T here are not that many places I can think of that are consistently reliable when it comes to good food and service. The Fishes at North Hinksey — the Oxford outpost of the excellent Peach Pubs empire — is one of the few.

I am always more than happy to oblige when invited along to try the latest menu, and this is what happened recently when myself and the magazines team enjoyed a leisurely lunch. The weather may have been a big let-down this summer, but there is a light touch to the food at The Fishes, and the welcome is always warm.

The menu certainly radiated a summery feel with seasonal delights like Cornish lamb skewers with a chickpea and vegetable tagine, seared tuna with warm samphire salad and apple, gooseberry and hazelnut slaw, and ratatouille pancakes with creamy goats cheese sauce among the dishes that caught my eye.

One of our party passed on the starter — happy to nibble on the ultra-fresh bread and butter — but three of us had a range of things. Mine was a properly creamy spinach, pea and mint risotto with prawns, which was delicious, though I could not detect any of the promised mint.

Tim enjoyed the vegetable soup — heavy on cauliflower — while Rachel nibbled on the duck spring roll, packed full of juicy pieces of meat and served with an Asian vegetable and cashew nut salad, with plum sauce for dipping.

Annette chose one of the daily specials for her main — a grilled marlin fillet served with sea salt-roasted new potatoes and a tomato and chive salsa, which got the thumbs-up. There was a tasty puffed-up summer vegetable muffin with spinach and garlicky tomato sauce (termed ‘gazpacho’ on the menu) for Tim, and a couple of juicy grilled pork collar steaks for myself, served with a warm potato and watercress salad. I wasn’t too keen on the apricot, chilli and shallot salsa that came with it though — there seemed to be a lot of chewy strips of dried apricot, and not a lot else.

Never one to overdo the lunchtime food, Rachel opted for soup for her main course and rounded things off with an amaretto latte. The rest of us, all being fans of the sticky meringue, cream and summer berry concoction that is Eton Mess, opted for an iced parfait version of the classic dish. It was nice, but none of us was that keen on the frozen blueberries, which did not, for want of a better word, have a a lot of ‘give’, so you had to crunch them.

Service throughout was cheerful and efficient. The Fishes is always buzzing and, if you are really lucky with the weather, you may be able to relax and enjoy your lunch — or one of the pub’s picnic hampers — in the lovely gardens.

The Fishes, North Hinksey, Oxford OX2 0NA, tel: 01865 249 796