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The Star at Harome


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We had another good meal at the Star recently with that assiette of duck mentioned above the stand-out dish for me. It was virtually the same composition -but taster and more generous of portion- than one at the Capital a week or so earlier. Special mention also for the very impressive kiddies option of fish and chips. In my opinion, the Star's food improves perceptibly each time we visit.

I also liked the new room with the lighter, more spacious surroundings and the view out onto the gardens. Yes, it contrasts markedly with the older room, but I sometimes felt just a little cramped in there and certainly for the summer months I'd now ask for a table in the brighter, new space. Yet parents beware the clever positioning of a basket of teddy-bears at child's eye-level just inside the new door; Kropotkin junior raced in and immediately grabbed one - £12 down without even a drink to show for it!

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We had another good meal at the Star recently with that assiette of duck mentioned above the stand-out dish for me.  It was virtually the same composition -but taster and more generous of portion- than one at the Capital a week or so earlier.  Special mention also for the very impressive kiddies option of fish and chips.  In my opinion, the Star's food improves perceptibly each time we visit.

I also liked the new room with the lighter, more spacious surroundings and the view out onto the gardens.  Yes, it contrasts markedly with the older room, but I sometimes felt just a little cramped in there and certainly for the summer months I'd now ask for a table in the brighter, new space.  Yet parents beware the clever positioning of a basket of teddy-bears at child's eye-level just inside the new door; Kropotkin junior raced in and immediately grabbed one - £12 down without even a drink to show for it!

Don't tell me it was an Andy Pern teddy bear!!!! :laugh:

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No, the bear was much hairier! And it also boasted a nice red woollen jumper with a gold star in the middle. This is important - as possession of such a bear distinguishes the discerning gourmet-toddler amidst the mayhem of the modern nursery...

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  • 3 weeks later...

The current edition of the Royal Horticultural Society's magazine, The Garden, has a feature on the Star's kitchen garden.

It mentions that there is a twenty seater dining table in the garden and you can eat a special menu there, reflecting what's growing. Sounds fun - anyone tried it?

John Hartley

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  • 3 months later...

had Sunday lunch here yesterday, very very good..

I had the foie and black pudding to start, the best quality foie I've had in a long time, and good black pudding too, my only criticism would be that there was twice as much black pudding and half as much foie as there should have been but still and excellent dish, one I've been wanting to try for a long time and I wasn't disappointed. Jo had a starter of belly pork and scallops which was sensational, something I'll definitely order next time. My main course was the beef and Yorkshire pudding, not something I'd normally order in a restaurant as our Sunday lunches at home are usually pretty good, but it's been a while since I've had time to do one properly at home, and again, I wasn't disappointed, good beef, excellent pudding, excellent duck fat roast potatoes, the only negative comment would be that the mustard that was served on the side had obviously been out since the beginning of service and has developed a skin, a minor point though, and the other accompaniment, hot horseradish was perfectly prepared and presented. Jo's starter of jugged hare was really good too, a thick powerful sauce and tender meat, the sauce had an element to it that wasn't to my taste, but Jo loved it, the blue cheese dumplings served with it were excellent too, if a little dense, but then I guess that's the point of a dumpling.

Two courses, a couple of pints and a couple of espressos came in at around £70, very good value for such accomplished cooking, we're visiting for dinner next month and I can't wait, and yesterdays trip was a recce for some forthcoming festivities which will see us taking over the Cross House Lodge and Wheelhouse for a weekend, something I'm obviously looking forward to.

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you should enjoy that, i had my stag do there not long after it opened, a great time was had by all.

if i hadn't already got saturday evening booked up elsewhere i'd have been at the star saturday lunchtime, one of those wintery saturdays where the best place seem to be in a convivial hostelry with some good food.

we had sunday lunch at the pipe and glass, the owners are ex-star and it is a comparable experience, but a little lighter on the wallet.

you don't win friends with salad

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  • 5 weeks later...

Bit of a gutter for the guys at The Star:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/8342239.stm

Not much detail but it sounds like the Fat Duck vomiting nightmare all over again.

I feel for the Andew and Jaquie and the team, not to mention those on the receiving end of the suspected virus.

It's all true... I admit to being the MD of Holden Media, organisers of the Northern Restaurant and Bar exhibition, the Northern Hospitality Awards and other Northern based events too numerous to mention.

I don't post here as frequently as I once did, but to hear me regularly rambling on about bollocks - much of it food and restaurant-related - in a bite-size fashion then add me on twitter as "thomhetheringto".

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Had a call yesterday cancelling our reservation on Saturday night, which confirmed a rumour I'd heard from a wedding photographer two weeks ago. I'd put the rumour down to the photographer being a particularly scheming, egotistical, nasty piece of work (anyone getting married in North or West Yorkshire, PM me for the name of someone to avoid!) but seems she was right about this at least.....

Bad news for Andrew and Jacquie, but only a temporary set back I'm sure, still looking forward to our next visit.

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Recent reports even before that have suggested standards are slipping though. Has it been a case of 'eye off the ball' (love my football metaphors) with the combination of new hotel, new restaurant space and domestic problems? Hopefully they'll work their way through, would be shame to lose such awonderful place

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

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Standards slipping are hardly related to norovirus though, or am I missing something? We've eaten there a couple of times recently and been very impressed.

Sorry, wasn't suggesting it was--just that post brought The Star back to the top of the forum pile again! [Edit--unless it a cleanliness issue, which I somehow doubt]

Edited by BertieWooster (log)

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Post pheasant pint at the star yesterday, had a drink with Andrew, they are very relieved to be open again, they employ over 100 people so with no money coming in, that's a lot to shoulder, and in pound notes, it's a very significant sum that would have closed weaker businesses.

