Over recent years there have been ever louder murmurings about the buying up of large numbers of properties by celebrity chefs in quaint places; the most celebrated example being Rick Stein’s transformation of the Cornish seaside town Padstow into what many now refer to as Padstein. It is perhaps odd that a man who has built a career on his love of and support for independent local producers and restaurants does not see the hypocrisy in monopolising a town; having opened 4 restaurants, 3 shops and 6 places to stay.
It appears that there might be another name to add to this list of celebrity chefs. Heston Blumenthal who has wowed the world with this his molecular gastronomy and who holds three Michelin stars opened his newly acquired Crown at Bray towards the end of 2010; is his acquisition of this pub a step too far? I grew up moments from Bray where Heston already has two restaurants, this was the village’s last pub – has he removed the heart of a village?
The Man
Blumenthal was born in London in May 1966 and went onto to be raised and schooled in Buckinghamshire. He is largely self-taught; spending only a few weeks in professional kitchens – though the time he did spend in them included working under the heavy weights Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White.
Being self-taught has seen him less hindered by the notion that conventional equals correct. He has taken a fresh approach to food, not confined to using the techniques that would often be considered as standard in the West that are largely enshrined in French gastronomy. His approach sees him taking an interest in the chemistry of food; seeking an understanding of the chemical changes that take place within food during preparation and cooking. The result has been Blumenthal’s style of cooking being named molecular gastronomy.
In addition to simply seeking an understanding of the chemical nature of food he has taken a greater and greater interest in the factors that impact upon taste; such as sight, sound, smell and even emotion and memory – could one’s childhood association with a particular dish alter how it tasted to you now?
Bray village
It was in Bray that Blumenthal decided to launch his first solo restaurant venture and where he has since acquired two further eating establishments.
The village of Bray sits on the bank of the river Thames in Berkshire with a miniscule population of around 8,500. Boasting the oldest cricket club in England it is an idyllic village that has drawn in an extremely affluent crowd – though I’m sure that the population of Bray are most proud of the fact that legendary entertainer (hmm…) Rolf Harris decided to settle and tie his kangaroo down there.
Despite its size Bray has great culinary pedigree. In 1972 the Roux brothers, Michel and Albert, acquired a pub that they turned into the world famous Waterside Inn – offering the very finest classical French cooking.
It gained its first Michelin star in 1974, adding a second in 1977 and then following this with the hallowed 3rd star in 1985. It now holds the accolade of longest time that 3 Michelin stars have been held by a restaurant in the UK.
The Fat Duck
In 1995 Blumenthal purchased the building that was to become his flagship restaurant. Sitting on the high street it is an unassuming terraced building, separated from the road by the narrowest of pavements – I have witnessed many a person walk straight past it when in search of the restaurant; believing it to be simply another house. At its launch the restaurant served classic bistro food. I recall being particularly unimpressed with my first visit, my steak and chips was beautifully cooked however I could not get over the fact that the plate had six chips stacked to form a measly carbohydrate tower; the world has no need for chip stacking.
Once the restaurant established itself dishes that showed the chef’s true interests started to creep onto the menu; the start of the move towards the cooking that we see today. In 1998 the Fat Duck received its first Michelin star; this was then doubled in 2001 before then being awarded a third star in 2004. In 2005 it was voted best restaurant in the world by restaurant magazine and was runner up in the same poll in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Today the Fat Duck continues to go strong; the à la carte menu has been dispensed with leaving the tasting menu as the sole option. This sees 13 or so courses placed before you in a genuine feast for the taste buds and senses. Courses include the celebrated snail porridge, the truly magical mock turtle soup, the sounds of the sea (accompanied by an ipod which you are asked to don before the course is served) and macerated strawberries.
Eating at the Fat Duck remains an incredible experience, truly different from any other meal I have ever eaten and I would highly recommend it being tried at least once by anyone. It is however not cheap; it seems that the menu creeps up and up in price - currently sitting at a pocket scorching £160 per person. With the meal taking in the region of 4 hours it means there is plenty of time for wine to be consumed – with wine and service the bill is unlikely to come out much less than £280 a head; however for those thirstier folk and those who like to venture further down the wine list the cost of the meal can soon spiral.
The Hinds head
It was a 15th Century building only moments from the Fat Duck that Heston Blumenthal chose for the setting of his next venture. This beautiful building was the setting for Prince Phillip’s stag do; it can only be imagined what the father of political correctness got up to on his last night of freedom. The conversion from pub to gastropub was not a huge loss; the shape of the space meant it didn’t work hugely well as a pub and on the occasions I used to drink in there I always had a shabby rather than antique air to it. The website for the Hinds head states “Above all however, the establishment remains a local village pub offering a warm welcome, unassuming friendly service and excellent food.” I am not convinced how true this is, the Hinds Head could not really be said to be a pub any longer. The area that is designated as the bar is compact to say the least and the feel is very much more of a restaurant than anything else – pop in there in the week for a pint and you will often not feel that you fit in and you will almost certainly have nowhere to sit. It is also run like a restaurant rather than a pub, the staff too preened and uniformed for this to be a village pub. The fact that the menus includes a tasting menu is surely the last nail in the coffin of the notion that this is still a pub.
The menu is very much traditional British cooking, the likes of which you will often struggle to find elsewhere –dishes include pea and ham soup, shepherd’s pie and chicken and mushroom pie. On the occasions I have eaten there I have found it rather hit and miss; I have had two extremely enjoyable meals there, however also had two poor meals. With starters around £10 and mains £17 it is not stunningly cheap and I have always found the bill comes to considerably more than expected.
