The first thing you will likely do when arriving at The Funghi Club is do a handbrake turn to the patisserie fridge.
Oh my goodness, there are some lovely things in there.
Colourful, tempting, sticky bun jewels are on display demonstrating the talents of a fine pastry chef.
And there’s more.
Just a few feet away is another cabinet of delights.
Cheese. Lots of French cheese.
If you haven’t guessed, The Funghi Club is a French gaff.
There are two bistros with French delis for take home dishes, one in Hungerford and one in Marlborough. You can dine in or browse the range of freshly prepared mostly French dishes to take home.
It’s a local success story, with proprietors Laurent and Janie starting the journey in 2019 with a mushroom stall (hence the name) doing occasional food and artisan markets and selling hot Funghi Buns.
Laurent is crazy about all mushrooms from a meaty chanterelle to a Hen of the Wood.
Laurent Lebeau started his career as a chef in France studying for three years at the prestigious Lycée Hotelier in Nice.
When the virus hit they needed new jobs so they morphed The Funghi Club to include their newly created range of (mostly) French inspired, chilled dishes ready to heat and eat for delivery during lockdown.
It went so well they opened up the bistro in Hungerford.
Marlborough opened last year.
The menu de jour changes weekly, and while written in French – it is easy to work out what it is, as they kindly put the English version next to it – and the staff are cheery and helpful, and enthusiastic about explaining things if you ask.
We went along to the Marlborough restaurant which is a bit bigger than the one in Hungerford.
What’s great about this place is that you can smell the freshly baking baguettes when you walk in.
The decor is fresh, and it is clean and bright, with white marble table tops, moving away from a stereotypical bistro vibe.
That fresh bread makes an appearance on the table in a basket, and with butter.
Love the French and their love of butter.
Perhaps this is a moment to mention this is maybe not the best option for a vegan night out!
I went for the parfait de foie de canard (duck pate) to start, and was presented with a very decent portion of that, along with a superbly French touch of cornichons (mini gherkins) served in a stone jar.
My guest, the Colonel, well used to the fineries of the officers’ mess, was impressed with the garlic prawns.
There were lots of them and they were very garlicky.
Chicken chasseur and beef bourguignon followed, providing two classic French bistro dishes, both delicious, and rich and served with some gratin dauphinois.
More butter. Excellent.
The prices are reasonable too, with tags of £14.50 and £18.00 respectively.
Then there was pudding.
While the food so far was superb, tasty and filling, there had to be room to try these delights.
We did, and even the Colonel went off into a distant reverie for a bit while savouring the chocolate ‘oh la la’ desert, before we both fell into a food coma,
What is lovely about The Funghi Club is that what is on the bistro menu is also on the takeaway menu.
And they also do breakfast now, with freshly baked pain au chocolat, croissants, baguettes and some pretty decent coffee.
Worth a swerve from the usual Costa or Caffè Nero for the quality.
