Marlow Restaurant Guide

“Turn up early as there’s no booking” at Tom Kerridge’s ‘other’ place in town. Spared the Michelin-fuelled expectations of its older sibling perhaps allows its virtues to shine all the brighter: “the food is well thought-out and well executed”, service is “friendly” and although it can become “hectic” it “is well worth the wait”. Top Tip: “they also do fantastic breakfasts, especially the Kedgeree”.

“Two stars????” – Tom Kerridge’s renowned (because of Michelin) destination is “a nice pub with very good food but it’s not up to the incredibly high standards that the French tyre company seem to think it merits” and consequently can appear “way over-hyped”. A fair number of reporters do indeed experience “magnificent cooking” (“so many things on the menu that you’re dying to eat”) delivered with “warm-heartedness, of a kind not given in most London eateries”; and in an “atmospheric setting, which remains like a gastropub despite the awards”. But, perhaps because TK has been distracted by his launch in the capital, the gulf between expectations and reality grew noticeably this year, and for a significant proportion of diners it now merely seems like “an adequate but unexceptional meal at a very inflated price”; or at worse “tremendously disappointing and truly bad”.

“A touch of London glamour in the Thames Valley” – this “convivial” and “always busy” outpost of Richard Caring’s brand is one of the most commented-on in the survey, and many reporters do see it as a “lovely” spot (“you’d never believe that it used to be a shoe shop from the stylish interior”); and “a good addition to the ever-increasing Marlow foodie scene”. Characteristically for this brand extension however, there are also many who report “such a disappointing experience: I’ve persevered four times and each time the service was as bad as the first (which I first put down to teething problems) – shame as it is indeed a beautiful spot”. There are also a worrying number of reports where the food experience was plain “poor”… “uneatable” even.