This is London:
It's when you open the wine list that you discover that all is not quite what it seems. This is a chateau in a pub's clothing. How on earth can you serve 300 wines by the glass in a quiet Buckinghamshire pub? The answer is that you've got to want to do it.
Harpers:
"Since day one we have been solidly booked with locals," said Gilchrist, incredulously."We look at what's good at our suppliers and take it from there,". 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."
The Independent - 50 Best Pubs In Britain:
"The good range of beers and interesting modern food is a considerable draw," says Andrew Turvil, "but the choice of wine is monumental. All 250 wines on the list are available by the glass, which would be quite a feat in a restaurant, and is unprecedented in a pub."
The Independent:
A little knowledge can go to the head. For wine novices, dinner at the Crooked Billet is an education - but so enjoyable that you may forget all you've learned.
The AA - Where to eat:
In a sleepy village on the edge of the Aylesbury Vale, just minutes from Milton Keynes, the 16th-century Crooked Billet has been given a new lease of life by Greene King, who have had the foresight to let a talented chef and an experienced sommelier take the helm of this pretty thatched pub. The combination of ex-London chef Emma Sexton and John Gilchrist a, former UK Sommelier of the Year, has proved a great success, attracting discerning pub-goers from miles around for innovative, modern British food served in informal pub surroundings, and a sublime wine list, of which a staggering 250 are served by the glass.
The Independent's favourite restaurants:
An ordinary-seeming pub with an extraordinary wine list. John Gilchrist, award-winning former sommelier of Brown's Hotel in Mayfair, and chef Emma Sexton combine his knowledge and massive range of wines by the glass, and her gutsy and imaginative food without any pretentions and with prices that make a wine and food matching package unusually accessible.
Decanter.com:
An award-winning sommelier is putting a booming but decidedly unglamorous English town firmly on the map with one of the most exciting wine lists in the country. Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday lunchtimes are already booked three weeks ahead. 'There's no-one else like us around,' says Gilchrist simply.