That Friday Street feeling

There's no reason why children shouldn't eat as well as adults - that's why there's no separate kids' menu at the Stephan Langton. Janet Harmer visited the tiny Surrey hamlet of Friday Street for the full-sized portion.

First impressions can be dangerous. Meet Jonathan Coomb - and his tattoos - down a dark alley and you might be excused for feeling a little nervous. But, despite the hard-man appearance and a bad-boy past, which includes expulsion from two private schools, Coomb is a contented family man obsessed with introducing good food to kids.

That is why he does not offer a separate children's menu sporting the ubiquitous nuggets and burgers at his pub, the Stephan Langton in the tiny hamlet of Friday Street, near Dorking, Surrey. "I don't believe in them," says Coomb, who, with partner Cynthia Rajabally, has an 18-month-old son named Danny. "How can you ever expect children to eat anything else if you keep handing them fish fingers all the time? I will do half-portions of whatever is on the menu, but that is as far as I will go."

With items such as deep-fried cod, chips and tartare sauce (£7.75), half-pint or pint of prawns, mayonnaise and bread (£4.50/£6), and Cumberland sausage with mash, curly kale and onion rings (£6.50) among more innovative dishes, there is no reason why the fussiest of children should go hungry here.

Being brought up to eat the same food as adults is something Coomb feels strongly about. He was taught to appreciate good food himself from an early age and, indeed, considers a passion for food and cooking to have been his salvation.

After his rather chequered school history, his father - former Catey winner John Coomb, who received the Manager of the Year award in 1993 as city director at contract caterer Payne and Gunter - steered him toward a culinary career. "I was working in kitchens at golf tournaments from the age of 13 or 14 and immediately felt at home," says Coomb, who went on to do a three-year apprenticeship at Payne & Gunter.

Following stints working abroad and in banqueting catering, including a spell as senior sous chef at London's Wembley Stadium, Coomb eventually found his niche as sous chef alongside Sebastian Snow at the latter's restaurant, Snow's-on-the-Green in Shepherd's Bush, west London. Coomb explains: "I took an £8,000 drop in salary from Wembley Stadium to go there, but the modern British food that Sebastian was doing was the food I really wanted to cook and I knew it would be the kind of food that would work well in a pub."

Also a big influence at the time was Adam Robinson, then at the Brackenbury, London, and later at the Chiswick, also in London, where Coomb worked briefly while looking for a pub site and where he met Cynthia, who was the restaurant's general manager.

With London proving too expensive and competitive for him to find the right site, Coomb returned to his home town of Reigate in Surrey and, together with Cynthia, took on an 18-month tenancy at the Nutley Hall, a King & Barnes pub, which soon after was taken over by Hall & Woodhouse. "It was a huge success, but it was limiting," he says. "The dining room had just 24 seats and was separate from the bar. We wanted to look for something bigger, with a longer-term commitment."

Their search resulted in a move in November 2000 to the Stephan Langton, where the couple have agreed a six-year lease with the property's private freeholder. While they spent around £35,000 on revamping the kitchen, and decorating throughout the bar and adjoining 40-seat restaurant, Coomb believes that many young couples could take on a tenancy by spending just £20,000. "I'm amazed more chefs have not moved into pubs," he says, "particularly with the encouragement of breweries such as Hall & Woodhouse, which is very keen to see a good food offering in its pubs."

The annual rent at the Stephan Langton is £22,000, with weekly turnover currently averaging around £6,000, and Coomb believes there is considerable scope to build up the business. However, with the outbreak of foot-and-mouth, turnover this year has not reached the levels he had hoped for. During the peak summer months, the pub should have achieved a turnover of £10,000 per week but, although not a single case of the disease was reported in Surrey, much of the surrounding hills and woodland areas, usually a magnet to walkers, were out of bounds. Coomb's business dropped by 60% in the first week following the initial outbreaks in February. But, thankfully, as the land has opened up to the general public again, the walkers have gradually trickled back.

During the week, the Stephan Langton - named after a 13th century archbishop of Canterbury - is also popular with the young-retired brigade aged around 50-plus who populate the affluent villages strung between Dorking and Guildford. As a customer group, they have plenty of time on their hands. "Many eat here as often as three times a week," says Coomb. Weekends attract more of a mixed bunch of customers, including many families. All come to eat; although there are a few cottages nearby, there is no real community to sustain a bar drinking trade.

What they get when they arrive is a short, simple and fresh menu - the building bricks of Coomb's food philosophy. Everything - including the bread, pasta, puff pastry, ice-cream and chips - is prepared daily by Coomb. While this is not necessarily unusual among the increasing number of gastropubs found all over the country, it is still rare in Surrey. "I'm not sure why this is but, apart from one or two exceptions, such as the King William IV in Mickleham, there are not many pubs around us that are doing what we're doing," says Coomb.

The mix of dishes on Coomb's menu include some that would not be out of place in any successful central London brasserie, alongside more familiar country pub fare. Hence, there is the likes of chargrilled tuna, roast pumpkin, tomato and chilli (£11.25) alongside calves' liver, bacon, bubble and squeak (£10.50). The calves' liver is always a big seller. "We get through at least one calves' liver a week, which gives around 18-20 portions," says Coomb.

The bar menu, which is available at both lunch and dinner, is supplemented in the evening by a longer dining room menu, although it still offers a choice of only five dishes at each course. There are similarities in some of the dishes on the two menus, with the dining room version offering greater embellishment. Hence, the bar menu may offer braised shank of lamb, mash and salsa verde (£10.75), while the dining room menu lists the shank being accompanied by goats' cheese gnocchi, olives, capers and mint (£11). Customers can choose to sit in either the bar or the restaurant to eat from either menu. Average spend in the restaurant in the evening is £30 per head, including drinks.

Dishes are largely British-inspired as Coomb believes they sit most comfortably within the pub environment, and because the majority of his suppliers - George Allen for fruit and vegetables, BPM for meat, and Simpsons for fish - provide him with British produce. Typical of such dishes are spiced parsnip and apple soup (£4), country terrine of chicken livers, pigeon and bacon (£4.75), roast saddle of lamb, mash, root vegetables and salsa verde (£11.25), and buttermilk pudding and figs (£4).

Occasionally, foreign influences make an appearance. Offerings such as pan-fried monkfish, cardamom, lentils and baba ganoush (£11) and duck confit, white beans and chorizo (£9.75) only serve to lift the menu.

However, there is one thing that Coomb is adamant he will not do - and that is baguettes. "The occasional walker might ask for them and then turn away when we say we don't, but we believe that what we are doing is liked by the large majority of customers," he says. "But we do a great goulash soup with home-made bread - you can't get much better walking food than that."