Think of pub food and you imagine the good old hearty classics. Fish 'n' chips, sausage and mash, burgers, pies and some more chips thrown in for good measure. Quails eggs, chocolat consommés and foie gras patés are not so far up on the list. Or are they?
Can a three-time Michelin star-winning chef with 10 other restaurants to keep him occupied successfully run an English country pub and serve up good old English country fare? Marco Pierre White thinks so.
Renowned for his fiery temper and Anglo-Franco fusion of flavours, Marco rose to fame working in the kitchens of numerous top London hotels and restaurants. He also whipped a young Gordon Ramsay into shape back in the 1980s when the foul-mouthed foodie worked for him as a commis chef.
But Marco is now branching out of London. He took over the Yew Tree Inn, a country pub in Berkshire, a year ago, having initially chanced upon it one lunchtime after a morning of shooting in the surrounding countryside. Despite spending time in his other restaurants, which include L'Escargot and several other fine dining venues in London, Marco visits the Yew Tree around five times a week and even manages to find the time to shoot most of the deer that feature on the menu himself.
Quality and experience
Gareth McAinsh, manager at the Yew Tree, explains how his legendary boss has turned the pub around. "It was a black hole before he took over. It was totally unaccoladed, the food was OK, not memorable. It was just a very nice site." Since then, trade has gone up by a third and while the kudos of Marco's name helps to bring the punters in, it's the food that keeps them coming back.
"Marco Pierre White is a brand name synonymous with quality and a great experience. The difference here is that the food is fantastic but affordable," says Gareth. The seasonal delicacy at the pub is gulls' eggs. It's not exactly eggs, chips and beans - so does it work in a pub environment?
The eggs look pretty impressive, with a mottled green and blue shell and an almost neon orange yolk, but more extraordinary is how they are sourced. "We get them from just west of Southampton. We have a man who scales cliffs to get them - it's the only way to do it and that's why we only offer them for the month of May," says 27-year-old Gareth matter-of-factly.
The thought of someone struggling down a sheer rock face in a James Bond-style stunt, grappling at loose rocks and risking life and limb for my starter sells me on the eggs. Plus munching on a whole egg in a pub is hardly different from tucking into a pickled egg with a pint of bitter - minus the celery salt perhaps.
So what about the rest of the menu? Does the Yew Tree Inn offer a good pub food experience or a fine dining one? Gareth explains that it's a bit of both. Customers can come order the lobster for £27.50 and a bottle of 1988 Chateau Mouton Rothschild for £395 or they can pop in for a shepherd's pie and a pint of bitter for under £15.
The Yew Tree is not designed to be a special occasion venue reserved for birthdays and anniversaries but an affordable local inn where you get a bit more than you would expect from most.
Why the menu works
But the menu is peppered with Marcoisms. Fancy a starter of Chou farci a l'ancienne? The average punter would be forgiven for feeling completely bewildered, and avoid it for fear of pronouncing it wrong or accidentally ordering a duck's foot or a badger's ear. Which would be a shame, because the dish, which translated means a hearty meat-stuffed cabbage leaf, makes a great starter - tasty and easy to prepare.In an English low-beamed inn it might be thought a bit risky to jazz up the language on the menu too much.
However, customers seem to respond, perhaps because despite the very French menu, one thing that the Yew Tree boasts is great value. "People are surprised at how cheap it is here," says Gareth. "You can have a shepherds pie for a tenner or steak and chips for £13 at a Marco Pierre White restaurant - that's fantastic value." And the more rustic food is impressive at those prices.
The shepherd's pie is made with a rich veal gravy and topped with rosettes of perfectly light creamy potato - a classic example of how the simple things done well can be the best. The fish and chips are beautifully presented with a perfect stack of chunky chips and a hefty half a lemon wrapped in muslin.
The menu is, in fact, full of great ideas that could be used in most pub kitchens. Vegetables, for example, are not the main event by any means but an important accompaniment to pub food. Get it right and no one will really notice but get it wrong and your customers' eating experience could be ruined. Simple twists employed at the Yew Tree include spinach mixed with a dash of cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. With a little imagination, soggy carrots and brown cauliflower should become a thing of the past.
While not all the fodder at the Yew Tree can strictly be called pub food, there are some great pub classics on the menu. The steaks are well sourced, there is a good selection of well-cooked vegetables and the pies and fish are the perfect accompaniment to a pint when you are having a quick bite. And the pub is still a pub. The bar is a focal point and doesn't look out of place among the white tablecloths and sparkling silver cutlery, the fireplace roars in the winter months and the low ceiling and flagstone floor add to the warm, country feel.
Gareth says that the Yew Tree has an army of regulars and that although the food and service is not quite what you'd expect from a pub, the atmosphere and prices are."We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable here. There is no dress code, anyone is welcome. People come in here after a morning of shooting or fishing but we also have people booking in advance for a special night," he says.
"We want customers to be able to feel they can laugh out loud in here without getting evils from staff and other customers. It's the best of both worlds - high class food in a rural, friendly setting at a great price."Take the chanceMarco Pierre White's pub should send out a message to pubs wanting to do something different with their menu. Getting everything right isn't necessarily the most important thing.
There is an overly French menu and a smidgen of pompousness about the place but these "flaws" (some might say) give the Yew Tree an edge and make it unique. It might be a risk but as long as the food is good and there is a range of simple pub fare as well, there seems no reason why other pubs shouldn't give a less traditional pub food offer a go. It works at the Yew Tree, consommé of game en croute and all.