THE Royal Standard of England in Forty Green has a bit of an identity problem. The owner, a charming American, is fiercely proud of the pub's heritage. This is, it is claimed, one of the oldest pubs in England and was a refuge for the exiled King Charles.

He is also keen to promote it as a fine place to dine, and on an earlier visit there he was proclaiming it as one of the area's best kept dining secrets well worthy of a review. But despite his claims, this, in my opinion, is not a restaurant.

This is not to denigrate it. As pubs go, The Royal Standard of England offers decent enough fare and I'm sure the locals are more than happy with it. But I was led to believe this was a restaurant, and it's not.

My first inkling that this was the case came when my husband, Kim, and I arrived and had to wait at the smoky bar to find out which was the table we'd reserved.

The barmaid didn't know and said she'd get somebody who knew and did we want a drink while we waited?

No, we said, we'd order wine with our meal.

Eventually someone came who knew which was our table. We made our way there and someone brought us the menus.

After about ten minutes I realised that nobody was coming to take our order or ask about drinks. Kim went to the bar to ask for a wine list. There wasn't one. The bar manager showed him three bottles to choose from.

Back at the table I noticed in smaller print on the menu it stated that diners had to order food at the food bar (which was unmanned).

Cue a clip from a Two Ronnies sketch. I went to the bar to be told by the same barmaid that I had to order at the food bar further along.

I moved across and she came out from her bar, round the back of my bar, smiled at me and offered to take my order.

I met up with Kim back at the table.

The menu is nicely balanced with a mixture of good old traditional pub food, homemade pies and traditional fare like fish and chips.

There are also some more modern touches with Tempura Prawns and baked flat mushrooms making trendy appearances.

Kim was true to form and ordered the Mediterranean prawns Pil Pil which were cooked with chilli and garlic sauce.

I went for the baked goats cheese which sounded delicious, served as it was with salad, toasted walnuts and bread.

The starters were good, although the walnuts with my goats cheese had all been burned instead of toasted and Kim's prawns could have been a lot hotter (presumably they went cold while waiting for my walnuts to burn).

Main courses include rack of lamb rosemary with a deep red wine sauce; breast of chicken marinated in white wine, garlic and herbs and topped with ricotta cheese and served with tomato sauce with rosemary; salmon pucet stir-fried with lemon grass, ginger and garlic; and old favourites Beef and Owd Rodger Ale Pie and Chicken, leek and mushroom pie.

I chose half an Aylesbury crispy duck served with a rum and plum sauce and Kim chose the 8oz sirloin steak.

The trimmings for the steak were better than the steak itself: lovely crispy onion rings, chunky chips and mushrooms.

The duck was tasty and well cooked, but the plums were quite tart (I suspect tinned) and there was virtually no sauce. A side dish of very average veg completed the picture.

We just had the two courses, although there is a good selection of desserts. We didn't really want coffee as the bar was getting crowded and our table in the corner was starting to feel a little claustrophobic.

I know I sound a little harsh this month. The Royal Standard is perfectly fine as a pub and probably I shouldn't try to judge it as a restaurant. But when two courses and half a bottle of wine costs £25 per person I think maybe it sets itself up to be judged.

February 14, 2002 16:00