The Foodie Guide

It’s great that a local restaurant aspires to fine dining but the Navigation Inn does not yet achieve it. Having patronised this canalside pub for 15 years or so I know it’s a great place to sit on the grass beside the water or up on the decking to have a quiet beer and decent sandwich in summer. The restaurant has always been a stalwart standby but has recently been given over to showcase the talents of BBC’s Masterchef contestant Dan Cameron and it now claims to offer a fine dining experience.
Sadly the pub itself seems to be a victim of its own success with cars parked all over the pavement (to the detriment of the flower troughs) and fag-ends liberally littering the kerbs outside, especially around the dingy little smokers’ shelter beside the front door. Inside the pub is as warm and welcoming as ever but going through the door to the restaurant suddenly seems Spartan and cold. There are only six tables which leaves an uncomfortably large gap in the middle of the floor and reminded me of some of those provincial Eastern European restaurants that couldn’t quite afford enough tables to fill the room.
The only attempt at creating a contemporary dining experience is a couple of swathes of garish purple wall paper around the staircase and a couple of black tin lampshades without star cut-outs; the rest continues to look like an ordinary pub restaurant that’s been made to look a little more traditional by painting some 4x2 timbers black and nailing them to the ceiling to look like exposed rafters.
Two other thoughts; there was no door between the restaurant and the bar so throughout my meal I could see everything the bar staff were doing which was distracting at least and secondly, the people outside on the decking enjoying the live band were moving around outside the window next to our table, blocking an otherwise fabulous canalside view and the live music drowned out the mood music being played inside Cameron’s. This wasn’t a great disaster as the live band sounded much better than the piped elevator music but it spoke volumes (no pun intended) about dangers of trying to marry fine dining with a lively local canalside pub.
Almost in passing I’d mention that the food (when it arrived) was excellent, absolutely marvellous but we did wait an hour for the main course to arrive having decided that we couldn’t find a starter to our liking (with only 4 starters and 4 main courses the menu may be a little too limited). By the time the main course arrived we’d finished our wine and couldn’t have any more as we were driving so had to drink just water for the subsequent hour and a half that it took to be served a cheese course and desert – not really what we wanted for what was supposed to be a special night out for my wife and I. Service was fine if a little too formal at times.
Overall, £128 for two, three-course covers plus a bottle of Sancerre was fully justified by the quality of the food but badly let down by the quality of the location. Cameron’s at the Navigation Inn certainly delivers fine food but falls a long way short of providing a fine dining experience and will continue to do so unless someone is willing to invest heavily in bringing the dining area upto a suitable standard.

This is two distinct places under a single banner. There are reviews here for the pub and for Camerons, which is confusing because they are different animals. The pub 'just' (ahem) offers way better than average food, 7 days a week. We've tried it many times and never suffered even the slightest disappointment. But Camerons deserves its own slot here, rather than being mixed in with the pub, because it sets the standard far higher and offers some of the best food you'll find between London and Birmingham, full of flavour and creativity, with service to match from the youthful but smoothly professional staff. And it is excellent value for money. At around £40 for three courses, we have paid far more than this (and still do, frequently) for lesser fare and still walked away very happy. I understand this is a young team just starting out, but they're already streets ahead of the local pack, and looking destined for really great things. I wish them luck and wish we lived closer, so we could visit more often.

The pub is very local to us and we have only ever had lunch here but always really enjoy the freshness of the baguettes and the fresh ingredients.

Every time we go to this pub/restaurant the food is excellent. Often we even wonder what the "secret ingredient" is in some dishes that makes it that much better than you can cook at home. Absolutely delicious! Posted 19/3/10.

My husband and I ate at the newly opened Cameron’s, positioned in the main dining room of the Navigation Inn. Despite being a part of the same building it immediately felt very separate. To the right as you walk in is a frosted door with Cameron’s written above it. We stepped in to be greeted by a very smartly dressed waitress and Thierry the maître d’ overlooking the floor. We were taken downstairs to the area designated for menu selection and whilst reviewing the delicious menu we were given a complimentary glass of champagne.

This area is directly beside the kitchen which has been build with windows to view the chefs at work. The kitchen is very open to you can hear and smell everything. Dan the head chef was accompanied by another chef who were both totally focussed, and it was clear perfection was the only option!

The menu selection was just enough. Not too much to be swamped with options, but not too little to be disappointed either. I chose the crab risotto with Bloody Mary sorbet for starter, the fillet of beef for main and a chocolate fondant with salt and caramel for dessert. My husband chose the same main and shared the dessert but had scallops with curry foam to start.

What can I say about the food itself? Well, without a doubt this was the most superb meal we have ever eaten in the Bucks area. Every single dish was beautifully presented, with beautiful flavour to match. We were also treated to delicious tasters and the bread was out of this world. My husband’s favourite was their sage and bacon bread – to die for!

The service was just perfect, with plenty of time to enjoy each dish and digest between courses. Thierry was as professional as always and our waitress was nothing but polite and skilled throughout. We spent almost 3 hours there and it flew by.

From idea to execution this was an exquisite meal and I would not hesitate to recommend it!

This is my local. Having tasted Dan's food before I can't wait for the new restaurant to be opened. Last time I asked for a start date they couldn't tell me! Fingers crossed.

Food was first class with fresh veg. Would definitely go again.

My partner and I have eaten here a couple of times and the food has always been very good.

We were regular visitors to the Navigation last year, but stopped going due to the very slow service. When they bought out the Christmas menu, I thought I'd give it another go and invited some work colleagues for our Christmas do. Unfortunately, the dish I wanted was not on the menu and the service was as slow as I remembered. The spiral fries are to die for, but we won't be returning again.

We had a nice meal from a varied selection, looking forward to their new restaurant opening Camarons. Check out his Chef profile, he's a bit of a dish himself.