166. In Stratford Another Sad Farewell - To The Scullery.

 

  And this is how it happened. Lucy The Labrador and I were back in Stratford and I wanted to have another happy evening enjoying Chef Andrew Edwards’ wonderful food (see Blog 80) which he has been serving since 2014 in his charming little restaurant in Greenhill Street, No 33 The Scullery. I took a quick look at Tripadviser to see what the latest vox populi had to say about this darling little place only to discover that it had completely disappeared from the listings. Alarmed, I scurried through the internet trying to find out what was happening and discovered that it had been rebranded, and it seemed reasonable to me to tie it more to Shakespeare, as Prospero. I thought that was a clever move by Mr Edwards, putting the days of the lockdown behind the restaurant, except that a well established brand had disappeared which could hurt trade and, as I was to discover, the rebranding had not been carried out by Andrew Edwards.

  There was a bit of a do trying to get a reservation - one day none were available, the following day, thinking I would just check, there was no problem securing a reservation at my preferred time. 

 On the arranged day I arrived at 7PM expecting the restaurant to be quite busy but in actuality only one other table was taken. I received a pleasant greeting from a charming lady I recalled from a previous visit and was seated at a table of my choice noting as I did that though the restaurant had been rebranded the decor at least was unchanged what with its Jack Vettriano prints and quotes about dining and food.

  I was asked if I wished to order a drink. I asked for a Cotswold Gin and tonic but was told that the restaurant only sold Gordon’s plus one or two of its flavoured gins. I assumed it was reasonable to limit the options when a period of financial upheaval has taken place and pragmatically chose rhubarb and ginger flavoured Gordon’s which was pretty unpleasant. The menu had been drastically pared back as well. The ‘Specials’ blackboard had disappeared and there were only 4 choices for each course on the menu, though one of the starters and one of the main courses were not available, a state of affairs for which the very nice front of house lady apologised. But I was glad was that some of The Scullery’s great dishes did still feature on the list of dishes. And I went for their previously excellent scallop starter and the stone bass main course which had previously been quite fabulous there.

  The scallops, very well priced, were a great pleasure, perfectly cooked and with a joyous sweetness that I had not experienced in other more expensive restaurants recently. The presentation was a little odd with the scallops themselves looking very pretty with again perfectly prepared samphire a delicious liquor sitting in a shell but the shell itself balanced somewhat inelegantly on a plate with an apt but lonely-looking rasher of bacon and three peaks of inapt mashed sweet potato. The shells themselves would have been much the preferable with perhaps little cubes of bacon or pancetta added to the scallops in them.

  The stone bass main course, cooked extremely well and so delightfully simply, served attractively with mussels and summer vegetables, was delicious and was not far from being as good as the first stone bass I had at The Scullery some years ago and which was so exquisite that it remains a happy memory with me. A dish to give great pleasure and again very reasonably priced. 

  I was curious to know about the rebranding and I discovered that Andrew Edwards had sold the restaurant - I was sad to hear it - and a new unidentified chef had prepared the meal. I suspect the new chef had worked there before as the dishes could all be described if works of art as “After Edwards”. The new chef had obviously been an attentive pupil. More alarming was the revelation that the new owner had also taken over other local businesses - a pub was named which in my perusal of Tripadviser had recently attracted a lot of adverse comments - and the alarm bells began to ring that this sweet little local restaurant had fallen into the hands of a profit-first merchant, hence the reduced menus and drinks options. Stratford has far too many so-so bistros in Sheep Street all owned by the same proprietor without the loss of The Scullery. We will see what develops. Meanwhile it has to be noted that though there were few diners food was very slow coming out of the kitchen. Perhaps the new chef is finding his or her feet given that the Prospero opened only last week.

  I chose one of the three desserts on offer - a vast and not attractively presented Eton Mess. To be fair I enjoyed the ice cream element for sure but it seemed that a single finely chopped-up strawberry had found its way into the dish. This was an interesting if inaccurate twist on the term ‘Fine dining’.

  I departed Prospero having broadly enjoyed my meal but feeling wistful and anxious. I hope this pleasing little restaurant can maintain the standards and principles established by Andrew Edwards when he first opened it. The food there has given much pleasure over the years. And so I say to No 33 The Scullery, “Now cracks a noble heart - Good night sweet Prince. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest”.

Andrew Edwards of No 33 The Scullery.

 Meanwhile there is some optimism to be felt in Stratford - I hear that the Mercure Shakespeare Hotel, previously home to a mediocre Marco Pierre White New York-style restaurant which in an unseemly fashion replaced Shakespeare with White, is unlikely to be replaced by another branded chain restaurant but instead will have its own in-house restaurant and, fingers crossed, possibly a good one. The Falcon has The Woodsman, and look how successful that is, so there may be hope of something good materialising at the historic Shakespeare.