Given the star's pulling power it also hit helmsley too as they lost star diners overnight stays, all in all very bad for the local economy.

They weren't alone being hit with the virus locally and given the fact that with weddings and restaurant they are doing 1500 covers a week it's easy to see how these things can be transmitted in such a small place, they feel a bit bruised to be singled out but accept they're a better story than the local school being closed for the same thing.

you don't win friends with salad

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  • 6 months later...

Getting married there in less than a month, makes it all more exciting if there might be bits of chef in the soup.

Your initial sentence is a little contradictory David, until anything is proved, they're just allegations, and neither stunning nor revelatory!

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  • 1 month later...

July the 10th saw me and the new Mrs Soundman get married at The Star. Everything, from beginning to end was perfect. The food (for 30 guests) was perfect in every way, Andrew was on the pass which was no mean feat as he was also on the pass over the road that night as well, so a busy night for him.

We had dinner at The Star the previous night to taste a few of the wines, and the Sommelier was really good, I'm not sure if he's new or not, I didn't recognise him from previous visits, but his recommendations were all spot on.

All in all we were 100% happy with the Star, as were our guests, we'd definitely recommend it as a wedding venue, and the restaurant is currently cooking it's arse off too.

A couple of pictures........

The cheese:

24vk468.jpg

Chef hard at work

1ymqv4.jpg

I'll get round to an actual review one day, for now it will suffice to say we had a wonderful day.

The pictures were taken by our ace photographer, and need crediting to him:

Wedding Photography by Rob Booker

T: 0113 2702440

E: contact@robbooker.co.uk

W: www.robbooker.co.uk

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  • 3 months later...
  • 5 months later...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/restaurants/8489789/The-Star-Inn-Harome-restaurant-review.html

9/10 review in the sunday telegraph.

Had that duck plate on my last visit, i nearly swapped it out thinking it would just be a bit of confit leg and seared breast, how wrong i was!

They're also running andrew's gbm menu as well i believe.

you don't win friends with salad

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  • 1 year later...

Had a cracking lunch at the star recently to celebrate the arrival of number two child, and a return visit was long overdue! (last year for my wife's birthday, work, living away and babies all conspiring against me!)

We decided to construct our own menu from the a la carte and began the truly difficult process of looking at what could be easily spilt by the kitchen into two and what we fancied - which was pretty much everything to be fair, into a not unreasonable amount of dishes for the kitchen to create and us to eat. We originally thought between two of us we could split 2 starters, a fish main , a main each, cheese to share & dessert, but a short spell of clarity as the initial celebratory glass of champagne kicked in and I thought we’d better add another starter, better to over-order than under I believe.

So we reeled off our suggested menu to Stelian the restaurant manager who didn’t bat an eye at our fairly outlandish menu and headed to the kitchen with the good or bad news , depending whether you were cooking it, eating it, or thought you might get out early on a Wednesday lunchtime – sorry!

First course was a vivid chlorophyllic green wild garlic risotto, with nettle pesto and homemade pancetta & poached egg, this had a real kick of garlic, and unlike a commentator on a well known travel advisory web site, I was not at all surprised by this and indeed would have been more annoyed if it hadn’t, seeing as I wasn’t planning on kissing my dining companion anytime soon.

We moved onto a minestrone soup, locally shot roe deer ‘minestrone’ with venison and juniper meatballs, curly kale, moorland tomme cheese shavings and white spring truffle, served in a Chinese teapot, the stock for the soup was superb with clarity and depth and all in all very satisfying umami rich dish.

Third starter was a smoked haddock cassoulet, a super comfort food dish that I thought would make a great ‘tea’ in a bigger format – only to find Chef/Patron Andrew was one step ahead of me and it is in his excellent book foie gras and black pudding as a main course, here it made an excellent bridge to the fish course.

The fish was from the specials some good fillets of John Dory with an eel croquette, brown shrimps and a flavoured hollandaise which escapes me at the moment, it was very nice to see some fish cooked in an actual pan with butter giving it the caremelisation and residual heat required to make a moreish dish.

Main was also off the specials beer fed dexter fillet, morels, madeira jus, duck liver, cardiologist appointment included. It was as rich and satisfying as expected and really when all said and done, it’s not a celebratory meal without a steak is it?! ;) Again these small dexter fillets would have been hockey pucks in the wrong hands but again a med/rare and bleu cuisson were perfectly executed in the pan and were all the better for it.

A shared selection of Yorkshire cheese followed, all in great condition and explained patiently, whilst working our way through these I did momentarily worry that perhaps the kitchen had thought that was us finished as it was by now nearer evening service than lunch, but no worries our requested ‘cheesecake’ & Yorkshire curd tart were rustled up without fuss and our contented afternoon continued.

Good espresso and the traditional Yorkshire pint digestif finished the ‘lunch’ marvellously and we were picked up and whisked back to my dining companions own pub to continue….!

It was one of those great lunches with not a duff dish or even out of place element, we drank well with the highlight a G Roumier 2004 Chambolle Musigny that I brought and paid corkage on, plus a couple of whites from the list, a 2010 Ponsot Rully 1er cru also doing a good performance as a Meursault ‘mini – me’. About the highest praise I can give is one of the few lunches I can recall (and trust me, I’ve had my share) that matched this for conviviality, superb luxe-comfort food and wine was a lunch several years ago at Auberge De L’Ill in Alsace a long standing Michelin 3* , the star is really firing on all cylinders and I can’t wait to return.

you don't win friends with salad

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