Sunny-side up

After three long years of hard work capped with success, Zim Sutton and Andrew Veevers are taking on another challenge. The duo behind the highly regarded Easton in Clerkenwell have injected some Aussie flair into their new venture, the Princess, as NIGEL HUDDLESTON discovers

It's been six years since Andrew Veevers visited London from his native Melbourne for his sister's wedding.

He's never returned, having had a revelation two years on that the life he led in multimedia sales wasn't for him and deciding to do something else instead.

Unusually for an Aussie, he says: 'I was pretty much the only person in Melbourne who'd never worked in a bar.'

He landed a job at the DJ venue, bar Vinyl in Camden, north London, where he met Zim Sutton.

'We decided very quickly that we shared a passion for cooking and the same type of food,' says Veevers, 'but it was the type of food we couldn't really find over here.

'We're used to a variation on the food you can find in London with an Australian influence. It's still multicultural with influences from all over the world, but cooked slightly differently.

It was the start of the second wave post-Eagle gastro pub movement in London, and the pair decided to jump on board, taking over the Easton in Clerkenwell.

Now, three years on, and with a Time Out Eating & Drinking award nomination under their belts for the first pub, the pair have opened a second, the Princess, in the earthy hinterland between the City and Shoreditch, near Old Street tube station.

It's an area where up-market bars, restaurants and gastro pubs have flourished, on the back of office lunches and trendy night-time revellers.

Veevers says: 'We seem to be in some type of food revolution in this country.

'Six years ago there weren't as many cookery programmes on TV or as many celebrity chefs. People are getting interested in food and are a lot more savvy about what is good food.

Pubs like the Princess allow people to indulge themselves without breaking the bank, he says.

'People are realising you can get good value for money, Veevers says. 'They're coming out of restaurants and going into an easy-going pub environment that everyone's used to, but this is married to good food.

'People are starting to realise that it's more sociable to have a restaurant-style meal in a pub than in a restaurant.

Australian style inspires menu

The Princess was once the Princess Royal, a traditional boozer that was the domain of One-eyed Ron, according to the legend told by local landlords.

Veevers and Sutton have kept the downstairs as a pub, with bar food from a blackboard menu. The 35-cover à la carte restaurant is upstairs, accessible only by a spiral staircase in the corner of the bar room.

Sutton whose role is executive chef, with Veevers handling the operational side of the business says there's a clear split between the two areas.

'The style of food is a notch up in the restaurant but it all comes from the same influences, he adds.

There's also a shift in style from the Easton. 'It's the lighter, fresher ingredients, more of a reflection of the Australian lifestyle and eating outdoors, throwing really fresh meat and fish together with really nice salads. Everything was a lot more rustic at the Easton, with stews and pies.

Sutton says that despite the Aussie style, the cooking influences come from the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East.

'They're sunnier climates and we use elements from those countries that are similar to Australia.

The Princess is also geared more towards several courses rather than a single main. 'The way we've set up the Easton, we could never do starters, mains and desserts, because there's only two people in the kitchen, says Sutton. 'At the Princess, we really wanted to take our time with things a little bit more.

Giving Sunday lunch a new twist

The Princess opened in May and has already achieved national press coverage. It has followed the Easton's trail with a nomination at this year's Time Out awards. The pub is already getting through around 260 to 300 covers a week.

The restaurant closes on Sundays but the pub remains open to do Australian-style Sunday roasts. Veevers says: 'It's the typical meats but with roasted butternut squash and green beans instead of potatoes, cabbage and a Yorkshire pudding. Ours is a lot more summer-orientated.

Sutton adds: 'Don't think we're dissing the English roast, because we're not, but a lot of the time things are cooked beyond any goodness.

It's not an accusation you can level at the fresh and friendly Princess.

Art deco-rating

The bar walls at the Princess showcase some stunning pictures taken in Mexico by a member of staff who's a budding photographer. Upstairs there are original paintings by a friend of a friend of Veevers.

Veevers says: 'Most people who work for us are doing it as a supplement to getting a career off the ground, which is usually in a creative field. They work in bars to pay their rent. It gives them flexible hours to work on their folios. By putting their work on display, we can give them exposure and invite galleries down to show their work and it's all for sale.

The pictures take their place on walls lined with wallpaper by Australian designer Florence Broadhurst.

Sutton says: 'She did loads of stuff in the 1920s and 1930s. Some people moved into her warehouse in Sydney a few years ago and found a storeroom containing 1,000 designs, and a few of them were re-released a couple of years ago. We had the first rolls in the UK at the Easton.

Veevers adds: 'That's the signature of what we do. Because the wallpaper is from the 1920s and 1930s, the rest of the design follows suit.

'A lot of our influences are from hanging round with our grandparents when we were kids and they'd have loose-leaf tables and crystal light fittings.

Furniture was sourced from Indonesia, and most of it is reclaimed. Sutton adds: 'We've still got to put some more love into it, fill it out a bit. We stripped it back to start off with, but we need to get a bit of a warmth and colour back.