Top chef's new gastro pub

Stephen Terry, the former chef/proprietor of the Walnut Tree in Abergavenny, has opened a new gastro pub in Wales.

Terry, who made his name in the 1980s and '90s, when he worked at Harveys with Marco Pierre White and at Coast, has bought the freehold of the Horse & Jockey in Monmouthshire and renamed it the Hardwick.

The chef describes the pub as "a Welsh version of the Pear Tree at Whitley" - a reference to the Wiltshire gastro pub where he had been working until last summer.

Terry is cooking at the 80-cover Hardwick with just one other chef in the kitchen, Lee Almond, who previously worked at Hibiscus restaurant in Ludlow and the Bell at Skenfrith in Monmouthshire. The menu includes: crispy breadcrumbed belly of pork with fennel, rocket and capers (£4.95); grilled polenta and chorizo sausage with braised lentils and crème fraîche (£5.95); smoked salmon and scrambled eggs (£6); ham, fried egg and chips (£9) and grilled calves' liver with polenta and red onion gravy (£12.95).

Terry says he wants the Hardwick to be "accessible, affordable and a place to pop in for a bite to eat".

"I like the pub thing. I like the fact we get farm workers in here for a few pints and a bowl of chips because it's real and it's unpretentious.

"Although we take bookings in the dining room, we don't book the whole place out simply because we're a pub, not a restaurant."