As you know, following the last series of The Restaurant, Michele English and Russell Clement have opened their restaurant in Marlow, The Cheerful Soul. They’ve had a few weeks to settle in, so I sent my friend Paul Levy to review the restaurant. Paul was the restaurant critic for The Observer from 1980-91, and has been the restaurant critic of Travel & Leisure Magazine and reviewed restaurants for the Wall Street Journal. He booked under his own name, and no one in the restaurant knew of his mission.

We had a gracious, friendly reception, both on the telephone and on arrival, and loved the setting of the restaurant – especially the garden with globe artichokes in pots and in the borders; the mismatched old plates in the place settings at the counter near the entrance, and the mismatched furniture, which included some very covetable chairs. The faux-primitive murals on the walls are delightful, as is the gaudy, unexpected Murano chandelier and the trail of buttons pasted onto the wall in places.

The first thing to say is that our food was delicious, obviously sourced with care and love, and cooked with precision. We also thought the menu and the recipes used showed very good, very contemporary taste. The Cheerful Soul’s menu achieved something rare – I’d have been happy to eat almost anything on it.

It was 7.15, and we were showed to a splendid table by a window in the main dining area, where three other tables were already occupied. But we were deafened by the boom of the conversations going on around us – they need to do something about this, as this table is in an acoustic black-spot, where an unfortunate echo magnifies the volume of ordinary speech.

I made endless trivial problems for them by asking for tap water (when bottled water is complimentary anyway – though the waitress forgot to mention that when she asked “still” or “fizzy”?), and bread for only one person (“bread for the table” is charged at £2 per person; and it was correctly charged on our bill.

Pressed ham hock terrine with cauliflower piccalilli and warm toast was a slice of meat looking like particularly colourful marble, and full of spicy, porky flavours; the acid yellow relish was just sweet enough, and just crunchy enough. Brixham crab and clotted cream tart with horseradish dressing was worth the 35-minute drive from home. The short pastry was perfect – even the bottom was crisp – and though you could taste spanking fresh crab, the texture of the tart was ethereal, whisper-light.

Braised Atlantic sea trout with summer vegetables, white wine and basil was a generous fillet, cooked à point – Penny thought it perfect, though I’d have preferred it a little underdone – and served with (not too much) well-seasoned liquid and vegetables that still had a little bite. My slow cooked belly pork was a solid rectangle of fine-flavoured, fork-tender meat, topped by a layer of perfect crackling – showing real cooking skill to achieve both. Even better was the accompanying peas with wilted gem lettuce and crunch-retaining slivers of spring onion.

And the puddings kept the standard up, too. Chocolate and hazelnut slice with praline custard was a thick wand of gooey, dark chocolate, with a contrasting texture of something crisply light at the bottom, and the ices by Jude’s of Northfield Farm, Twyford were splendid – though I’d have liked more preserved ginger in the ginger spice ice cream. I was amazed at how good my espresso was – a generous amount with a perfect crema, sweet and bitter in perfect balance.

The wine list needs some work. It’s extremely well chosen, and very good value, most available by the 175ml glass or the (unspecified quantity) carafe, but it needs to show vintages and grape varieties more clearly.

I see I’ve listed all my grumps. (As I couldn’t see any service charge on the extremely reasonable bill for £71.75, I left a tenner in cash.) But I haven’t said what a thoroughly good time we had. Though we didn’t see much of Michele, the woman who was front-of-house was attentive, smiled a lot, as did the waitresses, and made us feel genuinely welcome. We recognised some friends, and sat at their table and schmoozed for a bit. If we hadn’t been driving we’d have accepted their offer of a glass of wine. It’s that kind of place. As my wife said as we drove away from the ample car park, “Lucky people who live in Marlow".

For more information and for bookings, you can contact the Cheerful Soul on 01628 483343, or via their website: micheleandrussell.blogspot.com/