Steven Ellis, who worked at Gordon Ramsay’s eponymous triple Michelin-starred London restaurant as well as Andrew Pern’s award-winning Star Inn, Harome, opened the Oxford Blue, Windsor, Berkshire, on New Year’s Eve.
Ellis, who set his sights on the pub world after working for Andrew Pern, acquired the site’s freehold in 2015 before giving it a lengthy refurbishment.
The site was originally planned to open in May 2016 but was postponed until December.
Sample dishes include wood pigeon and foie gras pithivier with Waldorf salad; stout-glazed short rib on the bone with confit chips, smoked bone marrow and horseradish Hollandaise; and braised turbot with cockles, sea vegetables and seaweed emulsion.
Desserts include soufflé with Earl Grey and biscuit ice cream; chocolate tart with milk ice cream and orange macaroons; and burnt Cambridge cream with set vanilla custard.
A range of 'nose-to-tail' tasting menus will also be available for private dining parties.
Writing on the Oxford Blue’s website, Andrew Pern said: “Coming from the fine-dining lifestyle of three Michelin-starred, plush restaurants to our wayward inn on the edge of the moors couldn’t be a bigger change.
“But the fact that we have a fabulous pantry of food literally on our doorstep, and we allow the seasons to write our menus, somehow helped [Ellis] feed his ambition to eventually open his own establishment and to combine the two diverse experiences.”
