Telephone number: 01628 488611

Website: www.royaloakmarlow.co.uk

Date of visit: 19 August 2010

Approximate cost per head: Around £20 for 2 courses.

Comments on wine list/beer: Pretty extensive wine list with top red at £45 – Amarone. No upmarket wines on the list. Lots of halves and wine by the glasses (different sizes). Rebellion on tap (IPA @ £3.10 a pint)

Summary:

The pub is managed by the Sailsbury Family. They also manage The Swan Inn and The Old Queens Head in Buckinghamshire.

This pub appears in the Michelin Guide as well as Sawday’s. I usually take that as a pretty good recommendation.

The inside of the pub consists of a large room with most of the tables laid out for dining. There is also a large outside area for dining. Paper napkins and no table clothes.

In the Michelin guide, the cuisine is described as modern British with an oriental influence. On the day I went, I can only describe the menu as modern British/European.

I had my two starters as usual. My guests simply had the main course.

We were not offered any bread – you pay extra for that.

I had the salt beef (£6.75) followed by bubble and squeak (£6.25). The salt beef was not too salty but it was served with a strange salad dressing – it tasted like Heinz Salad Cream enriched with extra egg yolk. Overall, it was very good. The bubble and squeak was a large rissole of mash potato, cabbage and carrot julienne, bread crumbed and fried. This sat in a large pool of hollandaise sauce. On top of this was a poached egg (soft yolk) and a slice of smoked bacon on the side of the rissole. It was very visual and tasted as good as it looked.

One of my guests had the bubble and squeak as a main course (£11.75) and it was exactly the same but with 2 rissoles, 2 poached eggs and 2 slices of bacon – this turned out to be too much for her.

The other guest had the grilled cod fillet (£14.50) with a pea risotto and a soft boiled egg. The cod was perfectly cooked, came as a thick chunk with crispy skin. The pea risotto was too wet for my liking, but then most risottos served in this country have too much liquid – it tasted fine. The soft boiled egg turned out to be hard boiled – the only blemish of the meal.

The service was very good and efficient. With 2 pints of Rebellion and 3 Persi, the total bill came to £49.65 without service charge.

I like the place and the food.

E

PS  if you use the postal code supplied in this article on your tomtom, you will be taken to a place 300 meters south of the pub – same road. 

Telephone number: 01628 482277

Website: www.thehandandflowers.co.uk

Date of visit: 18 February 2010

Approximate cost per head: £10 plus. A la Carte around £20 for a main course.

Comments on wine list/beer: Very extensive and expensive. House wine OK

Summary:

This is the second visit within a month  to verify the cooking as it’s a michelin star pub.

Last time I had a carafe of basic Rioja at £12 for 250ml which I thought was over priced. This time, we had the red (£17) suggested on the fixed price menu. It was a 2007 Grenache Shiraz. I have had this “new mix” before from Octavia and was surprised that it worked. This time, the wine had a higher percentage of Grenache than Shiraz. On the menu it was described as fruity with a hint of animal……….I had never come across a wine with the word animal in it – I had to have it. It was quite drinkable and they were right, there was a hint of “game” in it.

We stuck to the fixed price menu – £10 for 2 courses (weekday lunch only). The place was full on a Thursday lunch time and nearly everyone had the fixed price menu.

On offer as starters was parsnip soup or pork pie with piccalilli. For second course, comfits of ling with lentils or venison stew with mash potato.

The pork pie was home made and came as a thick slice. It was full of prime meat – not off cuts – and there were blocks of ham within it. It was very good and the home made piccalilli was very mild not sharp. Prior to this, we were given a basket of home made bread and some deep fried whitebait. The bread was warm and the whitebait crisp and moist. Both excellent as was last time.

For main course, we had the venison and ling. I did nit taste the ling but my friends said it was very good. The venison was served in a mini frying pan and had prime cuts – possibly fillet – in it with no visible fat. It came with a sauce which was not over reduced.

We ordered sides with the meal (all at £4): cauliflower cheese, spring green and the famous chips. The cauli was fine but nothing special. The greens were cut into large leaves and were cooked perfectly – still with a bite. The chips which I raved on last time were not as good this time. They were more like tripe cooked chips and they were over salted – why do they do this? Nothing else tasted over seasoned.

The service was a bit slow between courses – as we had the set lunch and nearly everyone else also had the set lunch, I wonder if the kitchen staffs are over stretched when they are at capacity?

On the whole, it was a very good meal and this is possibly the best value lunch around but then AWT also offers £10 for 2 courses at his pub and there are two other very good (untested by me) restaurants in Marlow – Vanilla Pod and The Lost Soul.

Eddie

Telephone number: 01628 482277

Website: www.thehandandflowers.co.uk

Date of visit:  26 January 2010

Approximate cost per head: From £10, a la carte £30

Comments on wine list/beer: Its Green King IPA on tap. Wine list very comprehensive but mostly “youngish wines” – massive mark up.

Summary:
This is a “pub/restaurant” with one Michelin star.

On entry, you are in several connecting rooms with exposed beam and stone floor. However, all the tables are laid and there are no bar stools so it is really a restaurant that served draft beer.

All the tables were bare (no table cloth) but proper napkins were provided. A few years ago, if you do not have a table cloth, you will not get a Michelin star, but those days are long gone!

They offer a set lunch during week days. On offer today was parsnip soup or pork pie followed by confit of ling with puy lentils or lasagne. Desert was the usual crème brulee etc £10 for 2 courses or £13.50 for three courses.

On checking out the a la carte, which has the usual combination of slow cooked meat, fish and steak, I arrived at the last page which had only one item on it – award winning fish and chips at £13.50! I had to go for it.

Additional sides which included their famous chips, swede with black pepper, brussels sprouts tops etc… all priced at £4.

When it arrived, the fish and chips were two pieces of medium size fillets deep fried in batter – it tasted and looked like hake. Then you had a copper sauce pot filled with chips, a ramekin of home made tartar sauce and a ramekin of pea puree.

Lets talk about the chips – they were cylindrical in shape and is a cross between triple cooked chips and pommes soufflé. I really don’t know how they do it. It was truly amazing! A guess is that they treat it like triple cooked chips – par boil, then deep fry at 130C and then  finally deep fry at 190C, allowing it to cool and dry  in-between – then blow air into it after the 130C treatment before deep frying again at 190C. The chips were only slightly seasoned. The pea puree had sugar added.

I had a carafe of house red (rioja crianza) which was around 350ml at £12. At this rate, its £24 for a bottle of house red which was probably around £3.50 a bottle – very steep! It was just drinkable.

The freebies on offer were 2 kinds of bread (warm) and some deep fried whitebaits. The bread was very good, the brown had a chilli kick to it. The whitebait were as good as they come – moist and crispy.

On the whole a very good experience even though they – like most Michelin starred restaurants – put in a massive mark up on wine.

Car park is by the side of the pub and the loos have individual towels.

Eddie