‘London-style’ gastropub opens doors

A FORMER Mexican restaurant in Henley has been given a new lease of life as a small plates restaurant and pub.

The Duke, which is on the corner of Greys Road and Duke Street, had its first day of trading on Tuesday evening.

The premises was previously home to Pachangas, which closed after nearly 10 years in the town due to rising costs.

The new pub and restaurant is run by the Henley Pub Co, founded by Henry Day, from Benson, and the company has leased the building from Brakspear.

It has an enhanced bar area, a dining room that can host up to 56 covers, including a semi-private room for up to eight people, and a small courtyard.

The pub has a choice of 10 beers on tap including two Brakspear ales and also serves cocktails and mocktails including its own “Duke’s Spice”.

The pub’s dining experience is driven by the concept of small plates, whereby diners share a selection of smaller dishes with carefully constructed flavours.

The kitchen is led by head chef Adam Hague, who works alongside sous chef Ryan Honey.

Rather than using a stove, the pair cook over an open fire, a choice Mr Hague said had inspired some of the dishes.

Mr Hague, who lives in Marlow, said: “The inspiration for the food comes from fire and smoke. We cook everything over an open coal fire, so we wanted to carry that across into the food.

“We have no stoves in there, just a fire pit, an oven and a fryer.

“We wanted to keep it quite organic and let the produce speak for itself and we are using quality produce.”

Some of the dishes the pub offers include a deer tartare with wasabi crisps, raw salmon with leche de tigre, duck lasagne, a bitter leaf salad with pear and blue cheese and a highland rump cap.

Mr Hague said he hoped that the restaurant’s small plates approach would contribute to reintroducing a more “family” style of eating in the UK.

He said: “With small plates, the emphasis is on sharing, so we want people to get a couple of dishes between them, dig in, and just everyone eats from everything.

“This country has actually lost the way with family service. If you go to Spain and places like that you will see all the families sat down and there is loads of food in the middle and everyone just digs in.

“Unfortunately, our culture has just allowed us to become more ‘microwavy’ should we say”.

Mr Hague, who is originally from Middlesbrough, has worked at a number of high-end restaurants including for Tom Aikens and Gordon Ramsay. In and around the local area he has worked at The Greyhound in Beaconsfield, The White Oak in Cookham as well as briefly at the Hart Street Tavern in Hart Street.

Mr Hague said that a lot of his dishes were inspired by his travels around Asia and the restaurant serves a lobster tail dish with a miso glaze, king prawns with Yuzu Kosho mayonnaise, lobster tarts with nori and gochujang and for dessert a miso salted caramel pie.

Mr Hague said the pub’s first day of service had gone well. He said: “Everyone seemed to love it. It was quite a nice feel, it wasn’t overly busy and I got to speak to a couple of people and it was nice to meet some of the locals.”

Mr Hague works alongside the pub’s co-managers Jason Herrington and James Connelly, who both previously worked at the Hart Street tavern.

Of the pub’s opening, Mr Herrington, 25, said: “It went really well, we had one or two people who booked in beforehand and then we had quite a few walk- ins.

“People who were walking by and then popped in and a couple even came back after dinner which was nice.

“We sent out bits of food for people to try, so those having a drink could have a little snack to see what the menu is like.

“Nothing too heavy, but it was nice to test that everything was working well. We didn’t face any difficulties which was perfect but I am sure we will find a few on the way.”

Mr Herrington, who lives in Henley, said that The Duke had taken inspiration from the thriving “London gastropub” scene.

He said: “It’s certainly got this pub look, but it’s got that twist. It’s got a really nice exclusive finish to it that gives it that homely warm feeling which is really nice.

“It’s brand new, the menu is a new concept for the town. It’s very much a case of small plates, you can order two to three per person, and it brings the element of sharing into it which is really nice.

“The food comes out as and when its ready so it’s very much this nice chilled relaxed service style.”

The pub was originally due to open in December however due to delays with the refurbishment this was moved back until after the new year.

Mr Herrington said: “There was just some bits of work that needed to be done to the building that we needed to finish off.

“We wanted to open properly rather than rush it, that was the main thing we said from the start. We wanted to make sure everything was ready before we opened the doors.”

Co-manager Mr Connelly, 21, agreed the pub’s first day of trading had been very positive.

Mr Connelly, who lives near Hambleden, said: “It was quite nice because it was a soft launch, where we didn’t really publish too much about it.

“The Duke is part of the new wave of high-end pub finishes that you see in places like the Cotswolds or Notting Hill.”