The Star Inn
The Star Inn
High Street
Harome
North Yorkshire
England
Tel: +44 (0)1439 770397
Web: www.thestaratharome.co.uk (www.thestaratharome.co.uk/)
Serves lunch and dinner Tuesday to Sunday; bookings accepted (dining room only); children welcome; garden.
Three years before they bestowed a star here, the Michelin inspector told the chef and owner, Andrew Pern, that he had to decide what he was running: The Star Inn could either be a pub or a restaurant, but it couldn’t be both. The star, when it came, was vindication of Andrew’s insistence that it could.
Andrew Pern is an exceptional cook. He could work anywhere, but he has never wanted to own a restaurant. He loves pubs, and he saw running a pub not just as a job, but as a way of life. He wanted to open a place where the dominoes team could play a game over a decent pork pie, where cricketers could tuck into a top-notch ploughman’s, and those who wanted to splash out could eat foie gras. He’s as proud of the fact that you might find 30 locals in his bar on a Sunday night, boogying to old Rolling Stones hits, as he is of the rave reviews and accolades for his cooking.
The same food is served in the bar – with its warm fires and organically shaped wooden tables carved by Yorkshireman ‘Mousey’ Thompson – and the dining room – an elegant, cosy place with homely corner cupboards, occasional tables and piles of books. The wine labels on the ceiling, the cheese trolley, and the sideboard groaning with liqueurs, make the place feel like a French auberge, and France was a potent influence in Andrew’s upbringing. His mother, a French teacher, made the family speak in French on Sunday evenings, and with his father, a farmer, he used to forage for wild mushrooms, go shooting and make liqueurs from local fruits.