• Chicken breast
• Pea shoots
• Capers
• Tomatoes
• White bread
• Mayonnaise
• White wine vinegar

First make the “ketchup”: roughly chop 4 or 5 tomatoes and cook in olive oil until bubbling. Reduce heat and cover. Leave for around 20 minutes, stirring once or twice. When all pulped, season and add a little off the vinegar to sharpen (no need for sugar but you can add some at this point, if preferred). Force through a sieve to remove all the skin, remembering to scrape the bottom of the sieve to get all the yummy pulp. This can be done a day in advance, transferred to a ramekin, cling-filmed and fridged.

When ready to cook, first take the bread and cut out rounds; it’s not essential but does look nice! One round is needed per person: toast each one in a toaster until lightly browned on both sides. Flatten chicken breast a little and carefully cut into slices, cutting at a shallow diagonal through the broadest part of the flesh. One chicken breast will do for 2 or 3 people. Season on both sides, then fry both sides in a little olive oil – move infrequently to make sure the pieces brown and thus enhance their flavour. While the chicken is cooking, take the cooled toast and carefully, with a sharp knife, slice in half through the thin edge to give two rounds from each.

Meanwhile, mix small handfulls of peashoots with some creamy mayonnaise and capers – one clutch of shoots per person and 5-10 capers, as per taste.

Place the rounds of toast under a grill to finish the untoasted, newly revealed sides: keep and eye on this as they will turn extremely quickly. This side only wants to be very lightly toasted so that the toasts are not too crunchy. Each toast will be slightly curved after the grilling, so they can be used like shells to hold the contents.

To assemble: place one toast on a plate, top with one or two slices of chicken, then the shoots, then the final toast. Pour some of the ketchup to the side and serve. Can be eaten with fingers!

But the restaurant itself is welcoming – friendly staff and nicely understated, crisp decor with good natural light – you don’t feel as though you’re expected to be anything other than yourself.

And then there’s the food, of course.

Flavours are, obviously, a must – but I admit to being a sucker for great presentation; happy claps are difficult to suppress when a truly marvellous looking plate of food is placed in front of me, before I get anywhere near trying it. And Loves present plates that one is tempted to leave alone. But this is not food to revere; it’s food to eat.

My starter was described as “Sashimi tuna, beetroot – raw, cooked, pickled, jelly and sorbet”.

I mean, good God: look at that!!! The number of styles of beetroot are underestimated in the description. As well as raw, cooked, pickled and jelly, there was additionally a pureé, an espuma*, in the glass and with a magical texture, some powder (that can just be seen, looking like dropped blusher on the plate) and what I believe was a Ferran Adria-like spherication. The latter popped on the plate when I prodded it, to my annoyance; had I gone with my hunch it would have popped in my mouth where it belonged!

After that, I opted for the beef:

This consisted of beef rump (presumably cooked in a water bath), with braised ox cheek and crispy tongue, carrot purée and smartly carved mushrooms. The braised beef was sat on smoked mashed potato (smoked mashed potato!); the rump on a shallot purée and dusted with carrot powder, which was rather marvellous. At the bottom of the plate was a saki jelly, which whilst good, was the only thing I thought a little incongruous.

We had opened with an amuse of a foamed parsnip soup and before dessert came a pre-dessert; a lemon custard with a light tuille. These were both little freebies, something else I’m a sucker for. The desserts themselves were exceptional but since I have no pictures, I shall leave these as a tease (clue: well worth making sure you have space in your tummy!).

Open less than 2 years, Claire and Steve Love have created a gem here – they already have 3 AA rosettes and surely a Michelin star, should this matter to them, can’t be far behind. Having eaten in the last 12 months (ooh, la di da!) at the Nut Tree, Hand and Flowers and the quite fabulous Olive Branch Pub, I don’t see Loves as being behind these in quality. Different in style, perhaps, but not quality.

Considering this was the same day that was followed by Batman Live! and fine drinkies into the evening as Beloved and I hooked back up with birthday boy Thom and Faith, it’s says something that it left such an impression. Looking forward to going again…

*or “foam”, as I’ve now realised these are the same as

 [Thanks to Thom for the photographs!]

Ingredients (serves 2-4):

• 2 courgettes
• 1 bag spinach
• 1/4 of a good stock cube
• feta cheese
• one small preserved lemon
• 3/4 pint of water

Preparation

Top and tail the courgettes and chop into chunks.
Remove any rough stalks or bad leaves from the spinach then roughly chop.
Dice feta into small cubes; finely dice the lemon.

Cooking

Place some olive oil in the base of a large pan (it only needs to be large to get the spinach in at the start!), add the courgette and season with black pepper. Cook until sizzling and slightly softened, then add the spinach, stock cube and water. Place a lid on the pan and leave to simmer for about 5 or 6 minutes.

Either transfer to a blender or, for a rougher texture, hand blend for a couple of minutes. Place back on a very low heat and, once hot, turn off heat and add the lemon and feta cheese. Leave for a minute, then serve. Drizzle a little yoghurt over the top, if wished.

• 8 crottin de chavignol or other small, whole goats cheese (full rind)
• 1 bag of lamb’s lettuce (or rocket)
• 1 large red pepper
• 2 or 3 ripe, fresh figs
• 8-10 slices of serrano ham
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• fresh black pepper

Preparation

Place red pepper in oven at 190C for 15-30 minutes until blackened on the outside to some degree; remove, place in a bowl, clingfilm and leave to one side.

Slice each piece of ham, carefully, lengthways and use each strip to wrap around the cheese first over the top, then around the side. Press together in hands, wipe with olive oil and reserve in fridge (note: if using something a little larger than crottin de chavignol, you may need more ham and perhaps not slice it up first!).  When the pepper has coooled for a little while, remove clingfilm and run under a cold tap, peeling away the skin. It should come away easily. Place the skinned pepper in a tupperware tub and leave, also fridged.

Cooking

When ready to make the starter, remove the prepared ingredients from the fridge. Turn oven to 140C. Lightly oil a tray and place cheeses on, then place in oven.

Meanwhile, share the lamb’s lettuce around the plates, arranged in a ring, slice the pepper into strips and add three to each plate (odd numbers always look better!), then chop the figs and do the same.

Check the cheese: it may take anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes or a little longer. The aim is to get it softened (check by pressing a finger) and gooey but not bubble out into a flat mess. If any cheese is leaking after 5 minutes, turn down the heat and keep a close eye on it. If it continues, remove and serve.

Drizzle the salad with oil and vinegar. Place the cheese in the centre of the ring. Crack pepper over the top and serve immediately.