Gastro-nomics

31-Mar-2006 - Last updated on 26-Aug-2011 at 23:36 GMT

Related tags Gastro pub Gordon ramsay

Their informal atmosphere and fresh food is waving the flag for quality British fare. Jo Bruce salutes the gastro pub My name is Jo Bruce and I am a...

Their informal atmosphere and fresh food is waving the flag for quality British fare. Jo Bruce salutes the gastro pub

My name is Jo Bruce and I am a gastro pub junky. Although I still enjoy dressing up for a smart meal in killer heels and dresses I can't breathe in if I indulge in pudding, nine times out of 10 a gastro pub ticks all my boxes.

When a gastro pub hits the spot it is a sublime experience. But some trying to pass themselves off as gastro pubs fail to thrill, serving food as locally-soucered as the freezer, or coming across as so prententious that it's as comfortable an experience as dinner with Hannibal Lector.

Enjoying quality food, wine and beer while wearing denim and pouring your own drink without the "suits you,sir" pomp of many restaurants, is as unfussy as a slipper-clad evening on the sofa.

My love of gastro pubs has been fuelled by some amazing dishes; good, rustic British cooking, where chefs haven't felt the need to flop their egos all over the plate. Think quaking pudding at the Hind's Head in Bray, Berkshire, Pimms jelly at the Star Inn, Harome, North Yorkshire, hand-cut chips at the Olive Branch, Clipsham, Rutland, and risotto at the Bull at Ditchling, Sussex. Lovely.

Combine this excellent food with the fact that you can still but a pint at the barand the high chance that some delicious produce was provided by a fellow patron, then who wouldn't be as happy as Charlie in the Chocolate Factory? The food in many gastro pubs now far outshines the offerings in top restaurants and it is a trend set to continue for a long time yet.

The gastro pub has given the British public the equivalent of the French bistro or Italian trattoria and the public just can't get enough of them. A "heart-warming and very British success story" is how Egon Ronay described gastro pubs in his guide launched last year. He is a wise one.

Fifteen years after the Eagle set the template, we have eight pubs with Michelin stars, journalists cooing over them and all the influential guidebooks affording them top ratings.

New gastro pubs are opening across Britain every week. From pub companies to individual entrepreneurs, they all want a slice of the gastro pub action and are bringing energy, passion and innovation to the sector.

The innovation being introduced by gastro pub entrepreneurs in recent years would impress even Alan Sugar. From bar snacks to bathrooms, gastro pubs have led the way.

Gastro pubs are attracting the cream of the industry, with chefs such as Heston Blumenthal, Claude Bosi and Mark Dodson, formerly of the three Michelin-starred Waterside in Bray, now among the ranks of gastro-pub operators.

The last year has also seen the continuing "celebritisation" of gastro pubs, with chefs including Jean-Christophe Novelli and Marco Pierre White becoming operators, and Anthony Worrall Thompson taking on another gastro pub.