Former The Hand & Flowers chef and long-term right hand man to Tom Kerridge, Nick Beardshaw struck out on his own in 2024 with the opening of Starling in his hometown of Esher. The chef has confidently stepped out of his mentor’s shadow with a restaurant that combines true innovation and creativity with more crowd-pleasing dishes, not least a range of top-quality steaks.
For Starling, Beardshaw has drawn on his previous successes on TV chef competition Great British Menu with two of his winning dishes featuring on the menu. One, called ‘A moon shaped pool’, is his dish inspired by Stanley Donwood’s artwork to Radiohead’s album of the same name made with cod’s cheek, green Thai curry, marinated cucumber and Exmoor caviar, while the other is a dessert interpretation of Banky’s famous ‘Balloon girl’.
The overall feel of Starling is a restaurant with a true sense of place. While the Great British Menu dishes are the obvious showstoppers on the menu, they don’t appear out of place alongside others including his mushroom ‘risotto’ of a deep-fried egg; and Cornish lobster cocktail hash brown with smoked lettuce.
Beardshaw has created a restaurant that is quietly confident in its ambitions, but which is so much more than its big-ticket dishes, making it a dining destination to which people will travel as well as something that suits a more regular, local clientele.
For Starling, Beardshaw has drawn on his previous successes on TV chef competition Great British Menu with two of his winning dishes featuring on the menu. One, called ‘A moon shaped pool’, is his dish inspired by Stanley Donwood’s artwork to Radiohead’s album of the same name made with cod’s cheek, green Thai curry, marinated cucumber and Exmoor caviar, while the other is a dessert interpretation of Banky’s famous ‘Balloon girl’.
The overall feel of Starling is a restaurant with a true sense of place. While the Great British Menu dishes are the obvious showstoppers on the menu, they don’t appear out of place alongside others including his mushroom ‘risotto’ of a deep-fried egg; and Cornish lobster cocktail hash brown with smoked lettuce.
Beardshaw has created a restaurant that is quietly confident in its ambitions, but which is so much more than its big-ticket dishes, making it a dining destination to which people will travel as well as something that suits a more regular, local clientele.
