Treby Arms lines up new chef and menu after losing its Michelin star
The chef, who joined the pub early last year, has left to pursue his own venture.
The Treby Arms won a star under former executive chef Anton Piotrowski in 2014, but it lost the award in the 2018 edition of the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland.
The pub is now planning to move away from fine dining to focus on a more casual menu and concept, which director Leon Theisinger says is due to a shift in demand from diners.
From 20 February it will ditch its tasting menu for an a la carte offering including steak, fish and chips, and bar snacks such as chorizo scotch egg with harissa mayonnaise.
There will also be a set lunch menu of two courses for £15 and three courses for £20.
“The Treby Arms has a terrific heritage…winning and retaining the Michelin star was a great boost, but it can put some people off,” says Theisinger. “There’s a perception that it’s going to be expensive, or that you won’t be able to get in, it’ll be too posh or the portions will be too small.”
Senior sous chef Fletcher Andrews, who has worked at the pub for over five years, has taken on responsibility for the kitchen.
“Current trends tell us that there is a shifting perception of what fine dining actually means – you could say that we are shifting [to] the ‘the finest of casual dining experiences’,” Theisinger adds.
“This is a direct response to the direction the market is clearly moving towards.”
Several other chefs have moved away from tasting menus in favour of a more informal offering in recent months. Daniel Clifford has scrapped the eight-course tasting menu at his two-Michelin-starred restaurant Midsummer House in Cambridge, saying diners no longer want to be 'preached to'. Aiden Byrne has also turned his back on the concept in favour of a short a la carte menu at his upcoming 20 Stories restaurant in Manchester.
The Treby Arms was built in 1855 by Isambard Kingdon Burnel to serve the workers who were building the railway line linking Devon and Cornwall.
It closed for several years before reopening in 2011 as a gastropub.
