The
Station Master's House, Claygate,
Surrey
The
soft underbelly of suburbia yields
its surprises
There
have been banking halls aplenty,
the odd fire station here and
there, not to mention libraries
and schools, chapels and even
crypts; almost any useful space
has been pressed into service
in the search for premises for
Britain's booming restaurant
businesses. The old station master's
house at Claygate, little more
than a halt, is a case in point.
Nowadays station masters have
been replaced by cctv cameras
and ticket machines. In the old
days there was probably a café,
like the one in the film Brief
Encounter. You know the sort
of thing: "Charles, please
order for me" - "right-oh,
what about oven roasted belly
of wild boar confit?" - " How
did you know that's what I always
wanted?" - "I knew
you knew that I knew what you
always wanted even before you
said it". Except of course
in 1945, a wild bore was found
only in the loucher gentlemen's
clubs, let alone king scallops
with fondant potatoes or pan
fried sea bass served with crab
and mussels. These dishes are,
amazingly, only starters at
the Station Master's House in
Claygate.
The
menu is nothing if not informative.
The char-grilled rump of lamb
probably takes the world record
for menu detail. This substantial
chunk of lamb comes "marinated
with lemon, thyme and garlic,
served with shredded braised
lamb shank wrapped in Savoy cabbage
served upon puy lentils, bacon
and diced vegetables crushed
minted peas, roasted shallots
and pea syrup" Are there
to be no delightful surprises?
Are the waiting staff not to
be trusted to explain the dishes?
Certainly they are, since the
front of house is run by the
proprietor and his wife,
the very amiable Tony and Joanne
Draper.
The
King scallops with their fondant
came with a pea purée, one of
several different natural sauces
of which I very much approved.
The lemon marscapone was a bit
too tangily citrus for the fish,
and certainly didn't require
kicking up even further with
chilli jam. It was good, but
Chef David Wells needs to learn
that sometimes less is more.
Never mind, the wild mushroom
tartlets were a triumph - crisp
pastry forming a perfect cylinder topped
with a poached egg whose yolk
oozed into the tasty mushrooms,
not to mention the parmesan crisp
that floated over the summit
of this precariously poised presentation.
For
our main courses we tried the
duck breast, which came nice
and pink, fanned out on a potato
base with a cauliflower purée.
I particularly liked the filo
parcel filled with chicken liver
parfait perked up with figs and
spiced plum. The roasted filet
of cod was another fine presentation,
the mildly spiced cod sitting
on an excellent crab cake, a
lemon and pea sauce and heaven
knows what else. Oh yes! a fierce
looking langoustine, all spiny
shell and gesticulating claws.
The pity was, for all that, the
cod was a bit over cooked - perhaps
the assembly of so many clever
garnishes had messed up the timing.
However, this detracted only
a little from my overall enjoyment
of the dish.
For
pudding, two of us had the cheese,
which came from a fine selection,
meriting its own cheese menu.
The problem was we were in the
depths of the November cold snap,
and the dining room had a conservatory
chill about it, so the cheese
had not had time to develop.
The pannacotta was very refreshing,
made with lime and soured cream.
But you really should try the
rice pudding. Forget school dinners
(though kids today don't even
get that), this one is cooked
for seven hours and is wonderfully
creamy. Both puddings came with
interesting and subtly flavoured
home made ice creams.
This
is a restaurant that deserves
success. It's still in the settling
down phase, and I think a whisker
of simplification and more concentration
on the principle ingredients
of the dishes would make it even
better. We shall definitely return
in a little while to see how
things are progressing. Service
was friendly and professional,
and the house wines are excellent
value at £13, though there isn't
a huge choice under £20. That
said, the three course dinner
menu at £32 is very fair.
Clifford
Mould November 2005
The
Station Master's House
The Parade, Claygate
Surrey KT10 0PB
T:
01372 466721 www.stationmasters-house.co.uk
Closed Sunday evening
and all day Monday
