Review from 'harpers', article by Fiona Sims

A1 list off the M1 FROM MAYFAIR to Milton Keynes? That's where some of the award-winning sommelier John Gilchrist has ended up.

He left his luxury Mayfair hotel restaurant, Brown's 1837, and its astonishing cellar in May of this year for the more humble environs of a pub, the 400-year-old Crooked Billet, near Milton Keynes.

It's all there in his business plan: run a pub in a small village with his girlfriend, Chef Emma Sexton, aimed at the cash-rich business community in the nearby boom town. Forget the villagers. They would never spend that kind of money, right?

Wrong.

"Since day one we have been solidly booked with locals," said Gilchrist, incredulously. "We're already three months ahead of budget!"

Sexton's food scores high on the comfort scales: roasted cod with Chorizo sausage and fondant potatoes (£7.50); lobster Thermidor and chips (£12.50); lamb shank and mash potatoes (£7); crispy duck and cucumber and spring onion salsa with hoisin dressing - "but no pancakes!" (£4.50); spiced apple and date bread and butter pudding (£3).

She's done time with Sally Clarke and L'Oranger. Her most recent position behind the range was head chef at fashionable Nicole's in Bond Street.

"We look at what's good at our suppliers and take it from there," said Gilchrist. There would have been a near riot if Sexton hadn't purchased her meat from the local butcher, Pollards. "But they've been great. They get the best stuff - our lamb comes from as spot two fields away."

Gilchrist will list the suppliers at the front of the menu. The wine supplier will get a big mention on the menu cover too.

Note the singular. Anyone who knows Gilchrist will be aware that he is more than capable of juggling a large array of suppliers, but at the Crooked Billet he is plumping down for just one, Anthony Byrne.

Why only one? "Because of the other prices I'm charging," he replied. Château Lafite-Rothschild 1970 is £100. It's the most expensive wine on the list, but those who knows a thing or two about this famous Bordeaux know that it would be at least triple that in any London restaurant.

"I operate a straight cash mark-up," he explained. "I have a minimum charge of £10 for a bottle of wine, increasing up to my top cash mark-up of £30 for Lafite." If he doesn't sell it, Byrne doesn't charge him for it.

Other bargains - the list is full of them - include a 1997 Puligny-Montrachet from Domaine Etienne Sauzet for £45.

Around 60% of the list is French - "Because French wines still go better with food than anything else". Other big sections include Australia, Chile and South Africa, but there's a showing from most of the wine world, including the Lebanon and Austria.

Gilchrist always had a Riesling at Brown's 1837. "I love it, but they don't think they're quite ready for it here," he said "I'm still a great fan of Alsace, though". He's listing 1998 Tokay Vieilles Vignes from Zind-Humbrecht at £30.

His list at Brown's 1837 restaurant was legendary and he rightly won awards for it, in particular for its staggering line-up of wines by the glass.

While the fact that Gilchrist will use only one supplier comes as a surprise, his extensive selection of wines by the glass at the Crooked Billet does not.

Top-sellers, from a list of 25, are the Wide River Chenin Blanc and the Pinotage from the Robertson - which has surprised Gilchrist (the red, especially, as it's not the cheapest on the list, at £18). "Maybe South Africa is big in the supermarkets around here or something," he wondered.

From this month, Gilchrist's new 250-bin list will be available, and the by-glass selection will increase as well. People will increase as well. People will be then able to travel the world from the comparative safety of Milton Keynes.