7 The Fox Dining Room

Hot on the heels of its 'sibling', the Eagle, the Fox has taken a successful formula, says Mark Taylor, and improved it by adding a seperate dining room

The Fox Dining Room, Paul Street, London, EC2A. Tel:0207 729 5708

Mike Belben's second pub, and follow-up to the Eagle (see number 5 in our list), the Fox follows in a similar vein to its predecessor, with the addition of a small restaurant upstairs serving a different menu from the bar.

Downstairs, it's a serious drinking pub with unvarnished boards, scuffed paintwork adn ripped church-hall chairs. Upstairs, the dining room is dark and bohemian with sage and aubergine paintwork, chandeliers, candles, rugs on the wooden floor and paper napkins on the nine tables.

Australian chef Trish Hilferty heads the kitchen and the daily changing menu is a simple affair, with a choice of just four dishes per course. Prices are surprisingly low for London - two course are £15 and three courses cost £19.75. For that, customers can expect starters of pork and chicken terrine, lamb and celeriac mash for the main course and blood orange and almond cake with rhubarb to finish.

Trish used to work at the Eagle and her Lobster & Chips​ cookbook recently scooped the Gourman World Cookbook Award for Single Subject Food Book.

The Fox is no stranger to awards, either, having won the Tio Pepe ITV London Gastro Pub of the Year Award in 2005.

General manager Joe Kelly thinks that part of the Fox's appeal is that the customers get a sense that the staff actually like each other as people: "We're not about 'this is my section, this is your section, I'm not picking up that knife'. We all chip in and it works. If we worked against each other it would fall apart!"

Behind the scenes at...The Fox

Owner/licensee:​ Michael Belben

Head chef:​ Trish Hilferty, who has a recipe book on gastro-pub dishes out later this year

Wet:dry split:​ 65:35

Covers a week:​ 600 to 800

Covers for diners:​ 35 in the dining room, seating for about 35 covers in the bar, but people also stand at the bar to eat bar snacks.

Best-selling dishes:​ In the bar - hot salt beef with mustard on rye; Ploughman's; pie of the day (changes daily but includes lamb and potato, venison and trotter or steak and oyster). In the dining room - whole pigeon on the bone; lemon sole with sauce Maltaise (a blood-orange hollandaise); hot chocolate pudding.

On the menu:​ Langoustines; sea bass, greens and aioli; pear palmiers

Top tip:​ General manager Joe Kelly says: "It's all about using simple ingredients in an honest manner. In fact, everything about the business is honest and we're not into pomp. Some gastro pubs are more like restaurants because they have white linen, wine glasses and water glasses. I think a gastro pub is something more than just a restaurant in a pub. The main focus isn't on fixture and fittings, it's about the food coming out at an honest, reasonable price. We don't believe in charging £18 for a main course because at the end of the day you're eating in a slightly grotty little pub in Shoreditch! These things should reflect each other."

New for 2006:​ To introduce the pie of the day in the dining room because they've been so popular in the bar.

Recipe

Salt beef sandwich​

Ingredients (serves XXX)​

For the brine (prepare a week ahead of serving)​

2.5l/4pts water

500g/18oz coarse sea salt

250g/9oz brown sugar

2 bay leaves

Rosemary - a sprig

Thyme - a sprig

½ tbsp juniper berries

For the sandwich​

3kg brisket

2 carrots - peeled and halved

1 onion - peeled and halved

1 leek - halved

2 sticks of celery - halved

1 tsp black peppercorns

Rye and caraway bread

American mustard

Dill pickled cucumber

Method:​

To make the brine, put the ingredients in a pot and bring them to the boil, making sure the salt and sugar dissolve. Leave the brine to cool completely. Cut the brisket into manageable chunks of around 1k each and put them in a container large enough to hold them and the brine comfortably. Pour the brine over the brisket and weight the meat down with something heavy enough to keep the meat submerged. Cover the container tightly and leave it in the fridge or cool place for one week. Take the meat from the brine and soak it in clean water for around 12 hours or overnight. Now put the meat into a large widebased pan, cover with more fresh water and add the carrot, onion, leek, celery and pepper and bring to the simmer. Turn the heat down to low and cook the beef for 2 to 2½ hours until the meat is tender. Never let the pot boil or the meat can become tough. Slice the meat, it should be about 2mm thick, then pile it in between a couple of slices of rye and caraway bread with a liberal squeeze of American mustard. Serve with a dill pickled cucumber.