Hope and glory

There is some irony in the fact that Sean Hope moved away from cooking in a fine-dining environment because he wanted to escape the pressure of striving to achieve a second Michelin star. After all, only a little more than two years after he left Hambleton Hall in Oakham, Rutland, Hope has now won a Michelin star in his own right in the far less rarefied setting of a village pub - the Olive Branch in nearby Clipsham - which leaves him "gobsmacked".

Unlike most young chefs setting up their first businesses, Hope has never had any aspirations towards achieving a star - or even to appear in any guides, for that matter. "Receiving it has been a lovely honour, but I just don't understand why there is such a yearning for them," he says. "I think too many chefs have the wrong idea and cook for the guides, rather than doing what they or their customers want. I'm sure half of them can't be happy with that approach. The fact the majority of our customers don't even know what a Michelin star is rather puts it all into perspective."

Hope believes he received the star probably because Michelin recognised his real and passionate approach to cooking. "All I'm doing is cooking pub food - sometimes innovative, sometimes traditional - in a very informal environment," he says. "We don't mess about with the food, we use the best of local produce and we cook it simply, with minimum fuss."

The Michelin inspector's choice of food at the Olive Branch - chargrilled rib-eye steak, tomatoes lightly baked with a touch of herb oil, flat-cap mushrooms fried in butter and deglazed with Worcestershire sauce, chips and béarnaise sauce - sums up Hope's approach to food. "There is no better way of serving a good rib-eye steak," he says.

For Hope, becoming co-owner of the Olive Branch in October 1999 was something of a dream come true, as the pub was the place where he had begun his catering career 18 years earlier - as a 12-year-old washing up in the kitchen. "When I was planning to leave Hambleton," he says, "I knew that, if I was going to open my own place, it would have to be in the kind of place where I want to and can afford to eat, and more often than not that means a pub. For that place to be the one that I grew up alongside was fantastic."

The Olive Branch had stood empty for two years when Hope, with business partners Ben Jones and Marcus Welford, bought it. It had closed due to a lack of trade in the village of Clipsham, which has a population of only 600. But by setting up the Rutland Inn Company, the trio had a clear vision - to breathe life back into failing village pubs. Through word of mouth alone, they have created a thriving business, serving as many as 120 meals a day, with an eight-week waiting list for a table on a Saturday night.

Now they hope to recreate the success they have at the Olive Branch at their latest acquisition, the Red Lion in the village of Stathern in the Vale of Belvoir, 20 minutes' drive away in Leicestershire.

Hope will continue cooking at the Olive Branch, although he will oversee the kitchen at the Red Lion and is currently trying to recruit a head chef. "We don't necessarily want to replicate exactly what we're doing at the Olive Branch," he says, "but we are looking for someone who will be able to create good, consistent food that fits in with our philosophy."

At the Olive Branch, Hope is supported by a brigade of five chefs, and cooks what is probably the cheapest Michelin-starred food in the country. The set lunch - which might include chicken liver parfait with Cumberland sauce, followed by poached salmon with lemon and saffron mayonnaise and minted Jersey royals, with a fresh fruit salad of strawberries, mangos and raspberries soaked in orange Muscat and infused with cinnamon and star anise, with a pink grapefruit sorbet and toasted marshmallows to finish - costs £9.95 for two courses and £11.50 for three courses. Average spend from the main lunch and dinner menus, which are supply-led and change regularly, is £15 and £20 per head respectively, including drinks.

"People tell me that we're too cheap, but we've already put up our prices three times since opening," says Hope. "I believe in honest pricing and not ripping off customers. The prices some places charge is nothing short of scandalous."

Customers are just as likely to order sandwiches and snacks from the blackboard as they are dishes from the main menu. "This is a pub and not a restaurant, after all," says Hope. Perennial pub classics, such as steak-and-kidney pudding in winter and whitebait in summer, are always popular.

Typical homely dishes served at the Olive Branch include sardines, oven-baked with tomatoes and garlic and topped with breadcrumbs, served in a rustic oven-to-tableware dish (£4.95/£9.75); baked cod "rarebit", saut‚ potatoes, oven-dried tomato (£11.50); and roasted loin of lamb, honey-roast peppers, pea and mint risotto (at £13.95, one of the most costly dishes on the menu).

Slow-cooked, comfort dishes always sit well within a pub environment, says Hope, and his honey-glazed pork belly (£9.95) is no exception. After being marinated in cider, the belly is slowly cooked for four or five hours with honey, five-spice, lemon grass and ginger. It is served on a bed of sauerkraut, with fondant potatoes cooked in chicken stock, garlic and thyme.

Puddings, says Hope, are "very pubby" and include lemon meringue pie, bread-and-butter pudding with cream custard, and peach and mascarpone tart with vanilla ice-cream. All cost £4.95.

Local cheeses dominate the cheese selection, with two Stiltons - the creamy Colston Bassett and the sharper, crumblier Cropwell Bishop - and the hard, Cheddar-style, unpasteurised Lincolnshire Poacher among those on offer.

From the outset, Hope, with Jones and Welford, has had a clear business plan to open three pubs. "I will stay here at the Olive Branch, Ben will be at the Red Lion and Marcus's pub has yet to appear," says Hope. "We will use our expertise to back each other up. We have no aspirations to be huge pub operators, we're happy with a little empire. Well, I am, anyway."

Sean Hope - career to date

Born in Portsmouth, Sean Hope moved to Clipsham, Rutland, when he was 12. While he was originally attracted to cooking through his passion for art - "it was the era of nouvelle cuisine and I saw food as being artistic" - he now regards the visual aspect of food as being insignificant when compared with the flavours that can be achieved by using fresh, local ingredients.

After two years studying catering at Stamford College, Hope joined nearby Hambleton Hall in Oakham, Leicestershire, as a commis under head chef Brian Baker. "I learnt more at Hambleton Hall in my first two months than I had in the whole two years I spent at college," he says.

A 15-month stint then followed at Longueville Manor in Jersey, where he ended up in pastry, a section he loved for its discipline and creativity. On his return to mainland Britain, Hope worked for three years at the Feathers in Woodstock, which gave him his first taste of working with rustic, bar-style food.

After a short break travelling in Australia, he joined Brian Baker again, this time at the Criterion in London. He says: "It gave me an introduction to mass-style catering - we did 320 covers on a Saturday night - and taught me how to be organised, both of which have stood me in good stead for working in the busy environment that we have at the Olive Branch. But I missed the personal touch with customers and the serenity of the countryside."

Hence his return to Hambleton Hall, where he was eventually promoted to second chef under Aaron Patterson. It was a period Hope describes as "happy, fun and exciting".

It was through Hambleton Hall that Hope met his future business partners - Ben Jones, originally a restaurant trainee at the hotel, and Marcus Welford, who, although trained as a chef, worked his way through the restaurant to become sommelier.

Together they formed the Rutland Inn Company, which purchased the Olive Branch in Clipsham, Rutland, in 1999 and the Red Lion in Stathern, Leicestershire, in 2002.