Back when I was growing up in Dorking in Surrey, there weren’t any Michelin-starred restaurants. We had a few chain restaurants, plenty of pubs, and lots of antique shops. Now, on the site of what I knew as Pizza Piazza (remember those?) sits chef Steve Drake’s Sorrel putting this town in the South East firmly on the foodie map. The beautiful red brick and timber building dates back to 1733 and the remarkable original features are still on display throughout.
Steve Drake has incredible gastronomic pedigree: he’s worked under Tom Aitkins and Marco Pierre White, won the Roux Scholarship, earned his first Michelin star at the age of 30 at Drake’s on the Pond (Abinger Hammer, Surrey), and another shortly after launching Drake’s (Ripley, Surrey). In 2017 he launched Sorrel in Dorking, and a year later that too was Michelin-starred.
It’s somewhere I’d been wanting to visit for a while, but with lockdown and huge demand for bookings it’d taken us until now to get a lunchtime seat at the weekend.
Opting for the three course lunch menu, you can also choose to take on the eight-course discovery tasting menu at their lunchtime service. I say three, in but in reality it was more like five. The attentive and friendly staff on fine form throughout despite us being at the end of the busy Saturday lunch service.
Deciding to divide and conquer, my wife and I each went for one of the two options for each course, so that collectively we’d have worked through all of the menu choices. But before we made a start with the selections we’d made, we were presented with a plate with three items in amuse bouche fashion. We enjoyed delicious mouthfuls of salmon and caviar, diced watermelon with 12-year old sherry vinegar, and succulent sesame-topped yakitori chicken.
That wasn’t all we’d be teased with before our starters though. A cup of golden ‘tomato tea’, darting over from the tasting menu, and looking nothing like a tomato, arrived before us. Light and completely refreshing, it was a lovely surprise.
Alongside this we were also presented with a slice of fresh sourdough bread and some beautifully creamy hand-churned Northern Irish salted butter.
Starters
Veal sweetbreads might not be to everyone’s taste, but my starter just melted in my mouth. Served alongside split pea puree, smoked egg yolk, small pieces of grapefruit, and green coffee. It was striking on the plate with the bold green of the puree and the flecks of pink from the grapefruit. My wife went for the BBQ baked potato, served on a delicious seafood butter sauce and topped with keta caviar.
Main course
For my main, it was slow cooked short rib, tomato tartar, asparagus and a tangy oyster and horseradish sauce. The beef was so tender that the staff even joked that the steak knife I was given was more for the asparagus than the meat! It just fell apart at the slightest touch, melting into jus and then dissolving in my mouth. It paired beautifully with the wine the Sommelier has suggested: an Ancient Vines Zinfandel from Cline Cellars, California. It’s not a style I’ve had much of, but was rich and velvety and really complimented the flavour of my meal.
My wife’s main was turbot with smoked broccoli foam, mussels, and a dark drizzled sauce made from wine and fish heads that was just so rich and moreish. A real umami punch in amongst a delicate dish.
Dessert
As we approached the end of our meal, it was time for our final course. For dessert I had gone for blueberry, lavender, oregano and caramelised white chocolate. I’d have struggled putting those ingredients together myself or even wanting to combine them, but somehow it all worked and the lavender ice cream wasn’t overpowering and complemented the blueberries and shards of chocolate well.
It was the other dessert though that stole the show: peanut, lime milk and chocolate. Something the staff affectionately called a deconstructed Snickers. Caramelised peanuts, nutty fudge, chocolate fondant and a soft scoop of a lime ice cream to cleanse between the decadent mouthfuls. What a way to end the meal.
Having grown up a stone’s throw from the restaurant it was great to finally get to experience everything Steve Drake and his team have been working on there. Their lunch menu is a great way to get to step into this fine dining world in an accessible way and showcasing what they can do. I already can’t wait to be back for their tasting menu.