THE MORNING Star pub is becoming the go-to place for Shaw food lovers – and their quality has not gone unnoticed.
For the Grains Road hostelry was nominated for Food Pub of the Year by brewers JW Lees.
That nod is the result of hard work by owners Jared and Alex Chilton-Thwaite as well as head chef Simon Battersby over the past year.
A new menu, new lunchtime set menu and specials saw them attend the awards ceremony in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, on Tuesday, July 23.
Simon, who previously worked there before eventually returning, revealed the secret behind their success is using nothing but the best, fresh ingredients.
He said: “We don’t use any pre-packaged items and the menu, which we introduced in July, has gone down really well.
“The idea is fresh food. Especially in this day and age where cookery and food is largely portrayed as fresh, you can’t have everything coming in frozen and thrown into a microwave.
“I have a really good, strong team of chefs here to make all the food. There are six of us who are all passionate about what we do.
“We’ve also introduced specials on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 5pm – just a showcase of what my team and I can do with good ingredients.
“And they will change as the market changes – meaning anything we use will be in season.
“We’ve also added lots of fish to the menu, things like goujons, whitebait, mussels, crab and smoked salmon – and there’s a little bit of theatre too.”
The turnaround at The Morning Star is testament to the work Alex and Jared have put in since taking over 12 months ago.
The lunchtime set menu, which is available from noon until 5pm weekdays and from noon until 3pm on Saturday. It costs £9.95 for two courses and £12.95 for three courses and is already proving popular.
And given the success and recognition, it is definitely a case of, ‘so far, so good,’ but there will be no resting on any laurels.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Alex. “The time has gone by quickly and we’ve been keen to make sure we’ve been out on the floor working with everybody.
“Things are better but we want to make it better again to get it to how it was when Simon was first here.”
• The Morning Star is at 107 Grains Road, Shaw and is open from noon-11pm and food is served from noon-9pm Monday to Saturday and from noon-8pm on Sunday. You can reserve a table online at www.themorningstarshaw.co.uk or by calling 01706 662483.