AS we were giving a jazz musician friend a lift all the way to the wilds of Gloucestershire for a gig, we thought we might as well stop and try the food.

It was only after we’d signed up to be sax taxi for the night we learnt the occasion was none other than Jazz and Seafood Night – a mouthwatering combination!

The drive out to Filkins is good fun: after picking up the jazz man in Faringdon, we pootled down the long and winding road following the walls of Buscot Park, over the Thames, past Kate Moss’s house (our musician has friends in high places, it seems) and eventually arrived at the tiny village of Filkins somewhere in the belly of Gloucestershire.

The building itself is a beautiful little amuse-bouche – all Cotswold stone and swathed in ivy, then, as we duck inside under the ancient beams, we’re immediately in a perfect little cosy country pub.

We leave the jazz man to warm up his reeds and get ushered to our table in the restaurant.

The staff are immediately friendly and attentive – polite and interested without being snooty: there’s nothing more ridiculous than when some snotty teenager who couldn't care less calls you 'sir' then tells you 'nah mate, we ain't got no mools in tonight'.

A waitress brings a basket of bread round for us to chose from – a touch I always love – then we get a chance to marvel at the once-a-month fish night menu: this thing is huge – I've been to seafood restaurants with fewer seafood options.

I eventually settle on the scallops to start, which come with the traditional accompaniment of chorizo and some other fun bits and bobs.

Actually, the scallops themselves are just slightly overdone for my taste – these are fish which only really need to be shown the frying pan, in my opinion, but there was certainly nothing bad about the dish.

For my main, I'm in luck because they do have mools tonight, and they come in a massive black cauldron full of a Thai-style spicy sauce.

I'm going to sound pedantic now, but because this pot was so big, it meant the mussels at the top were not actually in the sauce, and I spent ten minutes getting the fellows out of their shells so I could plop them into the greenish soup below.

In the end, sadly, the actual sauce was far more mild than most real Thai cooking, and not really salty enough for me. You don't want to overwhelm mussels, obviously, but then if you order a Thai sauce you expect a bit of a kick!

Having said that, there was nothing wrong with our food at all, the atmosphere was great, and the jazz was excellent, so I am definitely planning to go back to give them a second a chance soon.