Tom Kerridge's The Butchers Tap and Grill Gets Sporty

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Ad - Local favourite supports Action for Sport with delicious themed burgers

In celebration of a jam-packed summer of sport, Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge is teaming up with some of England’s most decorated athletes on a series of collaborative burgers, available at The Butcher’s Tap and Grill in Chelsea and The Butcher’s Tap and Grill in Marlow.

British weightlifting champion, Emily Campbell, has worked with the chef team to create a limited edition "Clean and Jerk Burger" with £1 from each sale going to Action for Sport. Available from 15th July - 27th August, the Clean and Jerk Burger will see fiery jerk chicken topped with smoked applewood cheese, pineapple and sweetcorn salsa and a sweet chilli mayonnaise. As the most successful British weightlifter of modern times, Emily Campbell has made history as the first British woman to win a silver medal in the sport. In honour of the collaboration, Emily has chosen to work with Action for Sport, supporting their mission in providing sporting equipment and opportunities to young people by providing access to sports and educational opportunities, fostering confidence and skill development for a brighter future.

As a long term admirers of Tom Kerridge, it was a pleasure to accept an invitation to have dinner there this week. The pub does indeed feel like a comfortable, local institution. Flat screens were showing the Vitality T20 game from Lords with England v New Zealand (spoiler alert: England won), the wood and leather booths gave a nice club-type feel and the chiller fridge full of the most spectacular cuts of meat the promise that things were going to be good.

The menu goes from burgers and hot dogs via marinated skewers to Chateaubriand, very much living up to the time when the venue was a butcher's shop. In true Olympic style, we warmed up before our 'event' with starters of Fried Mac'n'Cheese with Truffle Mayo and a Cumberland Scotch Egg with Mustard Mayo. The Mac'n'Cheese were like a cross between the American favourite and arrancini drizzled with truffle mayonnaise and sprinkled with Parmesan and left no calorie unturned. The Scotch egg was a quail's egg enveloped in a nice hefty Cumberland coat propped up in a good dollop of mayonnaise.

Having limbered up nicely, we moved on to main courses. I had the Clean and Jerk burger and I can see why you'd need to train just to lift that up. The salsa combination gave a lovely little oomph of heat and the chicken was tender and juicy. My partner had the rib eye steak: really excellent quality beef and cooked so perfectly medium rare over an indoor open flame grill giving it a wonderfully smoky, caramelised exterior. The chef in the downstairs open kitchen had trained as a butcher as well as a chef and certainly achieved gold in his handling of this top quality produce. The friendly manager Ross told us that they don't bother ladling butter over the steaks as they don't need it: they just rest the meat after cooking and brush it with the meat fat. We rather over reached ourselves by ordering truffle and parmesan fries and onion rings to go with our main dishes but somehow felt we were supporting the cricket team by eating their calories for them. With an Aged Beef Fat Old Fashioned (yup - beef fat!) and a glass of Chenin Blanc, the whole visit was a joy.

The Butcher's Tap and Grill has certainly lived up to Tom's aim of being "A community hub, The Butcher's Tap and Grill sits in a vibrant sweet spot where faithful British boozer, delicious grill house and quality butcher meet." Our fellow guests included a group gathered for a birthday party, a couple sharing a Chateaubriand and a family with a young child. And if you wanted to bring your dog along, there are pig's ears in the meat fridge specially for the well behaved canine visitors.

And look out for rower Naomi Riches MBE's burger coming at the end of August - her 'Taste of Victory Burger’ will see a crispy fried venison burger with Lyonnaise onions, mature cheddar cheese, wholegrain mustard mayonnaise and finally a fried pickle on top of the bun. The Butcher’s Tap and Grill will donate £1 from each sale to Meals from Marlow, an initiative set up by Tom Kerridge to deliver meals to those in the surrounding areas.

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July 19, 2024