Restaurant at Moddershall Oaks, The

When eating in the restaurant at Moddershall Oaks you may rest assured that the whole man or woman is under consideration, since the primary occupation of many who come to stay there is to tend to the wellbeing of the body, perhaps best summarised under the heading of A Journey to Wellness.

Tucked away in gymnasia and other parts of the estate there are frightening banks of appliances - well, frightening to those who believe in Churchill's dictum that when he felt the need for exercise coming on he laid down until it went away.

Their website carries a message from the Chef who says 'diners with smiles as broad as the plates they have eaten from' is what he expects to see from his diners. To ensure that this happens he undertakes to excite, challenge and ultimately delight his guests' taste buds, which when you come to think about it is quite a challenge.

A recent menu started off with McSween's haggis, probably the best there is, with sweet potato puree and oven dried parsnip crisps, baked figs with soft goat's cheese, Serrano ham and sweet balsamic reduction. Should either of these fail an alternative dish was peppered carpaccio of beef, with honey dressed rocket, toasted sesame seeds and shaved Pecorino, or a cucumber and mango salad with plum dipping sauce.

In these days of lurching from one scare to the next it is comforting to find the chicken identified. I don't expect a personal introduction; enough to know that it has come from Freeman Farm, is free range, had its share of grit and bits and probably quite enjoyed its short life. Now it is presented, braised in light tomato casserole, with celery and tamarind marmalade and vegetable cous cous, and looking very peaceful.

The fillet of Angus beef (no information on how long it has been hung) is done in hazelnut pesto and served with grilled asparagus and a rich beef reduction. For those who like their duck, and they do seem to be amazingly popular nowadays, there is breast of honey roast Gressingham with shallots, vanilla mashed potatoes and redcurrant pan gravy.

Not really caring overmuch about desserts, just or otherwise, I was nevertheless tensed up to see how they managed to evade compromise when it came to this stage of the meal. The answer is very cleverly; there is nothing there that your personal trainer could get too difficult about apart from a bittersweet chocolate torte with clotted cream, and they left that until the bottom of the menu, presumably in the hope that you would be so desperate you would already have chosen something less incriminating. If you wanted to impress you could always elect for the fruit selection with crème fraiche or natural yoghurt.

Of course it is quite likely that you are there only to dine, in which case the glances of those who are really trying are all that you will have to bear. Mind you, I sneaked a quick look at the breakfast menu, which for a man who starts the day with a cooked breakfast was, frankly, demoralising. But perhaps it's people like me who, overcome by some dreadful and ill-defined guilt, are amongst those heading for the cleansing acres of Moddershall Oaks.