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We visited the Rick Stein restaurant on a short stay in Malborough, as my partner loves seafood. (Although I am vegetarian, there were options available, including on the set menu.) There are dining rooms both upstairs and down, the latter behind the small bar area. You enter through the shop: the decor - despite this being an 18th century heritage building - is fresh and modern, with dark wood and pale walls, and selected modern art on the walls. We chose the set menu, 3 courses for £26.95. Our starters were the steamed mussels in cider with spring onion and spinach, and roasted red pepper soup; mains were salmon fishcakes with watercress and the chickpea curry (plus a side of hispi cabbage); and we both had the sunken chocolate cake with clotted cream for pudding. (NB the Welsh rarebit isn't veggie - it's made with anchovies.) My starter and main (soup and curry) were perfectly good - the soup especially so - but not exceptional. It didn't surprise me as Rick Stein - both the chef and restaurant - are really all about seafood. My partner found the mussels superb - fresh, sweet, with just the right amount of sauce. Likewise, the fishcakes were excellent and, although they looked small on arrival, they were actually quite filling, and generous on the salmon. The hispi cabbage proved the perfect accompaniment to both mains. The chocolate cake was smooth and velvety, but not too sweet (think a brownie sort of texture) - and perfect if you like dark chocolate. We chose a 250ml glass each of one of the recommended Sauvignon blancs, which also proved a good choice. Service was excellent throughout, and the young server was very skilled at making us feel at home. Including service, the bill came to £95 for two, which for a fine dining experience was pretty good value. Others certainly think so, as on a wet mid-week evening it was packed (so booking definitely advised). There's parking along the main street outside - not a problem in the evening, but potentially a bit more challenging at lunchtime. read more
What a pleasant surprise - after visiting Stonehenge Mrs G decided that she fancied some upmarket shopping English style so after searching nearby possibilities I picked Marlborough and so glad I did. About 40 minutes drive and the town rewarded us by being picturesque with a multitude of chic and upmarket specialty stores plus many pubs and a wide variety of eating places. We lucked out by parking on the High St just steps from Rick Stein. I never realized it was named for "the" Rick Stein from the TV show https://www.rickstein.com/about/rick-stein/television-list/ but I was attracted by the understated but classy look. Went in (after fairly extensive shopping up and down the High St!!) and were shown to a table for two in the front part of the ground floor after waiting a couple minutes in the well stocked bar. The atmosphere was warm, comfortable, well designed and comfortable. Staff polite, well dressed and attentive. The food was excellent and pretty good value. I had a small steak and chips (and deviled mackerel appetizer) followed by Rick's childhood Marlborough pudding (shared with Mrs G who had a salad and fish and chips). Great experience - we both wished that there was a Rick Stein closer time home!! Two big thumbs up - very happy to put this restaurant on the Yelp map!! read more
4 years ago
We've been to a few of Mr Stein's restaurants in Cornwall but all visits were pre covid and all were good. We just knew this place would be good too, even before we booked it. We booked at Sunday lunch time to dine that evening. We arrived about half an hour before our reservation and met the same friendly waitress who took the booking and remembered us. We went to an upstairs table and drink orders were taken straight away. It was cosy and snug. We also ordered a bottle of rosé, which arrived in an ice bath and was poured for us. The place began to fill with diners. We are into about week 4 or 5 of our European tour and for the last few weeks we've consumed 100's of cocktails, had champagne on tap, drank a lot of Irish whiskey and eaten our weight in lobsters, fillet steaks, halibut and sushi, so our menu choices were clear - oysters and crab for me and great cod for my wife. The oysters (3) came with meaty, dense, full flavoured Spanish sausages, liberally dosed with paprika and garlic. The proposition on the menu was eat an oyster, bite into the sausage and gulp a slug of the menu recommended white wine. I decided to enjoy the components separately. They were each very good. My main was crab linguine, which was perfectly made, tasty and a good portion. My wife had the salt & pepper prawns (shell on) and cod fish & chips. Her main came with real, home - made mayonnaise using rapeseed oil given the yellow colour. This is just so rare with many restauranteurs not bothering their rear ends on giving customers quality, rather opting for factory mass - produced jars of mayo. All the food was delicious and the cost against quality totally reasonable. There was a 12.5% service charge so it saved me having to think. We shared a dessert - chocolate fondant and salted caramel ice cream. We were told it would take 15 minutes and it did. It wowed. It didn't take 15 minutes to demolish. The coffees too were top notch. They came with complimentary, tasty fudge. All in all it was a superb night and the staff were charming. I hope we can return some day. We were charged more for rubbish food in a Chinese in Windsor. read more
