The Inn of the Green
A "happy medium" between the Fat Duck and the Waterside Inn is how Garry Hollihead describes the Inn on the Green, a restaurant with rooms in Cookham Dean, Berkshire, and his latest project with business partner Mark Fuller which the duo opened in February.
"We're more affordable, though - the kind of place people could visit twice a month. What we're about is good, honest French cookery in a lovely country setting."
The plan is to attract a broad market to the nine-bedroom, 60-seat establishment (which has a further 100 seats outside in summer) - from locals to Londoners weekending away. "We hope lots of diners from our London restaurant, Embassy, will also come here for a night away," says Hollihead.
For this reason, while the menu, which boasts seven starters, seven mains and five desserts plus cheese, is a "similar standard and quality" to Embassy, there are few overlapping dishes.
Best-selling starters so far are a citrus-marinated salmon, potted crab, crème fraîche, petite herb salad (£11.50) and roast sea scallops, pea pur‚e, Sauternes butter sauce (£12.95). Popular mains include fillet of monkfish, roast root vegetables, braised oxtail (£18.95), lobster and scallops American, tomato, shallots tagliatelle (£25.95) and smoked côte de boeuf, creamed horseradish, spinach sauce bordelaise (£24.95). Dishes are generously portioned (six plump scallops, for instance, rest on the bright green purée) - "diners outside London expect that," Hollihead says.
Most diners also indulge in dessert, top choices including blueberry soufflé with lemon curd ice-cream (£5.95) and coffee cappuccino, malted ice-cream, shortbread biscuit (£5.95). Those who opt for a selection from the cheeseboard (£5.95), however, are in for a treat, with some 15-20 well sourced and well kept English and French cheeses on offer served with home-made breads, biscuits and chutneys.
Hollihead is spending virtually all his time at the Inn on the Green in order to get it running smoothly. He's supported by head chef Neil Thornley and three others. "It's pretty full-on at the moment as we're doing 50-60 covers in the evenings at the end of the week and for Sunday lunch [when a menu of roasts is offered] and we're open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days." The hope is to recruit a further two to three chefs to join the brigade shortly.
Other plans for the establishment include digging a kitchen garden to grow vegetables and herbs. "I'm a keen gardener and really into organic produce," confides Hollihead.
He adds that down the line he and Fuller would also like to open another restaurant in London and another with rooms outside the capital. "But we won't do anything for another 12 months until we've got this right."
The Inn on the Green, the Old Cricket Common, Cookham Dean, Berkshire SL6 9NZ.
Tel: 01628 482638.
Website: www.theinnonthegreen.com
Chef's cheat
"It's much better to cook lobsters in water from cold, rather than plunging them into boiling water. Putting them in cold water and then bringing it to the boil keeps the flesh much softer and more tender. If you plunge lobsters into boiling water - like most people do - the meat tenses up and goes tough."
What's on the menu
** Watercress soup, goats' cheese mascarpone tortellini, £5.75
*\ Escalope of foie gras, roast mango cardamom Jacqueline, £14.50 * Boudin blanc, button onions, wild mushrooms, Alsace bacon, port onion jus, £10.50
* Steamed hake, chorizo sausage, buttered curly kale, scallop liquor, clams, £19.50 * Roast breast of duck, ravioli Piedmontese, cassoulet of white beans, £19.95 * Roast rump of lamb, pommes Anna, tomato and parsley jus, haricots verts, £20.95 * Baked egg custard, caramelised apple, £5.95 * Spiced ginger cake, brown sugar parfait, £5.95 * Carpaccio of fresh pineapple, lemon grass granita, £5.95
Menus of the Quarter
The three winning menus for the November to January quarter are Restaurant Sat Bains, Hotel des Clos, Nottingham (Caterer, 16 January); Floriana, London (Caterer, 21 November); and River Walk, London (Caterer*, 19 December). All three go through to the shortlist for the 2003 Cateys Menu of the Year award sponsored by Quorn.
By Gaby Huddart
