8 September 2010

My Handy Birthday Lunch

My husband is a real darling and he spoils me rotten. Just so you know, I wouldn’t have it – or him – any other way. The past couple of years he has offered to take me to Michelin-starred restaurants to celebrate my birthday, and who am I to refuse such a delightful, generous offer?

For my birthday in 2008 we had dinner and spent the night at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford. While the meal didn’t quite live up to all the hype and to my subsequent expectations (I was expecting to be blown away by dinner and it was very, very good but for me it lacked that certain something that would have sent me over the top), the hotel room was without a doubt the best and most thoughtfully furnished I have ever stayed in.

In 2009, after assiduously watching MasterChef: The Professionals on the BBC, John took me to Michel Roux Jr.’s two-Michelin-star Le Gavroche in London. Now that was a meal and a half. Although it seems to me that in this country one would say that that was half a meal. Humph. Typical British understatement v typical American overstatement. Anyway, we had the 3-course luncheon special with wine to which we added a wonderful bottle of pink Champagne (my favourite, by the way) and spent quite some time tasting, re-tasting and thoroughly enjoying both the food and the atmosphere.

As an aside, or perhaps as an insider tip, most top restaurants offer a luncheon special to entice diners in who might not wish to spend a week’s salary on a meal, however many stars or starry-eyed chefs they have. I recall paying (or rather watching as my husband paid) £49 per person for our 3-course meal with wine at Le Gavroche rather than something undoubtedly close to that per dish from the à la carte dinner menu. We used Top Table to find a good deal and we were delighted with our choice. They have an entire section devoted to Michelin-star restaurants where they say “Dine out at the very best without breaking the bank with our Michelin-star restaurant offers.” Sounds good to me, when shall we go?

So back to this year’s birthday treat. Not that we are totally influenced by the telly or anything, but after assiduously watching The Great British Menu on BBC 2 (is there a pattern of high-quality BBC cooking shows here?) we opted for Tom Kerridge’s one Michelin starred (at the time of writing) The Hand and Flowers in the delightful (and delightfully rich) town of Marlow.

Visions of Marlow — A delightful meal at The Hand and Flowers in delightful Marlow

Located in a wonderful olde worlde building at the end of the High Street, The Hand and Flowers looks like a pub inside and out. As one drives into the car park there is a big sign promoting another excellent value deal at a Michelin-starred establishment, a two-course lunch special for an amazing £10. My husband and I exchanged dubious looks as we saw this and began expecting to be dining in a half empty restaurant. Don’t worry, our fears were fleeting and unfounded.

Tom Kerridge’s gastro-pub is a wonderfully comfortable place. Service is knowledgeable and attentive, without too much use of the dreaded “Guys” appellation. [Beware, Dear Reader, this is my pet peeve. I am not a guy, I am not your mate (or buddy in the USA) and I am entering your establishment to spend my husband’s hard-earned money and therefore deserve to be treated with a modicum of verbal respect.] At The Hand and Flowers I cannot recall our being addressed as “Guys,” so well done!

When we were seated there was one other table of three in our section of the restaurant (there are at least three rooms) but as our meal progressed the gentle buzz of an efficiently-run front of house in a very popular eating place became apparent as tables filled up with bookings, more phone bookings were taken, a few early walk-ins were seated, and numerous groups of people were offered tables at 2.30 pm or gently turned away. Being the Chef Proprietor in another life of my own French restaurant in the USA, I watched all of this activity with interested experience and marvelled at the efficiency of it all.

Perhaps to remain in keeping with the pub atmosphere as opposed to a fancier, more seemingly intimidating Michelin-star restaurant atmosphere, descriptions on the food menu were decidedly minimalist. Almost to a fault I would have to say, as some dishes, although delicious, well prepared and delightfully presented, were not as expected or described. The tea menu is a totally different story but more about that later.

Canapés were a nice touch and a taste of the seaside

I chose two of Tom’s dishes from The Great British Menu: the Crayfish Scotch Egg with Garlic Mayo and the Slow-Cooked Duck Breast with Duck Fat Chips and Gravy. My husband had Salmon Tartare with Salt and Pepper Bread and followed with my choice of Duck Breast. Because we ordered à la carte we were offered complimentary canapés which consisted of homemade bread and cutely quirky fried whitebait presented in a paper cone and served with a traditional Mary Rose Sauce. Shades of the seaside; lovely and tasty. A very nice touch. These were consumed with the first of several bottles of PURE sparkling water in reusable bottles and a tasty Bellini cocktail from the drinks list.

As Oliver Payton put it on The Great British Menu, the Crayfish Scotch Egg is “more golf course than fish course.” It’s every bit as fun and gorgeous as it was on TV. There’s decidedly a sausage taste despite the covering being made from crayfish. The quail’s egg was perfectly cooked. Feeling very much the rabbit I even managed to eat a bit of the mustard and cress “lawn.”

John’s starter of Salmon Tartare was the prime example of minimalist menu descriptions. While a bit of Salmon Tartare was included in the dish, the main attraction was actually a large quenelle of very cold, very finely blended (hmmm… must have used a Thermomix to get that quality purée) salmon mousse on top of a small amount of tartare. The whole dish was delicious, well prepared and well presented but alas it was not really what was on the menu. There was no mention of the mousse and as John was looking forward to (and expecting) more salmon tartare he was therefore a bit disappointed in what appeared on his plate. We both spent some time tasting the delicious mousse and figuring out what that subtle taste was that was in it. It turned out that I was on the money with my educated guess of truffle oil. Full marks to me on my birthday!

Next to arrive at the table was our Slow-Cooked Duck Breast with Duck Fat Chips and Gravy. This again is minimalist menu description at its best because no mention is made (nor description given) of the contents of the small casserole dish that sits perkily on the thick wooden board that serves as a plate. Our perfectly pink and juicy honey-glazed duck breast was covered in a rather luscious “gravy” which was really a Madeira sauce. The duck fat chips, cooked thrice in artery-clogging duck fat, were superb in my opinion but not particularly special in my husband’s. To each his own. Our mystery cassolette turned out to contain perfectly-cooked peas, cracklings of duck meat, white pearl onions, watercress and mint. While the element of surprise creates a sense of wonder, I do wonder why Chef Kerridge doesn’t mention such lovely elements of his dishes.

Next we came to our third course which was for me the cheese platter and for my husband the Passion Fruit, Mango and Coffee Trifle. This was the best dish of the day. It was light and refreshing and it was what it said it was on the menu.

Homemade biscuits for Cheese complemented the five artisanal cheeses

My cheese selection was composed of five artisanal French and English cheeses accompanied by a selection of biscuits made by a local lady and some lavash wafers (Lebanese flatbread) with sesame seeds. The Soumaintran, a cows’ milk cheese from Burgundy with its rind washed in Marc de Bourgogne, was very, very ripe and served on a spoon from which it dripped rather lasciviously before melting into a taste explosion in the mouth.

To finish The Hand and Flowers has one of the longest tea menus I have ever seen. It has a very poncy list of specialty teas but starts off reassuringly with “Builders Tea served in a mug.” I could not resist however the Flowering Dragon Tea which blossoms as it infuses for a jasmine-y treat. Quite the spectacle at the end of a real show of culinary prowess.

But do yourself a favour, Tom, and do justice to your dishes with just slightly more detailed menu descriptions.