15th-century pub a short drive from Oxford featuring a stunning dining hall with a soaring beamed ceiling, weighty wooden furniture and a stone fireplace. A mezzanine, a bar serving local ales, and an ‘orangery’ (popular for summertime pizzas) are further enticements. Happy young black-clad staff help to lighten the mood, aided by an all-encompassing drinks list and a menu of tempting modern assemblies ranging from posh fish and chips to more ambitious French-accented dishes. Co-owner Mark Chandler has handed over the day-to-day cheffing duties to Grahame Wickham, who is maintaining the pub's reputation for assured, seasonally attuned cooking. Our November visit opened with a pairing of goat's cheese mousse and deep-fried goat's cheese bonbons with fig chutney and fresh figs from the owners' tree, while a main course of pan-roasted duck breast upped the ante, the juicy, tender meat well-matched with zesty preserved plums, kale and mashed sweet potato. Fish is also impressively handled, witness a handsome serving of succulent on-the-bone monkfish ‘bourguignon’, presented with pommes Anna and smoked pancetta in a tasty red wine jus. Best of all was a gratifyingly large portion of lusciously creamy custard tart with poached pear, pear ice cream and a crunchy mouthful of honeycomb, full of bonfire-night flavours. There's also high praise for the Sunday roasts, topped up with seasonal vegetables from the pub's own garden and served with ‘pride and enthusiasm’. Small wonder that this package is often bursting at the seams with customers.
2 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
Location
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