Barber's cutting edge
The use of fresh ingredients - many grown and reared locally - and classical, rather than innovative, pairings of flavours are hallmarks of Chris Barber's cooking. Janet Harmer checks out his latest venture.
After four years running one of the country's most highly rated pub restaurants at the Goose in Britwell Salome, Oxfordshire, Chris Barber has expanded his horizons. He has taken over the White Hart hotel in the village of Nettlebed, four miles away, on a 21-year lease from brewer WH Brakspear of Henley.
While Barber will continue to oversee the successful food operation at the Goose, he will now spend his time in the kitchens at the 12-bedroom White Hart hotel, which has two food outlets - the White Hart pub and the Nettlebed restaurant.
Barber, who was personal chef to the Prince of Wales for 11 years, says the pub is serving "simple dishes that are so often done badly in pubs, but which we are doing from scratch. If you make your own fish batter and tartare sauce then you can be one step ahead".
Prawn cocktail (£5/£10), steamed mussels, coconut milk and Thai spices (£4/£8), grilled lemon and thyme chicken breast, salad leaves and chips (£9), shepherd's pie (£8) and chocolate mousse (£4) are among the offerings which bring in an average spend of £15 on food at the 70-seat pub.
The menu in the Nettlebed restaurant also reflects Barber's philosophy of serving freshly prepared ingredients - the majority of which are grown and reared locally. But here, where average food spend is £45 a head, he can make use of more expensive ingredients.
A three-course set menu for £25, available at both lunch and dinner, runs alongside the à la carte menu, which offers a choice of six dishes at each course. While the à la carte is being changed six times a year, a new set menu - which might include terrine of foie gras, artichoke heart and confit chicken, grain mustard dressing; roast sea bass with braised leek hearts and raw tomato coulis; and raspberry soufflé with vanilla ice-cream - is written just before each service.
Barber avoids innovative combinations of ingredients - for him classical pairings of flavours work best. Hence, the appearance of starters such as gratin of scallops Florentine (£14) and baked potato with sour cream and oscietra caviar (£25) on the à la carte menu.
The ballotine of suckling pig with morels, parsnip pur‚e and truffle jus (£24) provides an intense hit of pork. The shoulder of the pig is slow roasted, confited in its own fat and stuffed inside a saddle, which is then wrapped in foil and roasted. The meat is allowed to cool and sliced before being seared in a hot pan and served with morels and a truffle-flavoured pork jus.
Puddings include a Bramley apple crumble, vanilla ice-cream and butterscotch sauce (£8) and a selection of chocolate desserts (£8) incorporating a fondant, a sorbet, a mousse and a tart.
The Nettlebed restaurant at the White Hart hotel, Nettlebed, Oxfordshire RG9 5DD. Tel: 01491 641245
Sample dishes from the Nettlebed restaurant menu
Feuilleté of wild mushrooms with a poached Maran egg, £12
Baked potato with sour cream and oscietra caviar, £25
Ravioli of braised pig cheek with pea purée and white truffle, £12
Roast sea bass with braised leek hearts and raw tomato coulis, £22
Best end of lamb with red pepper purée, ratatouille and flageolets, £22
Roast breast of Gressingham duck with cabbage and smoked bacon gnocchi, £21
Prune and Armagnac soufflé with caramel ice-cream, £8
Shortbread with poached pears, Muscat syrup and a compote of dried fruits, £8
Lemon cheesecake, £7
