Dom Robinson to oversee relaunch of Chilterns pub The Stag & Huntsman
Robinson has a high-end cooking CV that includes stints with Anthony Demetre and Tom Aikens.
He attracted a Michelin-star for his cooking at Berkshire pub The Blackbird, which launched in 2017 and closed in 2021 to make way for Robinson's fine dining restaurant Renaissant.
Renaissant is understood to have closed less than a year after relaunching. Robinson has spent the past two years overseeing Claude Bosi’s restaurants as executive chef.
On the Culden Faw Estate just outside Henley on Thames, the pub will relaunch later this month offer ‘unfussy, up to date, creative and approachable menus’ that feature the ‘very best of the local ingredients’ featuring game shot on the estate that surrounds the venue.
Menu items will include a venison Scotch egg, and the Stag Burger mad with fallow deer.
Led by David Holliday and Alex Sergeant, both previously of Brett Graham and Mike Robinson’s Michelin-starred London gastropub The Harwood Arms, Sika Inns is also now behind the nearby Bottle & Glass Inn and the Hart Street Tavern.
“The Stag & Huntsman is a gem of a pub,” Holliday says. “With nine rooms and cottages it’s the sort of pub that anyone with a background in game and country hostelries would give their eye teeth for a chance at running. Our hopes are to give the locals a pub they adore while also cooking food that people are willing to travel and stay the night for. It’s beautiful as it is: we’re just adding our hospitality and will be updating the accommodation offer.”
Robinson adds: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be coming on board with David, Alex and the Sika Inns team. They have a reputation for excellence and three beautiful sites which I can’t wait to be involved in. All exude hospitality and warmth and I felt instantly at home walking into each of them. I’m very excited for what the future holds.”