If you get to the Hinds head on a good day it has a lot going for it, the dining area downstairs is wonderful, the service isn’t always perfect however the food can be very good.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Perhaps Blumenthal got a little bored of Bray as he has since launched Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in Knightsbridge’s Mandarin Oriental. The launch was huge and the buzz from the media soon made the restaurant the place to go; hence getting a booking without a few months notice being nigh on impossible. The inspiration for the menu seems to have come largely from his successful Channel 4 series Heston’s Feasts which saw the chef looking back through the history books for recipes to resurrect and adapt for the modern palate. At Dinner there is a date recorded next to each menu item denoting the period from which it hails.
On offer are bizarre concoctions that have been resurrected from the past, the most celebrated of which is the meat fruit starter which sees a chicken liver parfait served in the form of a mandarin – demonstrating exceptional skill in both cooking and artistry. Other dishes include savoury porridge, rice and flesh and roast turbot with cockle ketchup. The dining room sees a tasteful meeting of the past with the new, matching the food excellently. Starters are around £15 and mains £30 and as with most visits to a Blumenthal eatery it is a unique experience. The set lunch at £28 for 3 courses is reasonably priced and allows those with on a budget to sample the restaurant’s theatre.
The Crown at Bray
Towards the end of 2010 Blumenthal launched his newly purchased pub the Crown, a matter of seconds from both the Fat Duck and the Hinds Head. When I heard about this acquisition I was not pleased. Having grown up in the area and the Crown having previously been my local I knew the pub extremely well – to my mind it was one of the best pubs I have ever visited. The décor and atmosphere were perfect; a great log fire, wonderful beams and a fantastic wooden floor. I have many happy memories of waking up with shocking headaches after a night at the Crown, these were generally caused by the fact that I would forget to duck my head whilst walking under a beam – it was amazing that I even managed to forget this between drinks ending the night with numerous bumps on the head.
My concerns about the purchase stemmed from the fact that Blumenthal clearly believes he has kept the Hinds Head as a pub, when he clearly has not. The loss of the Hinds Head was not too great a loss however, as there was always the Crown to go to which was infinitely better. My concern was the Blumenthal would do the same to the Crown that he had the Hinds Head; namely alleged to be running a friendly local pub whilst converting it into primarily an eatery, taking away the pub feel, allowing the tables to be booked up and therefore extinguish any atmosphere.
Having dinner with a friend a few months ago who lived in Bray for many years and who regularly returns to the area for lunch I enquired as to whether he had yet been to the Crown since the change in ownership. I immediately regretted asking as their face dropped– this led to a half an hour rant about “fucking Heston” and what he had done to the place. It transpired that my acquaintance had been there very soon after it launched and at a time when the kitchen was not ready to serve food; so his opinions had been formed simply through the visual changes.
He was flabbergasted that anyone would see it necessary to take a sandblaster to the floor and to strip the walls; taking away years of history – he would have done just as much damage by covering everything in paint. The rant then moved onto the service, of which he had an equally unpleasant memory. He was greeted at the bar by someone that he thought must have come straight from the Fat Duck training college and who was sporting an apron; creating a feel of being somewhere between a fine dining restaurant in London and a Harvester – not a great feel for a country pub. Having had one drink in an almost empty pub (the locals seemed to have disappeared) he then decided to relocate to the local village of Holyport which has pubs that could never live up to the previous incarnation of the Crown; however which have benefited from the exodus from Bray following the Crown’s re-launch.
Having now been myself I agree entirely, a lot of the character and charm that the Crown used to have has been lost. The ‘pub’ is now full of diners which means that it is rather pointless going there for a drink even if you can find a table as the atmosphere is almost non-existent. The staff have now got rid of their aprons (thank God) however they are still very much based in restaurant mode rather than being pub staff.
The food at the Crown historically went up and down in quality depending on the chef; it was never however terrible and was even quite good at times. My lasting memory is of going there regularly for a few pints and then a big bowl of moules frites that was under £10. I would certainly agree that the food that is now served at the Crown is better than it was; few could disagree. It is now a restaurant that serves British pub food with a slightly pretentious twist. With the improvement in food comes the increase in price, at £8 for starters and £16 for mains it isn’t outlandishly expensive however it is also more than many people want to spend in the last place in the village where you could go to get a pint and a cheap(ish) bite to eat.
The main problem isn’t however the food or the prices, it is the fact that the Crown could no longer be deemed a pub; with the focus sitting so largely on the food. It is remarkable how quickly many of the locals have decided to leave the Crown and with their departure went the atmosphere.
Verdict
Unfortunately my fears have been recognised, the last and best pub in Bray is now gone, probably forever. It is not solely the fault of Heston Blumenthal, there were lots of pubs in the area previously including the building that used to house the Waterside and the building that now houses Caldesi in Campagna, Giancarlo’s wonderful Italian launched after his success in Marylebone. I would say however than the buying up of three of them by the one person was a little excessive. In addition, the Crown was always the best of the lot and whilst it remained it provided somewhere for the locals to drink, to talk and to joke about the stream of people who would travel from afar to visit one of the two 3 Michelin-starred restaurants in the tiny village.
For people not from the area the Crown at Bray is a nice place for lunch if having come to the area for a walk by the river, it is however of little use to the locals. It is a shame that in a world where the regulation of monopolies in banking and high end retail is strictly enforced; when it comes to our towns and villages and the things that impact upon us every day there seems to be little people can do to stop someone buying up the local pub, shop or entire village for that matter.
Alas, Bray has now lost its heart; it has been plucked out by Blumenthal – it wouldn’t be a great surprise to see it served back to the people of Bray on toasted sough dough bread with a red onion and porcupine chutney.