These days, everyone knows Tom Kerridge as the chef from the telly. Yes the one that lost all the weight and does the healthy cooking TV shows.
Very few of us recognise him as for his accolade of being the first pub in the world to obtain the two michelin star status. Tom Kerridge, along with his wife Beth, opened the Hand and Flowers in Marlow in 2005. He gained one michelin star in 2006 and in 2012 gained a second.
In July of 2018 we went to England on a family vacation, this was deffinitely going to be one of the destinations to stop at on the trip!
This is an occasion that you have to book for well in advance.
My family of four arrived a few minutes early for our booking and we were seated in their casual bar side where we were offered drinks. The kids had homemade cordials while my wife had an elderflower gin and tonic as an appertif and I settled for a superb home brewed ale.
We were shown to our table in the dining area which has a wonderfully casual traditional british pub feel. Staight away we were served bread, best crusty sourdough I had in a long time, and a board with crispy Whitebait and marie-rose sauce.
The kids shared a main course cod and chips which was beautiful and flaky. I had torched mackerel with apple, caviar, aioli and dill oil. My wife had a jerusalem artichoke soup to start. This was followed by the crispiest pork belly with roasted pinapple and a chorizo emulsion. My wife had a beef pasty, like you’ve never had before, with grilled baby gem lettuce.
Of course we had to order a side of the Hand and flowers’ world famous triple cooked chips, which didn’t disapoint.
It was a great experience to eat in this world renowned pub that I would highly recommend.
Relish 