Great Missenden Restaurant Tips by SallyM

Ho Ho: Tasty Chinese

Update: November 2012 - Ho Ho has closed.

Don't be put off by the not particularly prepossessing exterior - this is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the area. Despite that, it's not hard to get a table. Most of their business seems to be take-aways, despite the spacious seating.

The interior decor is typical of a Chinese restaurant in Britain.

Favorite Dish: I like practically everything. Aromatic crispy duck is good - and they aren't stingy with the pancakes. Salt and pepper squid is also tasty.

I tried the melon chicken for the first time recently and enjoyed it.

Address: 32 High Street Great Missenden

Comparison: about average

Directions: Just down the road from the railway station

Phone: 01494 864721

Price: US$31-40

Rating: 5

Theme: Chinese/Dim Sum

Pot Deli: The hungry commuter's friend

Pot Deli at Great Missenden Station is a simply brilliant idea.

It serves take-away portions of freshly-cooked healthy dishes to hungry commuters on their way home. There is usually a choice of about four main course options (casseroles, curries and even stirfries), plus side dishes. It's much more like home cooking than a traditional take-away. The menu changes daily.

Mains cost around £6.00 for a generous helping and side dishes start at £1.50 for basmati rice.
They also sell wine and beer to wash it all down with.

Pot Deli is open from 4.00 p.m. to 9.30 p.m Monday to Friday.

Favorite Dish: A chicken curry with coconut milk was delicious. Stir-fried minute steak with mange tout also looked good, but my husband wasn't parting with any! And Friday night is rib night!

Address: Great Missenden Station Forecourt

Comparison: less expensive than average

Phone: 07565 398 396

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Street Vendor

Website: http://www.potdeli.co.uk/

La Petite Auberge: Classic French

La Petite Auberge is a small French restaurant (c.30 covers) at the quieter end of Missenden High Street. It doesn't have great views, and the decor is understated. What is does have is classic food, well-cooked. Although it's been there for nearly as long as we have lived in the area (about 20 years) but we only recently visited for the first time, and were pleasantly surprised.

Food is a mix of classic and seasonal dishes. It's not trendy (food is served on round plates, accompanied by vegetables, not as an assembly of disparate items on a slate or slab of wood), but it is perfectly cooked and tastes wonderful.

Favorite Dish: Breast of Gressingham Duck with blackcurrant sauce was excellent, with the duck just the right shade of pink.

Address: 107 High Street Great Missenden

Comparison: about average

Directions: Missenden High Street

Phone: 01494 865370

Price: US$41 and up

Rating: 5

Theme: French

Website: http://www.lapetiteauberge.co.uk/

Cafe Twit: That Dahl Experience

Cafe Twit is part of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, but also has an entrance from the street, so you can visit it even if you aren't going to the museum.

It's pretty much like any other cafe/coffee shop except for the Dahl-themed menu. Snozzcumber sandwiches, anyone?

Address: High Street

Comparison: about average

Directions: In the High Street, next to the Road Dahl Museum

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 3

Theme: Coffeehouse

Website: http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/cafe/default.aspx

New Akash: Bangladeshi specialities

This restaurant serves Bangladeshi specialities as well as the usual Indian restaurant dishes.

It's much larger inside than it looks from the street.

Favorite Dish: It might only be a side dish, but the Sag Paneer was delicious.

Address: 56 High Street, Great Missenden

Comparison: about average

Directions: Half way up the High Street, on the right if you are coming from the car park and station.

Phone: 01494 865116

Price: US$31-40

Rating: 4

Theme: Indian

Origins at the White Lion: 'Trendy Wine Bar'

How do you hide a trendy wine bar in a traditional village street? You put it in the shell of an old village pub - in this case the White Lion in Great Missenden High Street. The sparkly bar top and coloured lights can come as a bit of a shock when you enter and discover that the inside is a modern wine bar/cocktail bar. It certainly seems popular - it was very busy when I visited on a Friday night.

As well as a selection of wines and cocktails, Origins serves 'light international tapas-style' food. This translates as geographically-challenged menu on which traditional Spanish tapas mingle with small plates of Japanese dumplings and 'deep fried chicken bites on oriental salad'.

Most dishes are in the £5 - £7 range.

Favorite Dish: The patatas bravas were unlike any I have seen in Spain, but were very tasty nevertheless. I also liked the Chicken Gyoza - steamed Japanese-style parcels with pickled ginger.

I'd love to tell you what the steamed sea bass with samphire was like, but unfortunately they brought sardines instead!

Address: 57 High Street, Great Missenden

Comparison: about average

Directions: Great Missenden High Street, 5 minute walk from the station

Price: US$31-40

Rating: 3

Theme: Eclectic/International

Website: http://originswinebar.co.uk