No. 17: The Hand and Flowers, Marlow
As my wife’s birthday celebrations moved into Day 3, our friends Jon & Stacey arrived for our expedition to The Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. A burst up the M3, around the M25 and we were soon heading across the River Thames into Marlow.
The whole car were enthralled about my Marlow Bridge story, they hung on my every word as I explained about how we had crossed the chain bridge in Budapest, which had been built in the same style and by Englishman William Clark.
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The Hand and Flowers is the first and only pub dining rooms to be awarded the coveted Two Michelin Stars, they are also the current AA Restaurant of the Year 2011-12. The restaurants head chef and owner is Tom Kerridge, a former winner and judge on BBC’s ‘Great British Menu’, and of course he was the headline show at Milford on Sea Food Week 2012.
Arriving at The Hand and Flowers, the quaint old Tudor style pub building was teeming with staff and full of content diners. The interior décor was not the traditional ‘Michelin star’ dining room with crisp white table cloths and fancy furnishings, this was very much a pub, with wooden tables and chairs, a bar at the centre and a buzzing atmosphere. We soon recovered from our long journey with a couple of pints of Czech beer, and of course white wine for the ladies.
As we made our way to our table, the low ceilings proved a bit of a challenge for my tall friend. Although he had been warned of the low beams on a couple of occasions, he simply lost control of his gangly body, and thumped his head solidly on one of the beams. Fortunately, we did not laugh ….too much.
On most occasions when booking restaurants, I tell the restaurant that it is my wife’s birthday. I just love it when she gets a surprise treat, and has no idea why. For once, the birthday booking information I had given was true, and at the table my wife was given a birthday card from the Hand and Flowers team. A nice touch to start our afternoon experience.
Being good friends, it was only right and proper that dining should be a communal affair, and before we had even ordered we all entered into a pact to taste each other’s courses. Not one of us wanted to miss out on this culinary extravaganza.
As soon as we looked at the menu we knew we were in for a pretty special experience. The only difficulty was going to be able to choose what not to have. Our waitress helped us through all of the menu options, and throughout the afternoon it was clear that all of the waiting team who looked after us were very knowledgeable about all of the dishes and happy to help with whatever anyone wanted.
At this stage it is worth mentioning that Stacey & Jon are successful restauranteurs, and Jon is a bit of a wine expert. Indeed, he has this weird ability that the more wine he drinks, the more he can’t stop talking about grape varieties and regions.
Jon had been reading the wine list since we arrived and was contently murmuring to himself occasionally. In the meantime, more beers were ordered. Eventually he suggested the Pinot Noir, and went into a long explanation of where it came from and the grapes therein, we just wanted another drink, so we all agreed.
Having ordered and awaiting our starters, a complimentary dish of crispy whitebait arrived at the table served in a newspaper cone, alongside was a basket of soda white bread, wholemeal bread, butter and two pinch pots of salt & pepper. Having not seen salt & pepper served with bread before, it was explained that the butter was unsalted, and we were invited to add our own personal taste for seasoning to the bread. We did, and it was a new delicious way to eat the staff of life. The Hand and Flowers has built its reputation on serving the finest rustic ingredients, with a twist and imaginative flair. We were beginning to see why this restaurant is so highly acclaimed.
The starters arrived, and soon the table was laden with Blowtorched Scottish Scallop with Warm Beef Bouillon, Salt Cod Scotch Egg with Chorizo and Red Pepper Sauce, Glazed Omelette of Smoked Haddock and Parmesan, and Moules Marinière with Warm Stout and Brown Bread. A quiet air of complete satisfaction covered the table as we all tucked in. Unusually, the moules were served out of their shells in the beer sauce, and the tiny ‘Hovis’ style loaf looked as good as it tasted. Indeed each dish received top marks, and the haddock omelette contained heaven in every spoonful.
Between the courses the girls were still yapping about shoes, handbags and bracelets etc. Having started their conversation on leaving home, we were still waiting to see if either of them was ready to take a breath yet.
Jon and I were enjoying our wine and chatting using regular breathing and pauses, I was also ignoring his explanation about the origins of the Pinot Noir grape.
The main courses arrived next. Somehow two of us had mistakenly chosen the same lamb dish, so one valuable tasting opportunity had disappeared. Included in our feast was one of Tom’s signature dishes; Slow Cooked Duck Breast with Peas, Duck Fat Chips & Gravy. We also enjoyed the Essex Line Caught Cod with Pastrami, Morels Herb Crust & English Asparagus, and Essex Lamb “Bun” with Sweetbreads & Salsa Verde.
