3 The Hind's Head
Heston Blumenthal has chosen to serve classic British food at the hind's Head, says Mark Taylor, rather than his world-famous molecular gastronomy
The Hind's Head Bray, Berkshire. Tel:01628 626151
How lucky are the people living in the small Berkshire village of Bray? Not only do they have the "best restaurant in the world" (according to Restaurant magazine's Top 50), but they also have the number-three gastro pub in Britain. Of course, it's no coincidence that both businesses are owned by the same person: three Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal.
Blumenthal has made an international name for himself at his fine-dining restaurant, the Fat Duck. A visionary chef at the forefront of molecular gastronomy, his ground-breaking dishes include snail porridge, smoked-bacon-and-egg ice cream and sardines-on-toast sorbet. Blumenthal has taken an entirely different approach to running the 17th-century Hind's Head pub, where he is concentrating on classic British food. There's no sign of cauliflower risotto and chocolate jelly on this menu, just a roll call of comforting pub classics.
Blumenthal and his head chef, Dominic Chapman - who previously worked with Rowley Leigh at Kensington Place - have devised a core menu of favourites, with a weekly changing selection of seasonal specials.
Menu descriptions are short and to the point: potted rabbit with green beans and shallot; slow-cooked pork belly with pearl barley broth; cottage pie; Lancashire hotpot; banana Eton mess.
One of the most interesting developments on the menu has been the introduction of medieval dishes, which Blumenthal has reinvented with the help of food historians at Hampton Court. Long-lost dishes that have been recreated include the Quaking Pudding a kind of hot milk jelly made from milk and cream flavoured with nutmeg and cinnamon and set with egg yolks.
The Hind's Head is managed by Andy and Susan Proctor, who worked at the Fat Duck and Michelin-starred restaurants in Bath before taking on the pub. They have brought experience and professionalism to the front-of-house operation, while ensuring that it is an informal dining experience. Talking about his recipe for a successful food pub, Blumenthal says: "Technically,if you've got a good range of beers, a decent wine list and a good menu, then you're halfway there. It's as simple as that. The benefit for us has been the attention to detail that we've applied to the Fat Duck over the years - we've just applied a watered-down version of that."
Behind the scenes at...The Hind's Head
Owner/licensee: Heston Blumenthal
Head chef: Dominic Chapman
Turnover: Confidential
Wet:dry split: 35:65
Covers a week: 1,100
Covers for diners: 200
Best-selling dishes: Pea & ham soup; oxtail & kidney pudding; treacle tart & ice cream.
On the menu: Potted shrimps with watercress salad; Gloucester Old Spot pork chop with pease pudding; sherry trifle.
Top tip: Attention to traditional values with consistency.
Best business ideas/innovation: Traditional old British dishes keeping the historic links and the re-invention of dishes in liaison with Hampton Court Palace. For example, the treacle tart was famous at the Hinds Head for decades and on the Queen's lunch menu in 1963.
New for 2006: Like the Quaking Pudding, there will be more of the Hampton Court dishes developed to the stage where they are incorporated into the core menu.
