WIVELISCOMBE is fast becoming a seat for some of the best food in Somerset, and The White Hart is one of the town's lesser-known gems.

Having heard good things about the restaurant and bar, I headed for dinner with my boyfriend on Wednesday, July 31, and haven't stopped recommending it to friends and family since.

The first thing to mention is affordability. In recent years it's not often you feel as if you're getting a lot more than you paid for from a meal, but at the White Hart that is true — with elevated pub-style mains from £16.50, fine-dining starters from £9, and desserts from £8.

Price aside, I can now delve into what made the meal at this 17th-century former coaching inn so totally, totally delish.

We started with the homemade duck prosciutto with compressed melon, wild mint buratta and spiced pistachio. Let me warn you, the classic 80’s entrée Parma ham and melon you may have tried is but a distant relative of this tastebud tantalising dish. If visiting White Hart, it's a must-try.

Also for starters was the scallops ceviche, with sea buckthorn, daikon, sea vegetable kimchi and puff nori. This had a hard-to-pin-down umami flavour profile that we very much enjoyed.

Of the two mains we tried, the most important thing to report was the "confit chicken and potato empanada" that accompanied the "roast supreme of chicken, with sherry and wild mushroom sauce". The Portuguese-style flaky pastry balanced so well with the sweet sauce that we almost had a fork fight over the last bite.

I also picked the pan-seared Brixham Plaice with Algerian ratatouille, couscous, oyster aioli, confit lemon, and wild marjoram. The couscous was rich with a sweet and spicy north-African flavour and the fish cooked to perfection, two things I have never once achieved at home in my kitchen.

For pudding, I had a deliciously light "Paris-Brest choux pastry" filled with a heady chocolate custard, brandy chantilly cream and raspberries. I will be back for more.

We didn't stop there and ordered the West Country cheese board with homemade quince jelly that was delicately tart. We really do cheese well, don't we?!

Head Chef Mitchell Anstey, 29, from Canada, clearly knows his stuff based on the impressive technical ability and layering of flavours we experienced.

Mitchell joined the restaurant four months ago, having previously worked at the award-winning Barrington Boar, South Petherton's Holm, and several top-rated restaurants in Bordeaux, France. Mitchell focuses on "quality, local produce, cooked well."

Owner Rob Sawyer, 60, kindly agreed to speak with me after the meal, sharing how he'd returned to his home town of Wiveliscombe after spotting the 16-bedroom hotel on the market last year.

Rob, who has been opening and running restaurants for 30 years, said: "The 16-bedroom hotel is the business, and across the road Jon and Millie run a really good pub, The Bear, so I thought let's do something different here.

"Let's do something for all of the people from around here who drive to Dulverton to go to Woods, there are a lot of foodies around here.

"Our chefs prep seven days a week just to do four services, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It's a complex menu, but it doesn't bamboozle people."

His daughter Sienna, 20, is now helping run the business and learning the ropes of the industry, and Rob's parents who live in Wiveliscombe are "very pleased" about his decision to open up in the town. 

Rob added: "They love it because their granddaughter is here, they're in five days a week for coffee and toasted tea cakes, and brunch on the weekends."

Early in his career, Rob worked with Gordon Ramsey at Aubergine, Marco Pierre White at The Brasserie, and Tom Aitkin at The Argyll.

Rob then started Po Na Na's 47 cocktail bar lounges, which floated on the Offex stock market in 1994 and again on the AIM market in 1998, with a market cap of £60m.

He also started 22 Fez clubs, six boom restaurants, four pizzerias, two sushi restaurants, nine independent nightclubs, and more restaurants than I can list. So, it's no wonder Rob was named the UK's Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998 and 2002.

In recent years Rob was busy opening alpine venues in Verbier, Switzerland, including La Vache with Heston Blumenthal, James Blunt, and Lawrence Dallaglio.

The White Hart also got the nod from Telegraph food critic and Wiveliscombe local William Sitwell when I spoke with him at the Taunton Flower Show — along with Zekki, a plate-sharing restaurant by Tim Zekki on Wiveliscombe's High Street.

It would probably be wise to keep the White Hart to myself, but with the success of Wiveliscombe's recent REST FEST, I have a feeling it won't be long until other Taunton foodies discover it.