Citizen Smith

02 November 2000
Citizen Smith

Michelin-starred chefs switching from the world of white tablecloths to the bare wood tables of pubs is nothing new. Yet whereas high-profile names like Steven Doherty and Mark Prescott crossed the floor from starch to informality because they wanted to, Stephen Smith has gone into a pub kitchen at the Millbank, in the gritty Pennine town of Sowerby Bridge, through necessity.

Smith was co-owner and head chef at Restaurant 19 in Bradford for 16 years, earning the kitchen a Michelin star. The partnership accepted an offer to buy the business in 1998, but with Smith staying on as salaried head chef. This was when the success began to unravel and business decline, culminating in the announcement to staff in February this year that Restaurant 19 was in liquidation.

Smith was faced with the stark reality that the restaurant he had devoted 16 years to was no more, and he was out of a job. "It was sudden. I was halfway through doing the mise en place, so I just stopped. There wasn't any point."

The new owners, says Smith, broke a golden rule. "They said they wanted Restaurant 19 to continue as it always had done; nothing should change. That's wrong. When a restaurant changes hands and you get new front of house, customers expect a change of direction. I said we ought to be moving on, moving to more relaxed dining, broadening the cooking; but the word was no. That's what made it worse - I could see it coming. The kitchen didn't run out of ideas, the restaurant ran out of customers."

Although Smith was in shock at the redundancy, he stayed pragmatic. "I needed another job. Something had to pay the bills, so I signed on at the JobCentre. That's when I looked beyond the kitchen and realised how much I had given to Restaurant 19. I didn't know what the fashions were, what the music was. It was as if 16 years of my life had suddenly been rubbed out. That's not a whinge - I don't think this industry owes me anything - but it's something that you don't think about until circumstances make you."

In March he saw a job advertisement in Caterer for someone to run the kitchen of a soon-to-open foodie pub close to where he lived. That was the point when he first thought about cooking in a pub.

With the Millbank's transformation from a village boozer to 36-seat pub-restaurant now complete, and after more than two months cooking in the very compact kitchen, how has Smith found the culture change?

His reaction is a measured pause, then a denial that he has moved away from fine dining. "Good food can be served anywhere. The difference between cooking in a pub and a restaurant like 19 is the environment. That dictates customer's perceptions of what they expect. It's true that if Restaurant 19 hadn't closed I'd still be there - that's obvious - but I always said that what I was cooking at Restaurant 19 was transferable."

To meet the lower selling price needed for the pub menu there has been some tweaking, but dishes like roast duck breast with a casserole of leg and sage mash (£12.75) was a Restaurant 19 favourite, as was the Spanish-influenced breast of chicken with chorizo risotto (£10.95).

Pub classic

New dishes on the menu, which reflect the rural setting of the Millbank and the plate cover expected by pub customers, include a starter of coarse-textured terrine of rabbit, ham, pork and prunes with an apple and garlic mayonnaise (£4.95) and a main course of braised ham hock with colcannon and mustard sauce (£9.95) - "a pub classic," says Smith, "cheap to produce, excellent to eat".

Smith was given complete freedom to devise the Millbank menu, with the only direction from the new owner being that it was to be a country pub with modern cooking.

The evening menu has been kept deliberately short in the opening period, with five starters ranging from celery and fennel soup (£3.95) to tuna salad with anchovies and romesco sauce (£5.25). There are six main courses, ranging from red pepper, oven-dried tomato and courgette lasagne (£8.95) to lamb loin in a herb crust with haricot beans and grilled kidney (£13.25). Desserts are from an even tighter choice, with just three puddings, such as a warm chocolate, orange and ginger cake with amaretto parfait and apricot sauce. All desserts are £3.95. A vegetable selection or side salad is an extra £1.50.

At lunch the menu is shorter still. There is a table d'hôte (£9.95 for two courses) chalked up on a blackboard, incorporating some of the cheaper items from the dinner menu and dishes that help manage existing food stock, plus snacky items such as sandwiches and soup.

The opening menu is soon due for a change, but Smith is not working to a fixed routine or menu cycle. "The public will tell us when something needs changing. There's no sense in taking something off a menu just because it's the month end."

Smith is commendably frank when it comes to the question of whether he likes the pub food business. "I like the informality and the freedom to cook anything I fancy and not be worried about guidebook inspectors breathing down my neck," he says, "but the biggest change has been the diversity of cooking in a pub. Pubs have to be all things to all men. You are doing Sunday lunches, sandwiches in the bar - you never know what the next order is going to be." With a pause, he adds: "Yes. I think I like it."

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