Award-winning chef opens Berkshire pub
Brown is head chef of Greene King lease the Fifield Inn in Fifield outside Bray. The pub has undergone a major restructural refurbishment at the hands of licensees Keith and Michelle Lawson including opening up the dining area, adding a new bar and extending the kitchen as well as investing in all-new equipment and building walk-in fridges outside.
The pub will officially open on Friday following a soft launch for 55 ‘friends and family’ tonight (Tuesday), which will see local chef Dominic Chapman and owner Nick Parkinson of the nearby Michelin-starred Royal Oak at Paley Street attending among others. Around 300 locals have been invited to a drinks and canape evening on Thursday before the pub opens to all the next day.
The food
"The food will be seasonal British with some classics and an a la carte menu," said Brown, who has spent the last year working in prestigious venues in Australia and New Zealand including Amuse in Perth and Attica in Melbourne. "The menu will feature a lot of the things I learned in Australia as well as little snacks, such as deep fried oysters and bread with whipped butter.
"A friend is making sausages for us using local game with varieties like wild boar and plum, pork and apple and we are working on a duck and orange version. It will not be a fine dining menu but more down that route."
Classic mains will start from around £10 while the a la carte menu starts at £14.50. bar snacks include homemade pickled hen’s eggs (£1.20 each); deep fried cod’s cheeks with homemade tartare sauce (£4.95); and lamb croquette with wholegrain mustard (£1.95 each).
A la carte mains on offer include roast Cotswold white chickne breast, celariac, carrots, lovage, pinenut crumble, creamed potato and chicken jus (£13.95); and homemade gnocchi with a lamb ragou, red wine and thyme (£14.50) with classic desserts such as sticky toffee pudding with sticky toffee sauce and vanilla bean ice cream (££5.95).
Brown previously worked at the Palmer Arms in Dorney, also in Berkshire.
