Address: Paley Street (name of a Village), Nr Maidenhead, SL3 3JN (M4 J8/9 then A330 towards Ascot left onto, B3024)

Telephone number: 01628 620 541

Website: http://www.theroyaloakpaleystreet.com/

Date of visit: 14 April 2010

Approximate cost per head : Set lunch : £17.50 for 2 courses, £21 for 3 courses. A la carte approx £30 for 2 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: Fullers on tap, extensive wine list including first growth Bordeaux. There is a recommended “short list” which is better value

Summary:

I haven’t been here since they were awarded a Michelin star.

On this day – Wednesday lunch time – the place was fully booked.

Two of us had the set lunch (identical order) whilst the other two ordered from the a la carte and had the same main course.

I had Scotch Egg (£3.50 each) which is suppose to be what Parkinson (yes, Michael Parkinson and his son Nick owns the pub) would eat as his last meal. Here, it’s served warm with a runny quail’s egg in the middle and crispy panko (Japanese bread crumb from honeyed white bread) on the outside. I always have it when I am here as it’s right up there on my favourite all time list.

Next (off the set lunch) I had whitebait followed by white sausage (veal?) and mash. The whitebait was a little bit over seasoned for my taste. Why do people “over salt” deep fried food in a restaurant?

The white sausage was great and came with heavily reduced onion gravy.

One of my friends had chicken liver and pasta as a starter – the rest of us all had the whitebait – and he said that it was quite good. He and A N Other then had the oxtail and kidney pie. This is a Heston Blumenthal invention which is always on the menu of the Hind Head (Bray). The oxtail makes the gravy in the pie more gelatinous. The pie was served straight as a top crust pie, no garnish or anything in addition – this is a place where you will have to order side dishes if you want vegetables. Cabbage is £3.75 a portion.

Two of my friends then went on to have the rhubarb crumble which received very high marks.

The food was washed down with two bottles of Bandol (£30 each). In restaurants like this, try to go for a country wine as they tend to have pretty good suppliers – ditto The Fat Duck &The Hand and Flowers.

The bill including coffee, service and a few beers came to just over £200 for 4. The service was pretty good. By the way, the bread (free) is pretty nice and you can get tap water off a jug.

We all had a great time.

E

Address: 128 West Street, Marlow, SL7 2BP. ( Its on the edge of Marlow, on the Henley side)

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