I’m a fan of Chef Jason Atherton’s seasonal British food.  I’ve always had a good meal at Pollen Street Social, his flagship restaurant with 1 Michelin star just off Regent Street in London.  Last month I had a good light lunch in his latest restaurant, Harrods Social, and during the covid lockdown I really rated his make-away kits.  My friend Mrs C is also a Jason Atherton fan, and it was she who booked a table for four of us (Mr and Mrs C, Mr A and I) to have dinner at Pollen Street Social in mid June 2021.  Because this was a social occasion I didn’t make copious notes about our meal, so I’ll take you through my photos as swiftly as I can.  BTW Jason Atherton was away at his restaurant in Greece, but Head Chef Dale Bainbridge had everything under control, and he even found time to have a chat with me during service.

We all arrived well in advance of our table time, so that we could catch up over a cocktail in the bar. I can commend the Pollen Street espresso martini, made with vanilla vodka and tonka beans!

There’s a choice between a four course a la carte menu at £95 and a seven course tasting menu costing £135. We all chose the latter, along with its wine flight at £98 each.  Both menus begin with a selection of canapés which they amusingly call “Afternoon Tea”.

Presented on a table stand, as you would have with a hotel afternoon tea, we each had a chunk of confit potato topped with taramasalata on top (a twist on fish and chips), a feta and pea mousse samosa-style pastry, and a small cup of tomato essence with basil.  Each canapé was flavoursome and enjoyable, but the tomato essence wasn’t a patch on Le Manoir’s signature version. 9/10

Our first course was one I’d seen on Instagram, when the restaurant unveiled its new dishes prior to its post covid reopening. We were presented with a small wooden box, on top of which was a fine pastry tartine of trout mousse, extravagantly topped with a mound of trout roe. Upon lifting the lid of the wooden box we found a piece of cured trout belly sitting on a really beautiful leaf shaped tuille.   This dish had beauty and theatre, backed up with great flavours.  I especially liked the roe popping between my teeth.  10/10

The second course was a plump, marinated Orkney scallop accompanied by tomato, lemon and apple and ponzu gels, and topped with a dashi granita. This was a beautifully fresh and refreshing dish, with a memory-jogging asian twist. 10/10

I found our third course a little confusing. The menu said, “Braised Hampshire morels and ceps, Acquerello rice, aged parmesan & black Perigord truffle” so it was like a risotto, but different.  I thought the flavour combinations had great potential, but in this instance I detected some bitterness from the mushrooms.  8.5/10

At this stage the menu provides for an optional “caviar course with crustacean” at £40 each.  I had been interested in this, but our waiter wasn’t able to explain the dish to sell it to me.

I really liked the main fish course of roasted Brixham turbot, warm roe butter sauce, spring peas and leaves, mustard flower and Jersey Royals.  The roe sauce was brilliant.  In the past month of several Michelin-starred meals, turbot has always been the main fish course, and this one was my favourite! 10+/10

The main meat course was rolled Herdwick spring lamb saddle, lamb ‘sausage’, “young garlic” and English spring vegetables, served with a green olive tapenade and a luscious lamb gravy.   This was a handsome plate of food, and quite delicious, though, for me, the lamb sausage was a little too ‘punchy’/strong. 9/10

I’ve not come across “Malaga strawberries” before, they looked like wild strawberries. With a light cream and sorbet it was a good palate-cleansing pre-dessert.  9/10

Our second dessert was “Japanese citrus parfait, basil and yogurt sorbet with finger lime”.  This was another very refreshing and clean dessert, but I’m not sure where the “Japanese citrus” element came from, as I couldn’t taste yuzu, which is the only Japanese citrus fruit I’m familiar with.  8.5/10

By this stage we’d been at our table for 3 hours and Mr A and I had missed our last direct train home, so we rather hurriedly settled the bill and asked for our petit fours to be boxed up to take away.  At home the next day we found our boxes contained five tasty and varied morsels.  It was a well balanced selection, and a lovely touch that we could take them away.  10/10

Overall this was yet another very enjoyable, seasonal meal at Pollen Street Social.  The restaurant ‘only’ has one Michelin star, but in my opinion it is the best 1-star restaurant I’ve eaten in, by a long way.  10/10