Menuwatch: The Silver Cup, Harpenden
Andy Lynes visits a Hertfordshire gastropub that takes the whole animal and finds a place on the menu for every part
When chef Matthew Reeder and business partner and general manager Michael Singleton took over the Silver Cup pub with rooms in the upmarket commuter town of Harpenden from Reeder's father in March 2020, they had no idea what was about to hit them. After refurbishing what Reeder says was "an old man's drinking pub" into a smart modern gastropub, the pandemic hit. Like many other hospitality entrepreneurs, the pair were forced to make the best of things, with takeaways, then outdoor dining, limited indoor dining and finally a 32-cover restaurant.
"It's been quite confusing for our customers because we've offered so many different things," says Reeder, whose CV includes Anglo, the Typing Room, Auberge du Lac and Paris House. Post-pandemic, things have settled down. Reeder now offers a five-course set tasting menu (£60, but soon to be £70) and à la carte in the dining room (both available Thursday evening to Saturday lunch time) as well as pub food in the bar (served Thursday to Sunday – the pub is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays) that includes a pint of crevette prawns and aïoli (£14), along with a set Sunday lunch menu (£36 for two courses, £45 for three).
There is also a steak night on the last Wednesday of every month, where a 42-day-aged sharing steak for two is offered at £76 for sirloin and £83 for T-bone, both served with hand-cut chips, beef-fat hollandaise, baby gem, caper and pickled shallot salad.
"People would burn the place down if I stopped steak night," Reeder says. "We sell out the whole pub and do about 60 covers in total, with 30-40% of customers booking on the night for the next one. I buy whole aged sirloin from the Rare Breed Meat Company in Essex and Finclass in Smithfield. I use four or five of them and get two or three T-bones and five or six sirloin steaks off each."
He also buys whole lambs from a local farmer and is currently serving a main course of the cannon with romesco sauce, pommes Anna and a crispy honey and mustard-glazed sweetbread with chipotle ketchup (£26). The sweetbread also appears as a snack on the tasting menu. Another item from the à la carte also available as a snack on the tasting menu is overnight-braised lamb shoulder mixed with Lyonnaise onions, mint, coriander and sherry vinegar, which is then pressed, cut into squares, panned and deep-fried, and topped with lemon gel, courgette purée, pickled courgette and purple basil.
He serves the leg for Sunday lunch with Yorkshire pudding, duck-fat potatoes and market greens, and uses the mince to make a bar snack of merguez sausage Scotch egg with sriracha yogurt (£9). "Before, when we were doing one set menu, it was difficult – all we wanted was the saddle for that menu. Whereas now, because we are doing a few menus it means we can spread the whole animal across different things," says Reeder, who leads a team of three in the kitchen.
Although he describes his food as "hearty", Reeder can turn his hand to lighter dishes too. Sea bass and scallop ceviche served on a recent tasting menu for a £14 supplement was an exquisite, nuanced plate of food.
"We cure the bass fillets for 40 minutes in 50/50 salt and sugar with a little bit of jalapeño, coriander and peppercorns blended through. We wash off the cure, air-dry, and then thinly slice the fillets and the scallops. We serve them with a tomato water – made from tomatoes marinated for 24 hours with onions, garlic, mint and basil, which are then blended and hung in a muslin to remove the impurities. We finish the dish with little cherry tomatoes for a bit of acidity, jalapeño oil, a little fresh jalapeño, dill and pickled green strawberries, which brings it all together."
Reeder's ambitious cooking has already brought the Silver Cup to the attention of the Good Food Guide, which has listed it as "one to watch" and say its "readers' enthusiasm for this new-generation inn knows no bounds".
Reeder says: "As far as accolades go, I've never really chased them. I cook for myself and I'm really happy with the food we're cooking. I want to keep that accessibility of being a pub. Good food shouldn't just be for the wealthy; it should be accessible to everyone."
From the menu
Starters
- Isle of Wight tomato salad, purple basil and black olive £9
- Scottish salmon, Jersey Royal, crème fraîche and caviar £12
- Hereford steak tartare, egg yolk, sourdough cracker £14
Mains
- Sutton Hoo chicken, Berkswell polenta, girolles and sweetcorn £24
- Stone bass, bouillabaisse, ratatouille and oyster £25
- Hereford fillet, portobello mushroom, Cashel blue and watercress £37
Desserts
- Jerusalem artichoke, white chocolate and strawberry £12
- Chocolate delice, caramel, peanut and milk ice-cream £12
The Silver Cup, 5 St Albans Rd, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JF www.thesilvercup.co.uk
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