Last week, four months after booking it (and many more months before that of wanting to book it), we finally had our evening at
The Hand & Flowers, Marlow. This was to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. I'm a big fan of Tom Kerridge and have been looking forward to this meal for a long time. For those that don't know, The Hand & Flowers is an old pub in Marlow, not too far from Reading. It is the first pub to be awarded 2 Michelin stars for its food. Inside it is fairly small, and the wooden beams on the ceiling give it great character.
Before ordering, we were given some homemade breads and butter, and some whitebait with a Rose-mayo dip (I think it was Rose, but I can't remember). The breads were lovely and warm, the butter nicely salted, and the whitebait was hot and crunchy.
This is the menu (please excuse the photo, taken in the dark on my HTC Desire):
To start, I went with the Crispy Pig's Head, and my wife went for the Braised Pearl Barley. The Pig's head was part of Tom's winning main course for last year’s Great British Menu, so I had an idea of what it would look like (not a Pigs head with an apple in the mouth as others were joking). We were told that they use every part of the Pig's head to make the dish, with the exception of the brain and the eyes. Served on the Pancetta, with a crispy coating, it was gorgeous! A rich meaty flavour like good pork belly, I could have eaten double. The crackling was very thin and long, and perfectly crunchy.
The Braised Pearl Barley was also really good. Not the dish I would immediately choose, Pearl Barley doesn't excite my taste buds (Foie Gras does though), but that shows I shouldn't judge the dish on one ingredient.
For the main course, I went for the Duck Breast whilst my wife chose the Shin of Beef. The duck was cooked perfectly, nice and pink in the middle, and had lovely flavour. The cabbage came in its own little pot and went well with the Duck, and the chips were fantastic. The Shin of Beef was served on half of the shin bone, where the marrow would be, and it was lovely and tender. The carrot that came with it had an ever so subtle hint of aniseed to it that worked extremely well. We also had a side of the Crushed Swede which was lovely and creamy, and we had to try the Salt Baked Potatoes which we had seen on last year’s Great British Menu. For this, they make a very salty dough, wrap it around the potatoes, and then bake it for about 2 ½ hours. The outside of the dough forms a very hard crust whilst inside it is still slightly soft. It is served as it is baked so that you have to take the top off of the crust (which they have already cut to make it easier) and scoop out the potatoes. Normally I’d have butter with baked potatoes, but these were so soft and creamy that I ate them on their own. Fantastic.
For dessert I went with the Glazed Russet’s Apple Tart, and the wife went for the Passion Fruit Soufflé. The Hazelnut ice cream had the perfect amount of flavour to go with the apple tart without being overpoweringly nutty. The tart itself was really good. The same can be said for the Lime ice cream which accompanied the Passion Fruit Soufflé really well. Both desserts were lovely but I’m a big meat eater, so will always prefer starters and mains to desserts.
To go with the meal, we each had a carafe of wine (2 glasses each), and a coffee after the meal.
The service we received right from when we arrived was perfect. Friendly, attentive, and they answered every question we had about the restaurant and the food. They were happy to stop and chat if you wanted, but didn’t hang about or bother you if you were having your own discussion. Before we left we asked them for a copy of the menu, and they kindly got Tom to sign it for us which was a nice touch
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In total we paid £130 which I think is a bargain for a 2 Michelin star meal consisting of 3 courses, wine and coffee.
It’s hard to compare The Hand & Flowers to The Ledbury or Le Gavroche (both also 2 Michelin stars) as this is quite different. At The Ledbury and Le Gavroche we had the taster menus which were incredible, and whilst I wouldn’t describe The Hand & Flowers food as incredible, it was without question better than all of the 1 Michelin star restaurants that we’ve been to.
At some point in the near future, we’ll be heading back for another meal
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and cooks for me when I go round there. We did chinese take away.
