Wozza destination
The increasing popularity of food-led pubs can only be enhanced by celebrity involvement, as David Marks found out at Antony Worrall-Thompson's latest business venture Situated in Heytesbury, a small, picturesque village in the Wylye Valley, close to Salisbury Plain and the Longleat Estate, the Angel Inn has been a pub since the 16th century. For the past few years, the Wiltshire venue has had something of a reputation as a destination dining pub of some note, and this has been enhanced further with the recent involvement of celebrity chef Antony Worrall-Thompson, who has taken over the outlet, along with his business partner Tim Etchells. Although the new owners want to retain the pub side of the Angel, the locals are going to have to get used to being surrounded by people who have travelled a considerable distance for the food, not to mention a possible glimpse of the pub's celebrity owner. A refurbishment has given the Greene King outlet a very stylish London-restaurant look, with the scrubbed pine tables looking more designer than reclaimed, and the bar/lounge area housing expensive leather armchairs and voluminous sofas. But the alluring smell of wood smoke from the wood-burning stove wafts around the place as if a gentle reminder that this is still a country pub, albeit a very smart one with a "Notting Hill" feel. The light and airy restaurant is all exposed brickwork, beams and high-backed leather-covered chairs and it's all very swish particularly a recess with a long table for eight beneath a candelabra, which seems tailor-made for some serious entertaining. Worrall-Thompson isn't cooking at the Angel although he promises he will do at least one day in the kitchen each month but the recent refurbishment and change of menus has all the hallmarks of a serious financial investment from the Saturday Kitchen presenter. Following his successful London restaurant, Notting Grill, the emphasis is on grills and simple British food done well. This means that there is a very reasonably-priced "pub-grub" menu, with dishes that can be eaten anywhere, and a more exclusive restaurant menu which is available for dinner. The pub-grub selection ranges in price from a half-pint of shell-on prawns with cocktail sauce (£3.95) to a minute steak with chips, garlic and herb butter (£9.95). In between those two, there are crab cakes with tomato chilli jam (£7.95); home-cooked, hand-carved ham with eggs and chips (£6.95); and a British cheese selection ploughman's with pickles, chutney, salad and hot roll (£5.45) all of which seems to reflect fair pricing for what are undoubtedly dishes made from some very good ingredients. With his London restaurant, Worrall-Thompson has flown the flag for British beef. Steaks are a focal point at the Angel, all of them benefiting from having been hung for 35 days. A separate menu lists the steaks on offer, each with descriptions, cooking instructions and details of the various sauce and butter permutations available. All steaks are served with chips, watercress and béarnaise sauce, although other sauces (au poivre, diane, mushroom and paprika, red wine and shallot) can be substituted for the classic béarnaise. These are early days for the new-look Angel and its celebrity owner, but judging from this visit, the food certainly lives up to the enormous expectation. With a little fine-tuning on the basics, especially the service, there is no reason why it shouldn't become one of the best destination food pubs in the region. Food in the frame A starter of prawn cocktail (£4.25) arrived as a large plate covered with a bed of good leaves (not an iceberg in sight), copious amounts of small prawns smothered in a sauce with a slight paprika kick and scattered with chopped chives. It was a shame there was no offer of bread, though. Until now I have always used a steak cooked by Stephen Bull at the Lough Pool Inn in Herefordshire as the benchmark for the perfect specimen, but the rib-eye (£14.95) I had at the Angel was on a par. It was expertly cooked medium rare, as requested juicy, pink and well-seasoned. The chips were hand-cut, fluffy inside and crisp on the outside. The watercress advertised on the menu had been substituted with wild rocket, which was fine, but it was dry and looked like it had been hanging around the kitchen as long as some of my fellow diners had been waiting for their food to appear. The pot of béarnaise sauce was faultless. Desserts were limited, but well-priced at £4 each. Bypassing the lemon cheesecake with mango dressing and the orange crème brûlée, I opted for that old classic, sticky toffee pudding, which was pretty much textbook and very generously portioned, too. With a pre-lunch pint, two glasses of wine and a double espresso (hugely overpriced at £3.20), the bill for one was £35 before service. The Worrall-Thompson philosophy "It's important to retain the local quality we don't want to upset the locals. If they think the London boys have come down to wreck their local pub, then that's not what it's about. We're doing pub grub, but also the grill concept in the restaurant. "My philosophy has always been spend as much or as little as you want. There will be T-bones on at £22, but there'll also be burgers at £9.50. It'll be all our own meat. "Average spend is anything between £25-£50. We'll do hot rolls from £1.95 up to £4. We're not going to put London prices on the beers and we want to use local suppliers, local producers, local farmers where possible. Some of our beef will come from Scotland, like at Notting Grill, and we're trying to work a partnership with Babington House for other produce. "I had been looking for a pub in Henley for months but I kept getting gazumped at auction. I've lost two or three sites there recently. "The future's in grills. Notting Grill is going absolutely bananas at the moment. We did December figures in January. I was expecting a downturn, but we were doing 120 covers on a Tuesday night, which is unbelievable. "I'm buoyed with the fact that a lot of people I talk to are tired of mucked about' food and are a bit fed up with chefs, so I think I've hit the nail on the head. We're just trying to buy the best ingredients and keep it simple and not muck about with it too much." Wozza's CV Following school, AWT studied hotel and catering management before taking his first jobs in foodin Essex. In 1978 he moved to London and became sous chef at Brinkley's Restaurant, Fulham Road, London, and became head chef within a month. He then took a year's sabbatical in France learning more about the food and style of cuisine. In 1981, AWT opened his first restaurant in London notable for only serving starters and puddings. Other restaurants have included Wiz in Holland Park, London, which has recently been revamped as the Notting Grill. He is passionate about organic farming and grows many herbs and vegetables for the Notting Grill in London at his own small holding. The focus of the Notting Grill is quality, traditional British meat served in unfussy surroundings. Among the produce on the menu is calf's liver, dry cure bacon, organic sausages and a mixed grill dish. It also features organic chicken, fish of the day, scallops, and jumbo prawns. AWT has his own retail food range, which includes chocolate, cakes, bread and chutneys. The Ready Steady Cook chef is also a supporter of the Campaign for Real Food, which aims to get businesses and consumers to eat food made from fresh British, local ingredients.
