TAKING French visitors out for dinner can be a daunting proposition, since our neighbours across the Channel are famed for their high standards when it comes to all matters culinary.

And when those visitors are also your husband's parents, the stakes are still higher - I don't want them thinking their son can't find a decent meal in his adopted homeland. We've chosen the White Hart in Ford. It's a traditional Cotswolds pub, buried away in a wooded valley, besides a picturesque stream. A former coaching inn, it dates back to the 15th century, and is always popular with walkers and tourists.

This chilly winter's night, a stove in the middle of the dining room is radiating warmth - and we discover, by a lucky chance, we've landed on the weekly steak night. The menu offers nibbles, starters and sharers, featuring such appetisers as three cheese arancini, crispy chorizo Scotch egg, and a Mezze sharer, but we dive straight into the mains and having endured two nights of my vegan cookery at home, the eyes of husband and both his parents are drawn straight to the steak menu. The White Hart has a steak night every Tuesday, except in December, and if steak is your thing, this is well worth checking out as the steaks are all, with the exception of the 16oz Chateaubriand, half price - which is a very good deal.

The British beef comes in rump (full price £17.95), sirloin (£20.95), rib eye (£23.95) and fillet (£26.95) varieties, and the menu boasts the steak is handpicked from the finest producers, and matured for a minimum of 21 days. All are served with a smoked flat mushroom, triple cooked chips and a garlic and watercress butter. My three companions decide they will each try a different steak, while I observe with delight there is indeed a plant food option - a charred vegetable salad (£9), with broccoli, roasted peppers, courgettes, little gem lettuce, chilli, toasted sunflower seeds and Thai sesame dressing.

We have a bit of a wait, but the pub is busy. The steaks are perfectly cooked, and simply served with a mini pail of chunky chips, and a garnish of pea shoots. My charred vegetable salad is delicious, a hearty bowl fill of crunchy vegetables given a rich, savoury flavour by the sesame dressing. It looks like British cooking is standing up to French scrutiny rather well.

Discussion about the dessert choices is brief - we have seen the Dessert Sharer (£14) This is an extravaganza of gooey chocolate brownie with chocolate mousse and chocolate shard, winter berry pavlova with cinnamon spiced berries and vanilla cream, sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce, and vanilla pod ice cream. Laid out on a piece of slate, jewelled with trails of fruit puree and dotted with fresh flowers, this looks as delicious as it sounds. The sharer would be plenty for four and is more than three can finish - I would have appreciated a vegan element to the desserts - but all are otherwise delighted by the pleasures it provides.

Walking out of the pub, musing on our dinner, my father-in-law declares this was the best steak he has ever had. Now that is tribute indeed.

The meal for four, with the steak night discount and soft drinks, came to £69.76.