Last Updated on January 20, 2025
Proper Posh Pub Grub and More at The Coach
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Looking for a great food destination just outside London? Marlow might just win that prize. With a population of just 14,000, this Thames-side market town has a wealth of excellent independent restaurants including two from Tom Kerridge – the Hand and Flowers and The Coach, both on West Street, and both celebrating anniversaries this year. The two-Michelin-starred Hand and Flowers restaurant brought Tom Kerridge to fame, the first gastropub to win that accolade. It’s celebrating twenty years in 2025. The Coach, also owned by Tom Kerridge and run by head chef Sarah Hayward is its younger sibling, ten years old this year and that’s where we headed.
Your first impression of The Coach will be of an exceptionally cosy friendly local. Populated by a complete mix of diners, were it not for a scattering of well-heeled ladies who lunch, I might have mistaken it for one of the pubs I used to visit in my student days – traditional Victorian wall tiles, bar stools and banquette seating with deep burgundy leather upholstery. The best seats in the house are definitely at the bar, where you can watch the perfect orchestration of the kitchen led by Sarah, effortlessly, firmly and charmingly making sure everything is served just so.
If you luck out and end up sitting as we did with the perfect view of the kitchen, you can’t fail to be impressed by Sarah who has not only retained the Michelin star held by The Coach but along the way won the Michelin Young Chef of the Year in 2023. She originally joined the Hand and Flowers in 2014 and moved to The Coach a couple of years later as a junior sous-chef. A stint in the founding team at Kerridge’s Bull & Bear in Manchester was followed by a return to The Coach as head chef in 2021.
We were equally impressed by the lunchtime menu options. For locals and visitors to Marlow looking for a lighter option, there’s a set lunch with two dishes for just £15 and three for £22.50. On the wintery January lunch when we visited, there was leek and potato soup with Scarborough Fair pesto, The Coach beef hash with brown sauce and fried egg followed by rhubarb and Bramley apple crumble with vanilla custard. Enough to set you up for the day for sure. Meanwhile, the main lunch menu, which changes daily, was neatly divided into ‘No Meat’ and ‘Meat’ small plates. A neat 10-year anniversary symbol marked the dishes on offer from the original menu and there was a ‘Rotisserie of the Day’ which we just had to order.
Putting in an order for 6 plates, we were told that things would arrive as they were ready and first to hit the counter was the rotisserie beetroot salad with goat’s cheese and raspberry & pine nut vinaigrette along with a dish I had anticipated being my nemesis. I don’t generally order egg dishes, but my companion was keen to try the salt cod scotch egg with red pepper puree and chorizo.
The beetroot salad, just warm, came sitting in a bed of whipped goat’s cheese with endive and a delicious vinaigrette. A scattering of pine nuts added textural contrast. I love beet and this rotisserie cooked root was earthy and full of flavour, with the soft, piquant goat’s cheese perfectly complementing the flavours.
And, even I, with an egg phobia, couldn’t help but tuck into the fabulous scotch egg with its salty fish lining, crisp exterior and perfectly runny yolk. The chorizo and red pepper just added more flavour, redolent of an Alentejo-style dish. It’s one of the ten-year anniversary dishes – and I suspect it will be on the menu for many more years to come.
Next, another anniversary dish. We’d been intrigued to see how mussels mariniere with warm stout and brown bread would be served. In fact, the shellfish are picked and cooked in a light bechamel-type sauce and topped with a stout foam, served with a tiny loaf of rich brown bread. Very moreish, this is pure comfort food.
Crispy pig’s head with a devil on horseback (bacon-wrapped grilled date) and celeriac remoulade was beautifully plated with a little dab of date brown sauce. I love celeriac remoulade and donated the devil on horseback for extra – a worthy swap in my head for this light, mustardy accompaniment. The crispy pig’s head itself was topped with a thin shard of pork crackling, the dish a kind of large croquette of fabulously flavoured sweet pork meat in a panko breadcrumb shell.
I was fascinated to find braised Cornish turbot ‘chasseur’ with tarragon gnocchi in the meat section, but once it arrived, all was made clear. The classic chasseur sauce is based on a reduction of meat stock which is then elevated with wine and vegetables (here onions and dehydrated cherry tomatoes). That’s a flavour you can’t make vegetarian or pescatarian. Our generous portion of turbot was beautifully cooked, flaky and fresh with a buttery top and, while on paper it sounds like an unusual flavour combination, the resulting dish was rich with subtle aniseed notes from the tarragon and with textural contrast from the crisp fried gnocchi.
Finally, our last savoury dish was honey-glazed rotisserie bacon with piccolo parsnips, black pudding and whisky sauce. Another picture-perfect dish, I particularly enjoyed the rich black pudding and the contrasting sweet, earthy parsnips.
From the five sweet options, we picked one more tenth-anniversary dish, the rhubarb and custard choux bun with white chocolate cremeux and a generous helping of warm rhubarb sauce. Gentle reader, this dish is plenty large enough for two – shown here without the sauce that melts the dish.
But, beef suet sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream served in a brandysnap basket had caught my eye and while my stomach might not have needed it, in my heart I wanted to try. It didn’t disappoint of course and I’m particularly taken by the simple but effective use of the brandy snap basket to hold the ice cream.
We enjoyed a bottle of Duffour Pere et Fils blend Cotes de Gascogne with our meal, an easy and versatile white that seemed to be a better option than trying to pair wines with small plates in this setting. And, my companion loved starting the meal with a pint of cask IPA, ‘The Coach Decade’ from local brewery Rebellion
We loved our lunch at The Coach. A glorious harmony of flavours, textures and aromas all delivered impeccably in friendly and welcoming surroundings. We loved the teamwork and conviviality – and we loved how this particular Tom Kerridge venue is part of the local community. I just wish I lived a little closer.
Marlow is about an hour from London by car. To visit by public transport, take the train from Paddington to Maidenhead (about half an hour) and change for Marlow (about 15 minutes).
+44 (0)1628 401538
