We Road Test Starling Esher’s Mid-Week Lunch Menu
Regular readers of the free Mayfair Foodie newsletter (if you’re not signed up, sign up here) will be aware that we’re keen to champion excellent set lunch offers in London, so it gives me great pleasure to review Starling Esher. I can already hear you shouting at the screen: “Esher is not in London! Has the Mayfair Foodie lost his bearings or his marbles?” The latter might be true, and whilst Esher is indeed in Surrey, visiting Starling has been on our radar since it opened six months ago.
Why the interest in Surrey’s newest Michelin-starred restaurant (awarded in under six months of opening)? It’s simple: the patron chef is Nick Bearshaw (Hand & Flowers and Great British Menu fame). The reviews of Starling Esher have been nothing short of excellent since opening, and today we’re here to sample the £30 set three-course lunch available Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The great thing about set lunches that restaurants offer is that it’s a win-win for the restaurant and diner. Whilst at £30 there’s little or no profit, hopefully, like us, diners add sides and drinks to top the bill up (we obviously did), but it gives diners a chance to sample the restaurant’s food. If, like us, they enjoyed the experience, they’ll be back to sample the à la carte menu. Quick plug: sign up to our free monthly newsletter where we feature all the very best lunch deals every month.
It’s a great sight to see a restaurant busy on a midweek lunch. Starling Esher was heaving, clearly very popular. Our waiter said it was busy every day. The restaurant has a large open kitchen and bar along one side which adds to the atmosphere.
The Set Lunch Experience at Starling Esher
As I mentioned, the menu is three courses with two choices per course. I assume the choices are subject to change as one of the mains was different to the sample menu on the website. Sides are available but not included in the £30.
Between the four of us, we chose all the dishes on the menu, so I was able to taste them all. Handy tip: say you’re writing a review and you need to taste everything – I get away with it every time.
Starters
For starters, there was a choice of pumpkin and ginger soup with crème fraîche and maple dressing, or chalk stream trout with warm tartare sauce. I chose the trout, which was perfectly cooked, and the warm tartare was so good it elevated the dish to another level. The soup gained a big nod of approval at our table – a good soup takes some beating and looked as pretty as a picture.
Mains
For mains, the choices were stuffed loin of pork with creamed potato served with a devilled sauce, or a deep-fried hen’s egg with soft polenta and charred sweetcorn.
Three of us went for the pork. Wow, was it good! Cooked slightly pink with a crackling crust that melted in the mouth. We all enjoyed the devilled sauce – a heat from mustard and paprika that complemented the pork beautifully.
For the table, we ordered two sides of garlic roast hispi cabbage, much to the disgust of my friend (he’s part of the “nothing green on the plate” brigade). Needless to say, he was seen going for seconds on the cabbage. Need I say more?
Desserts
For desserts, the choices were Cashel Blue with a golden syrup flapjack, or Xoco Mayan Red chocolate ice cream with early harvest olive oil and Piedmont hazelnut.
The ice cream drew those noises you only hear when people are enjoying a yummy dessert. I tasted it but was restricted to one small spoonful – no surprise there. I had the blue cheese and flapjack. If I’m being ever so picky, I would have liked something like a quince jelly on the plate, but hey, it was a good plate and what do I expect for £30 lunch?
Service & Atmosphere
As is the trend these days (thankfully), the service was attentive and informal. We must have been served by at least five different people during the course of lunch, and all were delightful. I’ve mentioned this in previous reviews: you can tell a happy ship by the way the team interact with each other, and the team at Starling Esher gave me that vibe.
Starling Bistro Esher
3 High Street, Esher KT10 9RL
Website & Bookings
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