THE HAND & FLOWERS

MARLOW, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE • THEHANDANDFLOWERS.CO.UK TOM KERRIDGE’S TWO-MICHELIN-STARRED PUB WITH ROOMS IS ALL ABOUT GENEROUS, YET REFINED, CUISINE

If it’s possible for a business to embody a person, The Hand & Flowers must surely be Tom Kerridge in bricks and mortar. The chef’s personal brand is about generosity and informality, and in the pretty village of Marlow, he’s created a pub to match.

The menu is strong on comfort food, a descriptor that, in the wrong context, could be seen as a slight — an implication of flavour without refinement — but is intended as anything but. The dishes are crowd-pleasers (fish pie; steak and chips) made with a level of care that seeps into the presentation — as you’d expect from a two-michelin-starred pub.

Take the lamb bun, which looks like an upturned toffee apple, glossy and round with a bone sticking out of its top in place of a lolly stick. Inside a thin layer of pastry is tender, well-seasoned meat wrapped in cabbage.

It’s served solo, in the centre of a huge plate, which makes sense if you’ve done the right thing and ordered a few sides to share. (Special mention goes to the pomme boulangère, which is beautiful, beefy and moreish.)

The starter of lovage soup is shocking green, dotted with cubes of tangy bramley apple and pieces of salty smoked eel, crowned by a single ham and cheese tortellini. My only slight disappointment is dessert — and that’s mostly down to my misordering. Already full, I choose the bitter orange souffle, reasoning it’ll be lighter than what I really want — the chocolate and ale cake. The souffle, which has risen high out of its ramekin, comes with a dark chocolate sorbet and a mildly marmalade-y custard.

It’s feather-light with a hint of bitterness, as promised, but it could do with a stronger flavour. Like, say, a chocolate and ale cake.

After dinner, it’s time to head off to bed, which, conveniently, is less than a minute’s walk away. The Hand & Flowers has 15 bedrooms dotted around Marlow, including four that opened this year in Sunset Cottage, just next door. And while the 17th-century pub dining room is all low ceilings, black beams and brick fireplaces, the guest rooms have all the modern touches you could want, from huge beds to freestanding copper baths and, in one case, a hot tub. There’s also a generous supply of cakes, biscuits and other treats in each room — but after dinner next door, it’s hard to imagine being hungry again. Three-course dinner with wine around £100 a head. Double rooms from £325 a night, B&B. Nicola Trup