Star Inn at Harome, Harome
On 26 November 2021 we reported on the dreadful fire that devastated the Star Inn one of our long-time favourites. It destroyed a considerable part of the building and yet chef/patron and eternal optimist Andrew Pern promised to rebuild better than before.
He’s done just that and the lovely thatched pub is open once again. The story of the Star dates back to 1996 when Andrew and wife Jacquie created one of the country’s first gastropubs and changed the Yorkshire restaurant scene for good. He served great gutsy dishes of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, venison haunch with parsnip puree, turbot with truffled mash and Jacquie designed the lovely interior that glowed with firelight and polished oak.
In the years that followed the Star expanded with luxurious bedrooms, a new dining room and though still an advocate of Yorkshire produce Pern’s dishes became progressively more refined, what today he calls ‘rich-man, poor-man food. His inspired marriage of black pudding and foie gras – Pern’s signature dish and the title of his first book – helped to earn him a Michelin star which back in 2002 was only the second pub in England to receive one.
Today, post-fire, the Star serves an 11-course tasting menu (£125) with wine pairings (£95) and in the bar, a simpler a la carte on a no-booking, first come, first served basis. Wherever you secure a table you will be served with some of the best food in England. And for as long as Andrew Pern retains his best virtues and instincts of seeking out the very best Yorkshire produce and putting them together with terrific verve and flair, we’ll keep on visiting the Star at Harome.
