Along with head chef Stephen Smith, Andrew Pern, chef-patron of the Star Inn at Harome, North Yorkshire – which currently holds third place in 2016’s Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs – created a special, one-off tasting menu for the event inspired by the pub’s history.
Guests included fellow Top 50 chefs Nick Beardshaw of the Coach, Marlow, Buckinghamshire; James and Kate Mackenzie of the Pipe & Glass Inn, South Dalton, East Yorkshire; Steve Smith of the Freemasons at Wiswell, Lancashire; Martel and Kerry Smith of the Dawnay Arms, York; and Josh Eggleton of the Pony and Trap, Chew Magna, Somerset.
Pern said: “Twenty years in the making of the Star Inn, we are just another chapter in its illustrious history – but I’d like to think we’ve made our mark in the industry.
'Welcome back'
“It was great to welcome back some of the first staff who worked here as well as a number of chefs from the top 20 pubs in the country – a fantastic gathering and another great party.”
The seven-course menu featured dishes such as ‘Milk-poached’ Hodgson’s of Hartlepool natural smoked haddock with champ, poached egg and mustard velouté, grilled black pudding with pan-fried foie gras, Pickering watercress, apple and vanilla chutney and scrumpy reduction and Harome-shot fallow deer with baked ginger parkin, confit blood orange, charred leeks and carrot purée.
As well as holding a Michelin star, the Star Inn has featured consistently in the Top 50 Gastropubs list since its inception. It was placed fifth in 2015 before rising to third place this year, behind the Pipe & Glass Inn and the Sportsman, Seasalter.
Pern also owns two other venues, riverside bistro the Star Inn the City, York and new venture Mr P’s Curious Tavern, also in York. He previously competed on BBC2’s Great British Menu in 2011.
Influenced
Chef Steven Ellis, chef-patron of the soon-to-open Berkshire gastropub the Oxford Blue in Windsor, previously told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser working for Pern at the Star Inn had influenced him join the pub trade himself.
He said: “Working at the Star Inn with Andrew Pern was where I fell in love with the pub – I’d never been to a Michelin-starred pub before and never realised what it was all about.”
Pern’s head chef Stephen Smith annually takes part in a ‘Battle of the Smiths’ cook-off with Steven Smith of the Freemasons at Wiswell.
Want to see inside the Star at Harome? Watch the PMA’s video interview with Andrew Pern.