Take a bite and earn your stripes

‘Dishes are classy pub classics, elevated by classical French training – not dissimilar to Tom Kerridge’s two-star Michelin pub’

There aren’t many chefs who can lay claim to having learnt their craft under both Messrs Ramsay and Oliver. Though Steven Ellis, who has just launched The Oxford Blue in Berkshire, has spent time with the two chefs who have made British food the leading light that it is today.

Set 4km from Windsor, the building was once two 18thcentury gamekeepers’ cottages. Ellis’s theme follows a traditional British pub guise, with the fixtures and fittings as good as you’d expect in any Michelin-starred restaurant.

Chef is duly proud of the produce he uses, featuring some of the British Isles’ top suppliers. Keltic Seafare from Inverness does the seafood, while the restaurant’s game comes from nearby Windsor Great Park.

His dishes are best described as classy pub classics elevated by his classical French training – not dissimilar to

Tom Kerridge’s two-star Michelin pub, The Hand and Flowers. Order stout-glazed short rib with beef fat chips, bone marrow and horseradish hollandaise or braised turbot, cockles and sea vegetables. Neither will disappoint. oxfordbluepub.co.uk