Harden's survey result
Summary
“You are always well looked after” at Michael Macdonald’s “tiny” venture – a timbered room in a house once owned by TS Eliot. Many who report on it are regulars: “best value in town…”; “not one but several excellent meals last year…”; “sublime consistent food without a doubt, as I have been about thirty times – just perfect with fish and the only place in the world I eat pudding!”
Summary
“You are always well looked after” at Michael Macdonald’s “tiny” venture – a timbered room in a house once owned by TS Eliot. Many who report on it are regulars: “best value in town…”; “not one but several excellent meals this year…”; “sublime consistent food without a doubt, as I have been about thirty times – just perfect with fish and the only place in the world I eat pudding!”
Summary
“A model of consistency, value and great taste” – Michael Macdonald’s “small and beautifully formed hidden gem” – “a quiet, old timbered room, looking onto a garden” – wins practically nothing but rapturous feedback: “a most wonderful experience” providing “fine dining at reasonable prices” where “everything is outstanding”. Top Tip: “good value for lunch with a choice of well-balanced set menus”.
Summary
“An under-appreciated jewel!” say fans of Michael Macdonald’s highly-rated venture – “an intimate, timbered (and nicely extended but still very small and very cramped) dining room” with “enthusiastic” staff (in what was once TS Eliot’s home). Michael Mcdonald’s “consistently brilliant” food is “immaculate, the flavours beautifully calculated, the wine list is wide-ranging and imaginative, and prices are a snip compared with its many famous local competitors which it ranks highly against: why it has no Michelin recognition is baffling”.
For 30 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at The Vanilla Pod?
Owner's description
Welcome to The Vanilla Pod.
The Restaurant has been awarded 2010 Regional Winner of the Good Food Guide, Reader’s Restaurant of the Year Award, The Top 100 independent restaurant by Good Food Guide 2013, Listed 92nd by Sunday Times Top 100 Hardens Guide.
Thank you for all your support over the years to which there have been a lot of changes at The Vanilla Pod.
As you may well be aware I have been working alone in the kitchen for the last 4 years, so I do apologise if I am unable to see you all but you are more than welcome to pop your head around the door into the kitchen, it would be great to see you.
Kind regards
Michael Macdonald
Prices
| Availability | 2 courses | 3 courses |  |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Always | £40.00 | £45.00 |  |
 |
|
Traditional European menu
| Pudding |
|---|
| £0.00 |
| Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £37.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £4.00 |
| Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Service | 12.50% |
Restaurant details
31 West St, Marlow, SL7 2LS
Opening hours
| Monday | CLOSED |
| Tuesday | 12 pm‑2 pm, 7 pm‑9 pm |
| Wednesday | 12 pm‑2 pm, 7 pm‑9 pm |
| Thursday | 12 pm‑2 pm, 7 pm‑9 pm |
| Friday | 12 pm‑2 pm, 7 pm‑9 pm |
| Saturday | 12 pm‑2 pm, 7 pm‑9 pm |
| Sunday | CLOSED |
