Dean Timpson at The Compleat Angler

Ever wondered why some towns seem to be superserved by good restaurants, while others of similar size suffer a gastronomic drought? How come Oxford, for example, with its affluent and sophisticated population, doesn't sustain a single restaurant of note, while 30 miles away, quaint little Marlow is quietly turning itself into a foodie mecca to rival Ludlow?

This picture-perfect Thames-side town has long been famous for one historic hotel, The Compleat Angler. For riverside cream teas or corporate awaydays, this was your go-to destination, but it wasn't necessarily known as a place of gastronomic pilgrimage.

Marlow's food renaissance began six years ago with the arrival of the adventurous Vanilla Pod in the town centre. Then in 2005, a fine chef called Tom Kerridge and his artist wife Beth bought a run-down roadhouse on the edge of town and reopened it as the best kind of gastropub. I reviewed The Hand and Flowers and liked everything about it, as did the Michelin men who awarded it a star a few months later. Marlow also has Danesfield House, a hotel with a seriously good restaurant. We're looking at a bona fide gastro-cluster.

Not wanting to be left out of this renaissance, The Compleat Angler has upped its game. The owners, an upmarket chain, have given the resident chef, Dean Timpson, a stake in the fine-dining restaurant, and a free hand to turn it into a destination in its own right. Relaunched with Timpson's name over the door, like a mini-me Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, it's an odd proposition – a bold contemporary restaurant serving sophisticated modern French food, marooned as a stylish free state within the prim blah-ness of a chain-operated corporate hotel.

For local perspective, I invited Beth Kerridge, co-owner of The Hand and Flowers, to join me for a midweek dinner. Her pub is arguably the minnow that prompted this neighbouring big fish to evolve. And evolve it certainly has done. The dining room has been crisply redesigned, the Arts and Crafts feel of the existing dark wood, brickwork and mullioned windows updated with funky contemporary wallpaper, statement lamps and elegant grey upholstery.

On a balmy summer's evening, though, the room was refrigerated to such a chill that Beth and I had to huddle together for warmth. Summer was restored by an amuse of sweetened melon soup with ginger froth, served in shot glasses, with straws to slurp it up through.

Both our starters looked beautiful, arranged over black slate slabs that had the artist in Beth cooing in appreciation. Her foie gras was presented as a pan-fried lobe, and a smooth ballotine, with a pineapple purée, all very nicely done. I chose sautéed scallops and pork belly with cauliflower purée partly because I was curious as to why a chef eager to make his name would offer such a hackneyed combination. In fact, it was an accomplished dish, the scallops perfectly caramelised and succulent, the pork meltingly tender. But it wasn't Timpson's dish.

Timpson's philosophy, a "belief in simplicity of taste and style" seemed wildly at odds with his highly wrought style of presentation, in which sauces are combed over the plate like Richard Long installations, and foams and reductions are dotted around amid tumuli of herbs and flowers.

All this filigree and folderol struck me as having far more impact on the eye than on the palate. My main course, pairing loin of rabbit, langoustine and hispi cabbage, sounded like a big, bold combination of flavours; in practice, the rabbit was presented in a ballotine, and the result was polite rather than punchy. Beth's main course offered a pan-fried fillet of stone bass flanked by a loose-leaved clam lasagne, and a razor clam baked under a herbed breadcrumb crust. It struck me as overly complicated, but Beth was impressed; in fact she was far more enthusiastic about both starter and main course than I was, which is just as it should be, given that I'm a critic, while she lives in Marlow and is planning to return to Dean Timpson with her husband at the earliest opportunity. There's real technical accomplishment on show here, as well as visual flair. But two weeks after eating at The Compleat Angler, I find I can't remember much about it. The plate-as-palette approach and impastoed sauces owed something to Tom Aikens, while there's more than a touch of Heston Blumenthal in the space-dust covered "magic mushrooms" meringues with a white chocolate and raspberry mousse.

Still, with a sitting duck clientele from the hotel, a dining room with lovely weir-side views, and a sweet young front-of-house team who obviously share their new boss's enthusiasm for this new joint venture, the Angler deserves to flourish in Marlow's increasingly well-stocked gastronomic waters, rather than becoming the one that got away.

Dean Timpson at The Compleat Angler Marlow, Bucks (01628 405405)

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Around £75 a head for dinner

Side orders: A river runs through it

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Bardwell Road, Oxford (01865 552746)

Riverside Brasserie

There might be higher-flying competitors up the road – but in terms of location, a leisurely summer's day lunch on the terrace at Garry Dawson's Thames-side brasserie is unbeatable. The well-executed food is inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean.

Bray Marina, Monkey Island Lane, Bray, Berkshire (01628 780553)

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30 Westferry Circus, London E14 (020-7719 0888)

Battered

This new fish and chip restaurant on the Leeds waterfront serves superlative fish and chips for less than a fiver alongside posher fare such as king prawn linguini with fresh chillies, garlic and parsley (£10); and poached halibut steak in a Pernod fish stock with fennel and orange risotto (£13.50).

Brewery Place, Leeds (0113-243 5761)

Madeleine Lim