The Michelin Pub of the Year 2017 (ie. for the year 2016) was The Marksman. It's been on my list for a year and even though I lived east it wasn't until I moved north that the opportunity arose (and they had availability) to eat there. It was preceded by a visit to the Columbia flower market and the close proximity (as well as the reputation) means that every Sunday is an extra busy day. A lot of tables also bring their new-bought flowers and plants, as well as the usual pub dogs and prams.
Unlike standard pubs the serve a fixed price menu of £29 for 2 or £33 for 3 courses.
They have cider (and obviously beer) on tap including a custom made one for themselves which is dry and flat, and also a sparkly fruity one. The dry and flat is what I consider to be a traditional cider and reminiscent of the Cornish Orchards one I enjoyed many many years ago.
- Devilled mussels & monk's beard - delicious mussels with crunchy seaweed in a chilli seafood sauce;
- Tamworth, blood pudding & parsley - a flavour explosion of a deepfried cracker base smeared with black pudding sauce and topped with Tamworth pancetta and a parsley, baby capers, onion salad. The full combination of the ingredients was incredible;
- Braised lamb, peas & wild garlic - pulled lamb wrapped in caul (I assume) and served on a pea sauce with small potatoes. The lamb tasted like earthy lamb, not heavily seasoned at all;
- Roast Hereford Rump & Yorkshire pudding - I really wanted the beef wing rib for 2 but couldn't justify the additional £30 to order it. This rump was incredibly tender and had minimal seasoning. It just tasted like pure beef. It was served medium rare without my asking and came with the best Yorkshire pudding I've eaten without a hint of dryness or burnt char like every other pub has. The carrots were good and mash was adequate. It was served with a reasonably unflavoured gravy, a slightly more useful horseradish cram, and a maximal quality set of potatoes which were minimally seasoned but perfectly crisp with soft insides;
- Chocolate, burnt milk & barley - the dark chocolate tasted like strong dark and not much sweet, whereas the icecream didn't taste like much;
- Sheep's yoghurt, rhubard & rose - a very mild sheep milk yoghurt with some tangy rhubarb that could have been sweeter in my mind;
- Brown butter & honey tart - the best of the 3 desserts tried with a soft sweet eggy filling and a crisp shell for texture.
I'm nore sure if the lamb was meant to come with Yorkshire pudding and potatoes - other tables seem to get this with their meals. But for us 3, only one serve of each arrived. The rump and accompaniments was a much better value selection than the lamb (although the lamb definitely had effort put into it to pull it, combine it and then cook it again).
Unfortunately the service wasn't up to standard. Despite having a 2pm booking, our table was only ready at 2.30pm. Our mains were forgotten about and they only discovered this when they tried to place dessert spoons on the table and we looked perplexed - around 3.40pm. Then after the meal finished we had to ask for the bill twice and ask to pay the bill another two times. It wasn't because it was too busy - by that point the server was just standing there when he was gently reminded.
I still paid the 12.5%. I suppose I really shouldn't have. But I would go back for the food.