A new dining concept that serves food fresh from the field direct to the fork has launched in High Legh, Cheshire, to follow a £350k investment.
Groobarbs Field Kitchen, at Groobarbs Wild Farm, is the brainchild of farmer and owner David Fryer and wife Becky and situated in the middle of one their fields, a 6.5-acre Market Garden, in a beautifully converted 223sqm barn.
Open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, The Field Kitchen invites guests to enjoy a five-course set menu for £29.50pp at lunch or £33.50pp at dinner. A three-course feast is available every Sunday.
Every dish is inspired by Groobarbs Wild Farm’s harvest and introduces guests to what Fryer describes as “true seasonal dining,” using only ingredients freshly picked from the farm and prepared on-site, alongside complementary meat and core products.
These are all carefully selected from some of the region’s best artisans and producers including freshly baked bread from Lovingly Artisan; drinks from Dunham Massey Brewing Co.; dairy products from Clotton Hall Dairy in Chester and Sheldon’s Dairy in Knutsford; and meat from Ken Webb’s Traditional Farmhouse Meat, amongst others.
Heading up the kitchen and responsible for the weekly rotating menu is esteemed local chef Mark Price, who returns to the North West after 12 years working in the South of England; most notably at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Canteen. Here he was Head Chef and achieved a Michelin Listing just months to following opening.
Guests dining at The Field Kitchen will have the opportunity to see all of the Field Kitchen’s masters at work, with vast bi-folding doors wrapping two sides of the barn providing views straight out onto the fields from which the organically inspired products are lovingly grown and picked.
For those that wish to get even closer, guests are invited to walk the Market Garden either before or after service.
A large open kitchen, running almost the full length of the venue and sitting proudly at the heart of the modern rustic barn, affords the opportunity to also see Price and his team work their magic.
Speaking on the opening, farmer and owner of Groobarbs Field Kitchen, David Fryer, said: “As a farmer you have these mad ideas of creating a restaurant to showcase what you grow, but to see Mark turn our fresh produce into truly inspirational food is brilliant.
“Over the last eight years we’ve been delivering our freshly picked produce direct to people’s doors with our Groobox veg deliveries. Now, thanks to our loyal customers, not just here in Cheshire but across a 35-mile radius reaching as far as Buxton, Bury, Liverpool and Stoke on Trent, we’ve been able to build something we like to think is really special, and are pleased to be able to invite people to enjoy the produce in the very environment in which it’s grown. I feel we owe it to everyone that has supported us to make something great and bring veg and fruit growing back to Cheshire.”
Head Chef, Mark Price, added: “I’ve been fortunate to work all over the country but to get the chance to do something like you would see down South and in my own back yard is great. Cheshire has always had the potential to do something like Groobarbs Field Kitchen.
“As a chef I thrive on the opportunity to be creative. Working with produce from the fields right in front of me… if you can’t get excited about that it’s time to pack up. Each week I get to walk the fields and discuss with David what is being harvested next, then I get a day to play around in the kitchen and come up with that week’s menu. Every week is different, that would be a challenge in most places but because the farm works around a weekly veg box harvest it works really well for the kitchen too.”
Reservations for The Field Kitchen are by advance only with guests seated at large wooden tables of between six and 12 diners, making for a truly social and seasonal dining occasion. Sittings are at 1pm and 7pm, with guests kindly asked to arrive up to 30 minutes in advance. Private hire is available with parties of up to 84 also catered for.
The modern rustic décor sees wooden paneled walls set against a polished concrete floor, with simple wooden tables and chairs dressed in soft cushions and flowers handpicked from the farm providing a soft and almost village festival feeling. It’s fitting with Fryer’s vision to bring the North West community together and share his love of seasonal dining.
Guests inspired by Groobarbs Field Kitchen’s menu can recreate some of the many dishes at home, with Groobarbs Wild Farm’s Groobox veg boxes delivered direct to the door. Boxes rotate weekly, just as with the Field Kitchen menu, further inspiring true seasonal dining.
The Field Kitchen at Groobarbs Wild Farm is open now and sees 22 jobs created. To find out more or make a reservation, please visit www.groobox.co.uk/field-kitchen.
