The man in the Moon

In July, Toby Hill left behind Michelin stardom to buy the Moon & Sixpence in Oxfordshire.

The pub is now on course for a £700,000 annual turnover.

Mark Taylor investigates It's a pretty safe bet that most of the people attending quiz nights at the Moon & Sixpence don't realise that the guy bringing out the bowls of chips happens to be one of the most gifted chefs this country has produced over the past 15 years.

Toby Hill and his brother, Rupert, took over the lease of this Traditional Freehouse-owned village inn in Hanwell, Oxfordshire, in July and have transformed it into a food-led destination pub.

As head chef at Gordleton Mill Hotel in Hampshire in the '90s, Toby Hill gained his first Michelin star ­ at just 22, the youngest to do so in Britain.

His meteoric rise continued with stints at the Box Tree in Ilkley, the Halcyon in London, and then, in December 2001, he became head chef at the Lords Of The Manor hotel in Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire.

Lords Of The Manor had become one of the most talked about restaurants in Britain, but in 2003 it lost the Michelin star that it had heldfor a decade and was demoted from four to three AA rosettes.

Toby is eager to talk about his exciting new role as chef/proprietor of his own pub, but he's equally keen to put the record straight about his surprise departure from Lords Of The Manor earlier this year.

"I still don't really know why we lost the star, but I know that those lads cooked harder and better than any other team in my career," says the 34-year-old.

"Personally, I wasn't that affected by the star being taken away, but I was devastated for the staff.

"Michelin-starred food is very restrictive.

You're expected to have foie gras on the menu, you're expected to have langoustines on.

It eventually narrows your scope for creativity and after 15 years of doing it, it just became less fun.

"Getting a Michelin star at 22 probably caused me more hassle than if I'd waited until I was 28.

"I had a very strong team, but at the end of the day, they could have run the kitchen without me.

I just wasn't having fun and two years ago last October, Rupert and I started talking about doing something together."

The Hill brothers, along with their father, Brian, looked at "scores" of pubs before deciding on the Moon & Sixpence, and they have recently completed the deal on a new 21-year lease.

Being at the hub of a small village, the pub had a regular clientele, and part of the challenge for the new licensees has been to attract new business through the food side, while keeping the existing customer base.

It's been a steep learning curve for the former Michelin-starred chef.

"We inherited a menu with 72 dishes on it, the majority of which were freezer-to-fryer, so I put a little menu card on with my dishes and the business disappeared overnight!

"Rupert came in and told me I'd alienated all the people who wanted scampi and chips, so we did an analysis of the most popular dishes and they stayed on the menu, but cooked in my style."

Toby, who hates the term gastro pub "because it alienates drinkers", has worked hard to get the balance right on his menus.

He has moved away from the Michelin-star food that made his name, preferring to offer customers big portions of British pub favourites, cooked from fresh ingredients, most of which come from the same suppliers as when he worked at the Lords Of The Manor.

The lunchtime menu is divided into "pub favourites", sandwiches and a short à la carte menu featuring four starters at £4.25 each, four main courses at £8.95 and four desserts at £3.95 each.

In the evening, the same pub favourites appear on the menu, alongside a longer à la carte selection, with starters ranging from £3.95 to £6.25 and main courses from £8.25 to £15.95.

"We've got a cut-off point of around the £13-14 mark for main courses and specials up to £18 or £20," says Toby.

"I can do whatever I wantwithin that.

If I want to use lobsters, I've got toget on to my supplier and say I'm not paying £6 each, I'm paying £4' and eventually they break.

"One of the biggest challenges has been how to organise the kitchen with that level of food and with just two of us cooking.

"Rupert doesn't want to know about the problems in the kitchen because he wants food on the tables at a certain time and at that quality."

Since taking over, the Hills are already attracting about 400 covers for dinner and 300 for lunch each week.

With an average spend of between £20 to £22 per head, and a GP of roughly 69%, they hope to be turning over about £650,000 to £700,000 by the middle of 2005.

There are even plans to repeat the formula in other pubs in the future.

"My job here is to deliver food of a better quality than anywhere else in the surrounding area," says Toby, who admits that his new role as a pub chef has been a rejuvenating experience.

"When I was head chef in the Michelin restaurants, it was rare for me to get up before 11amor 12 because I didn't need to be in the kitchen until midday.

Now, I want to get up again ­ I'm motivated and thinking about menus all the time."

So, will he be aiming for stars at the Moon & Sixpence?

"Even though I still think it's the most reputable accolade, I want to avoid Michelin stars because it labels you.

When pubs get Michelin stars, they're packed out with diners, but lose most of the wet trade.

I don't want that because I want people to walk into this place and feel like they're in a pub, not a restaurant."

On the menu at the Moon & Sixpence Starters Chicken liver parfait served with a red onion marmalade £4.95 Crispy bacon and chicken salad with balsamic vinaigrette £5.95 Pub favourites Scotch beef and ale pie with a puff pastry lid £8.65

Grilled gammon steak with pineapple and chips £9.95 Main courses Roast rump of lamb with black pudding beignet and red wine sauce £13.95 Grilled Angus rib-eye served with olive mash and port sauce £15.95 Desserts Summer fruit pudding £3.95 Chocolate triple stripe £3.95