To ensure we did not go hungry we had also ordered some side dishes of Salt Baked Potatoes with Garlic and Parsley Butter, and Hand & Flowers Chips. As we ate we were in gourmet heaven, the duck was amazing, and the accompanying gravy was more like an elixir from the gods, the ‘Lamb bun’ looked like a work of art and we could not fathom out how the ‘pear shaped’ bread containing the meat had been created. The salt baked potatoes were cooked and served inside a rope tied pastry loaf. Apparently, this was an age old recipe, but we had ever seen or tasted anything like it.
As you may imagine by this time we were pretty full and well oiled.
Soon another charming waitress arrived with the sweet menu. Now, if you have seen Tom, you will know he is a big bloke, and it is great to find a chef who not only loves great food, but is also passionate about creating fabulous puddings. Our waitress also loved Tom’s sweets, and took us through a magical descriptive journey of everything that was available. I simply sat in a trance like state, tasting each plate in my head, and then I spontaneously broke into a ‘pudding dance’, gyrating in my chairing, arms waving, and singing repeated choruses of ‘I love puddings, I love puddings ….’
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Choosing a single sweet was traumatic, but knowing we had a ‘sharing pact’ relieved some of the anxiety. Thankfully, my wife had still not taken breath in her nonsensical conversation with Stacey, so I ordered another pudding on her behalf.
Choices made, Jon was once again engrossed in the wine list, mumbling to himself several times before choosing and ordering Sauternes sweet wine from Château de Malle Sainte-Hélène to accompany our puddings.
A short while after ordering the maitre d’ appeared, and it was really nice when we found out that Tom had arranged a complimentary glass of Italian Moscato to accompany our sweets.
A trail of waiters then appeared with our glorious puddings; Tonka Bean Panna Cotta, with Poached Strawberries, Liquorice Meringue and Strawberry Ice Cream, a cooked to order Raspberry Soufflé with Kaffir Lime Ice Cream and Warm Toffee, and two portions of Hand & Flowers Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel and Muscovado Ice Cream.
My wife gave me one of ‘her looks’ as a pudding was placed in front of her. Awaiting the ritual chastising I get on these occasions, she amazed the whole table by saying; ‘Ooo, that looks nice’. As the spoon reached her mouth, there was a short delay, and she smiled, sat back, and then started an impromptu ‘pudding dance’. The sight was surreal, but seconds later our entire party were dancing in the chairs and much to the disdain of some other diners, singing; ‘We love puddings, we love puddings ….’. I can’t even begin to explain the explosion of delicious sweet loveliness on each plate, and the masterful combination of the combined flavours as we ate.
A quick show of hands, and the Panna Cotta was voted the best pudding in the world, closely followed by the Chocolate Cake!
We were all full and extremely satisfied, we had experienced a master at work and a demonstration of classic flavours and unique combinations throughout each of the courses. Surely lunch cannot get better than this… but I had a plan.
I had (through a slightly alcoholic haze) come to the conclusion that we could not leave without having tried every sweet on the menu. This desire was driven by no sense whatsoever, other than it felt like something that just had to be done. My wife of course protested, Stacey was still singing and Jon had the wine list back again.
As one, of what was going to be a total of seven sweets, had to be cooked to order, we were happy to have twenty minutes of so to let our digestive systems attempt to create some room, and of course have another drink. Amazingly, on her trip to the ladies, Stacey did not fall over, which is her normal course of action when we all go out together.
Our final challenge arrived; Glazed Cox’s Apple Tart with Meadowsweet Ice Cream, Warm Pistachio Sponge Cake with Melon Sorbet & Marzipan and Vanilla Crème Brulée served with a mini tankard of whisky barrel aged beer. Surely beer and crème brulee does not go together, but it did! Challenge complete, we were satisfied that any choice of sweet from the menu would get anyone’s taste buds buzzing. Our only remaining challenge was how we could lift our bodies to get to the car.
Tom Kerridge can be found in the kitchen on most days, however we had picked one of his few days off. This had no effect on the food or service, (the kitchen had 14 chefs!) and every dish was served exactly as we would have expected had he been behind the stove.
On the journey home the girls continued to gabble on, whilst the two boys took a well-deserved power nap, only interrupted by the occasional poke in the ribs and scream ‘to stop snoring!’.
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The Hand and Flowers
126 West Street, Marlow, SL7 2BP
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