We visited the Rick Stein restaurant on a short stay in Malborough, as my partner loves seafood. (Although I am vegetarian, there were options available, including on the set menu.) There are dining rooms both upstairs and down, the latter behind the small bar area. You enter through the shop: the decor - despite this being an 18th century heritage building - is fresh and modern, with dark wood and pale walls, and selected modern art on the walls.
We chose the set menu, 3 courses for £26.95. Our starters were the steamed mussels in cider with spring onion and spinach, and roasted red pepper soup; mains were salmon fishcakes with watercress and the chickpea curry (plus a side of hispi cabbage); and we both had the sunken chocolate cake with clotted cream for pudding. (NB the Welsh rarebit isn't veggie - it's made with anchovies.)
My starter and main (soup and curry) were perfectly good - the soup especially so - but not exceptional. It didn't surprise me as Rick Stein - both the chef and restaurant - are really all about seafood. My partner found the mussels superb - fresh, sweet, with just the right amount of sauce. Likewise, the fishcakes were excellent and, although they looked small on arrival, they were actually quite filling, and generous on the salmon. The hispi cabbage proved the perfect accompaniment to both mains. The chocolate cake was smooth and velvety, but not too sweet (think a brownie sort of texture) - and perfect if you like dark chocolate. We chose a 250ml glass each of one of the recommended Sauvignon blancs, which also proved a good choice.
Service was excellent throughout, and the young server was very skilled at making us feel at home. Including service, the bill came to £95 for two, which for a fine dining experience was pretty good value. Others certainly think so, as on a wet mid-week evening it was packed (so booking definitely advised). There's parking along the main street outside - not a problem in the evening, but potentially a bit more challenging at lunchtime. read more