A HEAD chef whose cooking won praise from Prince Harry has taken over a popular Abingdon pub.

Romanian-born Dan Sminticiuc has stepped up to run The Broad Face in Bridge Street with his brother Bogdan.

He worked as head chef for Michael Riemenschneider who opened the pub on February 22.

But after Mr Riemenschneider fell ill and backed out, Mr Sminticiuc set up his own company to run the Greene King owned pub and reopened it with a new menu on June 25.

Mr Sminticiuc said: “I am starting up everything. It is all ready. I have changed the menu to what people want and dropped the prices a bit so it is cheaper.

“I have been very busy building up the business. I will struggle this month as the weather is so nice but we know we can make it.

“I enjoy Abingdon. It is not as busy as London and it is a historic town with good customers so we are determined to make it work.”

Mr Sminticiuc formerly worked as a chef at Brown Cow, in Fulham, London, where Prince Harry was a customer.

Mr Sminticiuc added: “Prince Harry came directly over to me and told me he liked it.”

The team at The Broad Face is the same as under Mr Riemenschneider, with Bogdan Sminticiuc managing the pub.

Mr Riemenschneider said he decided to back out of the business after becoming ill.

He said: “I am not very well at the moment so I couldn’t run it. I haven’t been cooking for seven to eight weeks.

“I was diagnosed with diabetes and couldn’t work there any more. I am still in Abingdon but I just feel unwell.”

A Greene King spokesman said the company was disappointed that Mr Riemenshneider had decided not to continue with his business venture.