Food & Drink: The Foxhunter (From Free Press Series)

Food & Drink: The Foxhunter

Whisper it quietly but Foxhunter head chef Matt Tebbutt doesn't take kindly to being asked to cook fried eggs.

"You don't sweat your t*ts off from 8am to cook a fried egg," thunders the Foxhunter head chef.

"Hats off to Gordon Ramsey, he did the right thing telling Vic Reeves where to go when he asked for one in that Hell's Kitchen series. It was very pleasing viewing," he smiles clearly supportive of the Michelin Star chef's infamous rant.

Surprisingly Matt - who grew up in Cwmbran - has no real aspirations of cuisine citation himself.

"Michelin stars mean headaches and unwanted expectations," he says. But that didn't stop the 60-seater restaurant near Abergavenny picking up the prestigious title of AA Restaurant of the Year for Wales 2003/04.

The Foxhunter's reputation has certainly grown since Matt and his wife Lisa sold their flat in Fulham to buy the Victorian pub two-and-a-half years ago. Then it was then nothing more than a quaint rural pub more famous for its racehorse name than its food.

"We'd been looking for a restaurant for quite a while. We wanted to come to Monmouthshire and when we first stepped into The Foxhunter we just knew we had found what we had been looking for," says Matt who has worked alongside Michelin Star chef Marco Pierre White and French food connoisseur Bruce Poole.

Fans of the restaurant now include: the Guardian newspaper, founder of the Walnut Tree Franco Taruschio, and Gordon Ramsey who gave his seal of approval after enjoying a meal there earlier in the year.

Matt puts the restaurant's success down to an exciting and enticing menu.

"We worked hard on the menu so that the restaurant stood out. I try to draw on the very best of modern British cooking by changing the menu daily and featuring local, organic produce and recipes which remain true to the flavours of fresh, seasonal ingredients."

Just as important though is the Foxhunter's varied wine list.

"It's an eclectic mix of new and old world wines and aims to provide a wide and interesting selection," explains Matt.

Mixing stylish-chic furniture with warm, decorative walls the Foxhunter is a comfortable and welcoming restaurant that boasts a very unique exquisite charm.

"The Foxhunter works in Monmouthshire because it is an affluent country where people enjoy food and we enjoy cooking it," smiles Matt.