The Swan

The Swan, West Malling

Occasionally we like to go outside London to get away from the city, most of the time food takes priority when it comes to deciding the destination :) Early December we went to West Malling - a historical town in Kent located just outside the M25. Originally we planned to leave home early to wander around, but the weather was miserable (surprise surprise!), so we gave up and headed straight to the restaurant.

The Swan in West Malling is part of the Swan Collection, which also includes a restaurant of the same name at the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The restaurant is a modernised ex-coaching inn, and the dining room is decorated with a mixture of contemporary furniture and wooden beams, creating a slick yet cosy environment. There was a good selection of dishes in the Sunday lunch menu, plus a few specials recommended by the waiter.

Poached egg, black pudding and pancetta salad - Did I mention before that I have a thing for runny egg yolk? It takes me to infinity and beyond when I see a perfectly cooked one, and this was no exception. Although I could not get too excited about the rest of the dish, it was a pleasant start to the meal.

Mussels and chorizo - It was one of the specials of the day, available as either a starter or a main course. While we enjoyed the fresh and juicy mussels, the highlight was the broth. It was a clear shellfish broth, with a hint of the colour and smoky flavour from the chorizo. Not the kind of rich creamy sauce you would dip your bread into, but it was light and packed with flavour.

Roast Scottish beef, horseradish hollandaise - We have all had the roast dinner nightmare, where the beef was cooked to death. That’s why it was such a relief to see this handsome plate presented in front of me. I liked the fact that the beef was thickly sliced, giving an extra bite to this succulent beef. The golden potatoes and the greens were equally enjoyable.

Chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream - There was nothing wrong with this dessert, it was just not very exciting. I would have preferred a warm chocolate brownie on a cold and rainy day...

The food we had at The Swan was of a high quality, and for the cost of less than £30 per person including drinks, it was certainly value for money. I would be happy to drive an hour to come back for another meal any day, hopefully the weather will be better next time!

The Swan

The Hand and Flowers

The Hand and Flowers, Marlow

It has been a while since my last post. We just came back from our 1st anniversary celebration trip in Venice, and now I am in Hong Kong (and New York after that!). It is going to be a quiet August on my blog. Please follow me on twitter to see what I am up to :)

A few weeks back we went to the Hand and Flowers, a nice gastropub in Marlow. We don't live anywhere near Marlow, in fact, we drove for 1.5 hours on a rainy day across London to this little restaurant. What was the attraction? Tom Kerridge's hog roast - The winner of the meat course in the Great British Menu 2011. He got a perfect 10/10 from chef judge Jason Atherton in the preliminary round.

Our booking was for 2pm, which was the 2nd seating of the lunch service. We were led to our table at the back of the dinning room - a nice little spot next to the window, filled with natural light. The dining room became full soon after we arrived.

After taking our orders, the waitress brought out the pre-starter - deep fried whitebait. These crispy, lightly salted little fish were loosely wrapped in newspaper, and came with a marie rose dip.

Maple glazed veal sweetbread with pearl barley, sweetcorn and chives. It was a very generous portion. The sweetbread was rich and tender, I'd actually prefer a slightly smaller portion so I wouldn't get full before the main.

Quail tart with green olives, chicory and aged gruyère. It was a 'deconstructed tart' - Filo pastry covered with a layer of chopped green olives, followed by two pieces of perfectly cooked quail meat, a few slices of chicory and cubes of gruyère cheese. It was nice when I tried the individual items, but sadly they didn't go together. There were too many olives, together with the cheese, I couldn't taste the quail at all. That totally killed the dish.

Roast hog with salt baked potatoes and apple sauce. The judges from the Great British Menu wanted a sharing dish, a dramatic entry that would get people talking, and interacting around the table. I can't think of anything else more appropriate than this.

The trotter was stuffed with shoulder meat, offal and herbs. The skin was soft, just about holding the stuffing in. The sweetness of the skin went really well with the rich offal. The loin was juicy and tender, with perfectly crisp crackling. The highlight of the dish was the deep fried cubes of pig's head. The meat was braised for a long time, moulded then lightly covered with breadcrumbs, before deep frying. It melted as soon as I put it in my mouth. No chewing needed. It was just so good.

We were told the sack was not edible as it was heavily salted. The salt baked potatoes were not much different from normal oven baked ones, a bit gimmicky. Although they certainly delivered the wow factor. I loved the 'accessories' which came with the dish - gem lettuce salad, apple sauce, gravy and decanted cider.

I couldn't quite believe we had dessert. We were so full but we couldn't resist the temptation of this hot chocolate tart with malted milk ice cream.

I like the calmness of the Hand and Flowers, it sits quietly in the beautiful Marlow. I would describe it as a local gastropub, serves good food, friendly staff, and has a chef who cooks meat very well. The roast hog was exceptional. I would probably go once a month if I was a local. Tom, I am waiting for another meat feast creation!

Until next time then...

The Hand and Flowers