Pollen St Social

I was lucky enough to visit Pollen St Social last week for the second time.  The first time was in September before they had been awarded their Michelin star so I was interested to see if their new found accolade had impacted their standards.

We received a very warm welcome and were introduced to the various cocktails and drinks at the bar.  We started with a glass of Prosecco while we waited for our guests, Jason was in the bar and greeted us before heading to the kitchen.  Once our guests arrived, we were quickly shown to our table, in the main part of the restaurant.


We slowly perused the menus while discussing our various favourites. I always try to order differently from fellow diners so we can share/compare dishes.  I opted for the Cornish crab vinaigrette, Nashi pear, cauliflower sweet ‘n’ sour dressing, frozen peanut powder (£11.50) to start.  This was followed by the Black Angus Aged Beef Rib Eye with duck fat chips & green salad, which at £33 made it the most expensive main course on the menu.  To accompany our dishes, we chose the 2009 Matakana Pinot Noir from the Marlborough region of New Zealand, which at £40 a bottle was quite reasonable.

My fellow guests ordered Cauliflower & squid, clear roasted squid juice (£11.50), Jerusalem artichoke, wood pigeon, celeriac, wet walnuts (£11.50) and Escabeche of quail, chicken liver cream, nuts & seeds (£11.50).  As we had heard so much about the Full English breakfast (£10.50) starter, we decided to order an extra dish to share.  This includes an egg slow-cooked for over an hour, bacon, fried bread croutons and tomatoes with mushroom ketchup.

My starter was delicious; it was beautifully presented and tasted divine.  Comments from my fellow diners were also unanimously excellent.  The Cauliflower & Squid looked particularly stunning.  We all tucked into the Full English Breakfast with trepidation (given that we usually eat breakfast, well, closer to breakfast time) but we needn't have worried it was an exquisite dish that left us very excited about the arrival of our main course.

Now is a good time to talk about the ambience in the restaurant, it was fully booked and the place was buzzing, although still easy to talk to fellow diners.

Staff came back with dessert menus and invited us to move to the dessert bar, which we declined; we were a group of 4 and sitting in a long row at a bar would not have been conducive for conversation.  I selected Lemon Meringue, Cream Cheese and Lime Sorbet (£8), a slight mistake as I actually had this on my previous visit.  Other desserts ordered included the “PBJ” Parfait, cherry jam, creamed rice puffs (£8), “Tiramisu” Hot chocolate coffee (£8.50), Caramel Apple Puff (£8).

Dessert arrived and exemplified the standard of the rest of the meal; presentation was spot on and dishes were packed with flavour flavour.  We all tasted each others dishes and I think the PBJ is what i will be ordering next time - if I can wangle a third visit!

Up until now the service had been excellent and very attentive, however after serving us dessert we seemed to be neglected.  Whether this was because they were leaving us to talk or they just simply forgot about us, I am not sure but we were there for 30 minutes before we received the bill.  However, this was a minor blip in an otherwise excellent experience. 

When we left the restaurant, Jason was still hard at work in the kitchen, which is a really good site to see.  How many other top chefs can still be found regularly in their kitchens?

On leaving, the female guests were given a special gift which I will leave as a surprise in case you are lucky enough to visit soon.

Jason is certainly worthy of a Michelin star and my second visit was as good as, if not more enjoyable than my first visit.   I will certainly be recommending to others.

Pollen St scores an impressive 9/10 with me.

My steak was served on a fantastic olive board with a side order of chips and a rather large green salad, which I have to say I didn't even touch as there was just too much, it put me off!. The steak was cooked to perfection with either a bearnaise or pepper sauce, I opted for the pepper sauce.  The chips were also delicious and well presented.  My fellow diners ordered West Country Ox Cheek with tongue & sirloin, carrots, caper & raisin puree with horseradish mash (£24), Rack of Cotswold lamb, braised shoulder, creamed spiced aubergine, & black olive reduction (£25.50) and another Rib Eye.  The dishes were so intricate and the presentation spot on.   All guests were extremely complimentary about the food and you can certainly see why Pollen St is now sporting a Michelin Star.