I hate writing about experiences I didn't enjoy, but sometimes I don't understand some restaurants even if they have won a prestigious award.
And today I'd like to talk about The Coach, a Michelin-starred pub in Marlow named after Tom Kerridge, a popular British chef with many published books and several restaurants.
I didn't quite understand the concept of this place. It's a pub which looks exactly like pub. And inside you feel as if you are in a tipical pub, where there is not enough space for comfortable sitting, there are too many tables. I would say that the problem is not even sufficient privacy - there was a lack of basic comfort. There were good window seats for groups of four, but if there's only two of you, you'll have to sit wherever there is space.
Secondly, the concept of food. This is a small plate concept. It is recommended to take 2-3 plates per person. We selected several dishes from the meat menu, two of them at the highest prices. And yes, they were small plates. I was expecting a little more for £30 a plate in a pub in Marlow, but well, they have a Michelin star, maybe it is some extraordinary food.
But no, which brings up the third problem: the food is exactly as described on their website: “traditional British classics with a contemporary twist”. It was classic British pub food, which means it was loaded with fat, oil and salt. Two of our three plates were pork dishes, the third was a small stuffed quail. But I must admit that I really liked the appearance of the dishes.
Croquette with pork cheeks and coleslaw
Pork tenderloin
Stuffed quail with haggis
Well, you might ask, what did you expect from a pub that claims to serve classic pub food?
Okay, if we're talking about some random restaurant, I'd expect two out of three to be considered good:
Comfortable restaurant
Large plates (or enough food for that price)
Great taste
But at Coach I was not satisfied with any of these criteria. Perhaps I had the wrong food choice, or I had the most awkward seat in the pub, or my expectations of the place were simply too high, but I didn't get what I wanted in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
