Name: The Royal Oak.
Age: Dates back to the 17th century, but in its present incarnation has been going since 2001.
A pub, I assume. More gastronomic institution than pub: renovated by broadcaster Michael Parkinson and his son Nick; festooned with awards; Michelin-starred; and with a sous chef, Craig Johnston, who won last year’s MasterChef: The Professionals.
Ah yes, I think I know it. The food there is excellent. Indeed, chilli jam and shellfish bisque, roast quail, pine nut puree, foie gras and leg bonbon, celeriac puree, parmesan-crusted stone bass ...
All right, I get the picture. The menu must have changed a bit since I was last there. I think I had the chicken nuggets. Ah, you may be making a common error, confusing the Michelin-starred Royal Oak near Maidenhead with the somewhat less celebrated Royal Oak in Yateley, Hampshire, 20 miles away.
No Michelin stars? The cheesy-topped nachos sharer and chick’n’dip crispy Louisiana chicken strips have yet to win over the notoriously fussy Michelin judges.
So surely it would be hard to confuse the two. French president Emmanuel Macron managed it on his visit to the UK. After meeting a member of staff at the Maidenhead Royal Oak who hailed from the southern French town of Rodez, he tweeted: “From Rodez to Yateley, these young French people are living the partnership between our two countries.”
How did the confusion arise? Yateley is very close to Sandhurst, where the Anglo-French summit was taking place, but Mrs May had chosen her Maidenhead constituency as the venue for lunch. Some mis-Googling and the language barrier may have caused the slip.
Doesn’t bode well for Le Brexit. Indeed. We are slowly realising that we can’t have our roast chestnut bavarois/traditional apple crumble (delete according to which pub you go to) and eat it.
Is it embarrassing? Only in the sense that Mrs May chose a pub where the tasting menu is £65, steak and chips £36, and a selection of cheeses £13.50. Hardly Austerity Britain.
Yateley might have been a tad cheaper. Too right. Beef burned ends in BBQ sauce with Jack Daniel’s for just £3! They also have a “senior deal” where you can get three courses for £5.99.
Perfect for Madame Macron. I’m not sure we can make that joke.
Not to be confused with: Each other.
Do say: “Something amusing in French.”
Don’t say: “I bet Nigel Farage would have taken Macron to Yateley, and had the all-day breakfast and 15 pints.”
