Pub food: Open to a new approach

"We thought we'd try to bring some of the London dining experience to Steyning," says George White, co-owner of Whites Bar & Kitchen at the White Horse in Steyning, West Sussex.

"On the face of it, it's a very traditional town and very quintessential," he explains adding that, despite this, Whites Bar & Kitchen is a favourite of the locals. "A lot of people like eating here and like that buzz that we've created."

After a quick tour, it's clear to see that the Greene King coaching inn has certainly benefited from the care and attention that has been lavished on it. The bar is open-plan, but walking through there are alcoves with secluded seats dotted around, while at what George calls the "regulars' table" a plasma screen shows the chefs in the kitchen preparing food. "Everyone stops to watch it - it was a way to bring the kitchen into the pub," he says.

Close to the action

As we walk through, the kitchen is open-plan too, and almost within the seated restaurant area. George admits that this was the brainchild of his father, David, who was "absolutely insistent" about having an open kitchen.

"He said the reason for doing it was because of the importance of having that action going on while you are dining and that the going-out experience needed to be more than just the food, the drink and the person with you - you need something else to make it that extra bit special," says George.

So has it developed in the way it was envisioned? "Absolutely - it's so interesting. You watch these couples come in and the most gorgeous girl will be there but the guys just sit watching everything going on in the kitchen!" he says.

But it also works to the advantage of the chef too, in this case Stuart Dove, who previously worked as head chef at exclusive club Nikki Beach as well as having been pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Lux Stockholm in Sweden and sous chef at New York's award-winning Rhone Restaurant & Wine Bar.

Stuart, who trained under Gordon Ramsay at the chef's two Michelin-starred flagship restaurant in Chelsea, has brought life to the menu at Whites. He explains that rather than having a chef's table the whole room is the chef's table, and the set-up means that people lean over and ask him for tips, thank him for meals and that it's immediately rewarding to finish a dish and then see the diner's expression when they receive it.

Always looking to improve

Stuart clearly loves his job and only alludes to the biggest challenge being "consistency - keeping the standard where you want it and to keep driving it forwards".

George points out that "Stuart is great to work with, because he's immensely driven and innovative, but is always looking to improve" and that seems to be their mantra at Whites. People want more from their pubs these days, but why?

"We are dealing with a more educated consumer," says George. "Some people I knew who had been out of the country for the past few years had come back recently and said: 'my God, English food has changed!' It's true - we discovered that our market isn't just a foodie market, but a dining market."

People want to go out and have a great experience, he believes.

"The quality of food needs to hit that level, but over and above that they just want to have a great time.

"There's negotiation in trying to put out food that will please as many people as possible, but also to set the trend rather than follow the trend. It's finding that balance," says George, explaining that "it can be quite frustrating, because you're balancing your business sense with your passion as well. Certainly in the last year it has been business before pleasure".

Stuart admits this has limited the kitchen slightly and that because of the recession they "can't really sing and dance about things so much or have too much obscurity on the menu, because it's got to sound familiar.

"The element of surprise comes once they get the plate and it comes with something a bit more special," he adds.

"You have to think about how you word it on the menu. We take a lot of time on that," says George.

"If you put 'crispy' it generally sells, or if you use emotive terms it helps," adds Stuart, agreeing that if you say it like it is and allow people to think through the dish as they say it, it will be understood. "No floral words - and try to avoid all French terminology too, that helps," he says.

Looking down the menu, the locality of ingredients is obvious.

"We put down the place usually," says Stuart. "Like, Petworth asparagus or Ashhurst venison and before you know it you've got a map. We put the food miles on because we have people coming from a good 20-mile radius and they don't know where these places are, so it's a way of letting everyone know."

"We've got such a hybrid of a bar and a restaurant," says George. "You could have people having their dessert and sherry in the bar and then people drinking lagers and cocktails, it's such an eclectic mix."