The Boxford. The Freshest Italian Food In Berkshire.

Andy Mossack lunches at The Boxford, an all-day family-friendly west Berkshire restaurant where fresh produce is king.

Just down the narrow road from The Woodspeen, a fabulous restaurant I recently raved about, you’ll find The Boxford, the latest member of the Westbury Street Holdings family helmed by hospitality guru Alastair Storey.

It’s easy to recognise the group’s restaurants in this neck of the woods, they all take their names from the nearest village. The Sparsholt, The Woodspeen and The Boxford. Pretty clever move in my book, as it ensures they’ll always come near the top of any Google searches.

And just like its sisters, The Boxford was once a fading property desperately in need of rejuvenation. The modest roadside Bell Inn had been part of local passing trade for years but now, after an extensive renovation, it’s been granted a new lease of life light years away from its former self and with the full blessing of the local Boxford community.

The new structure, just a year old, is a clever mashup between the old and the new using locally sourced materials and local craftmanship. A thatched roof in keeping with the rural landscape, the rest is state of the art. Huge vaulted roof with Scandi-style wooden interiors, open kitchen and outdoor landscaped terrace area.

The Boxford is designed with families in mind, but a quick peek at the wine and cocktail menu suggests a serious dining destination too.

I was there for lunch, but as it happens, passed by there the night before on my way to The Woodspeen for dinner, and the terrace was lit up and full of patrons enjoying a warm night out.

A quick glance at the menu will reveal an Italian/Sicilian bias, small wonder really because the head chef is Emanuele ‘Mirko’ Privitera, a proud Sicilian gentleman of culinary repute whose expertise with flavours and quality ingredients is obviously part of his DNA.

His futuristic bronze pizza oven squatting loud and proud in the front of the kitchen made no secret of his love for pizza. No just any pizza mind. These babies are freshly rolled sourdough having been fermented for 72 hours no less, so full of air and light as a feather. The same goes for the fresh pastas, hand-rolled in the kitchen every day.

The DNA analogy can also be said for General Manager and all-round good guy Bert Leach, whose fondness for this corner of Berkshire is a given, being a child of local villages Welford and Bagnor. No wonder this is a popular place.

Bert greeted me like a family friend (an excellent quality in all good general managers) and as we were shown to our table and handed menus he whispered ‘The pizzas are amazing. Trust me you’ll never have tasted anything like it before’. Bold words, but confidently delivered, so obviously we each ordered pizza. Two pepperoni pizzas (£16pp) but mine had added spicy Nduji, (£3) a traditional Calabrian sausage that has suddenly become super trendy.

While we were waiting, we started with some arancini nibbles (£6) two generous deep fried rice balls stuffed with ham, pistachio and mozzarella. A Sicilian staple that was utterly delicious and took me instantly back to the streets of Palermo.

We also had a taster of Mirko’s spaghetti alla Siciliana, made with anchovy, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and parsley and doused with aromatic toasted crumbs. Honestly, it made feel like an honorary family member from the old country. It tasted so authentic.

From the open kitchen I saw our pizzas emerging from the fabled bronze oven on a spade handled with almost reverential care. ‘Wow’, I thought, ‘there is some serious food love going here.’ They were triumphantly delivered like a couple of Olympic gold medals and laid gently in front of us.

They looked spectacular. No question. Bubbly and perfectly blackened in all the right places. Eating the crust was just as important as the rest of it I was told. So we did. And as we ate our first bites, I felt the whole restaurant hold its collective breath.

That last bit was a lie, but I did cast a glance at Bert whose face said, ‘Didn’t I tell you?’

The pizzas were magnificent, and worthy gold medal winners. Probably the best I’ve had outside of Italy. Fact.

The Boxford has all the hallmarks of an excellent all round family restaurant with plenty of alternative options to pizza and pasta if required. The emphasis on quality is evident with vegetables taken from the chef garden at The Woodspeen, tomatoes direct from Naples and home-reared cured meats from local farmers.

The restaurant’s a hit with the locals, and with me too. Good to see the legacy of The Bell lives on.

All food images (C) Andy Mossack