On our last visit to the Sir Charles Napier we completely lost the plot. We thought it would be another country pub-with-food where we could pop in for a quick main course and carry on with the evening's programme.

How wrong we were. You go to the Sir Charles Napier for a long, slow, leisurely evening out. In fact on that occasion we went home feeling foolish and still a little hungry after one course, for this isn't like a pub where the main meal is a real plateful.

This is the kind of place where City types fly in by helicopter, landing on the helipad in the garden. It's the kind of place where you have pre-dinner drinks and olives by the hippo in the bar, eat your meal in the restaurant overlooked by a naked female torso, and finish with coffee and petits fours in the lounge with the camel and python.

The animals and nude come courtesy of Michael Cooper, the Radnage sculptor whose partner runs the Sir Charles Napier and who uses the restaurant as a living art gallery for his gorgeous bronzes. Just add £3,000 to my bill for the hippo, waiter.

On our earlier too-short visit we'd eaten in the main dining room, an elegant place full of sculptures and mirrors and windows overlooking the garden. This time we found ourselves in the area between the bar and the dining room, right by the open kitchen door.

While most of the place is lit by soft candlelight, I faced the glare of the striplight and enjoyed the sight and sounds of the burly French chef giving his staff their marching orders.

It's possible some people might prefer the kitchen view to facing the naked lady whose private parts are right at eye level.

None of this detracted from the food though. It really is super stuff, inventive, imaginatively presented, and beautifully cooked.

My starter was a fresh take on a favourite vegetable: millefeuille of aubergine caviare. Slices of grilled aubergine were layered with caviare (aubergine pured with lime and garlic, I discovered), topped with spicy breadcrumbs and grilled to give a satisfying blend of textures and flavours.

My husband chose terrine of pork with gribache sauce, a coarse and chunky pat which he'd have preferred a little more flavoursome, though the sharp and herby sauce tarted it up to make it a pleasant change from the norm.

My chicken cordon bleu was a home-made variant on the family standby, a big fat chicken breast stuffed with ham and cheese and nicely breadcrumbed. It came on a bed of spinach with a few saut potatoes, and though nothing to write home about was perfectly pleasant.

My husband's rump of lamb was something else. Tender slices of lamb sat atop of tower of dauphinois potatoes, surrounded by a ring of finely diced aubergine, pepper and courgette in a rosemary sauce. It looked spectacular and tasted very good.

Coffee for him, pud for me. And from a tempting dessert menu I chose homemade sorbets: scoops of strawberry, apple and a fabulously fruity passion fruit between layers of crisp sweet pastry. Gorgeous.

Both starters and my chicken dish came from a small set-price menu at £16.50 for two courses, which is really remarkably good value for this quality of food.

So where is this fascinating eaterie? Ah, there's the rub. It's in Sprigg's Alley. Never heard of it? It's tucked away along winding narrow lanes between Radnage and Chinnor and is well worth searching out.