Outside Chalk - these terrace seats are great if the weather's decent.
What can you tell us about Chalk?
This is the restaurant for the Wiston Estate Winery. As you'll know from our guide to England's vineyards, many of them have restaurants (in addition to offering tours around their vineyards and wineries) and that's exactly what we have with Chalk. Recently headed up by chef Tom Kemble, he's now left but has been replaced by the chef who worked beside him, Jordon Powell.
There's a strong focus on local sourcing and seasonality and that's helped in large by access to a hugely impressive kitchen garden nearby.
How do I get there?
You'll find Chalk right beside the main Wiston Estate Winery and Tasting Room. If you're driving from London it's about a two-hour drive from central London but your best bet is a train to Horsham (just [past Gatwick) and a 25-minute cab ride to the winery.
The Wiston Estate Kitchen garden (just a small corner of it).
So where does that produce come from?
The estate has its own walled kitchen garden which is one of the largest we've ever seen and kept immaculately (it's private but whenever there are open-garden events every other year, there might be a chance to visit). In here they grow everything from courgettes to salads, herbs, fruit and more. As much as possible will find its way into the kitchen at Chalk.
Back to the restaurant, what can we expect there?
It's in a beautiful setting, inside a repurposed 18th-century threshing barn and you can really see all the original features peeking through the simple yet beautiful decor. It's also blessed with an extensive terrace and on a decent day, you're going to want to have a seat out there.
Inside Chalk
And what about the food?
As mentioned, there's a distinct focus on seasonality here and we noticed many ingredients used that we saw taken directly from the kitchen garden. The estate also provides Herdwick Lamb, working with the Sussex Wildlife Trust, uses honey from local beekeeper The Bee Butler, and supports many farms from the surrounding area. As a result, the menu will change regularly, while keeping a modern European, new British way of cooking.
Here you can go a la carte, or there's a five-course estate tasting menu for £75 (with a wine pairing from an extra £30).
To give you an idea of how that turns out - here's what we had:
House focaccia & cultured butter (£4.50) - top-level focaccia and that rosemary comes from the garden.
Stracciatella, estate courgettes, smoked aubergine, rocket & chilli (£13.00) - a great example of how ingredients from the kitchen garden, mainly the courgettes here, are used in the dishes at Chalk.
Cornish crab arancini, gribiche, fennel and grapefruit (£12)
Confit chicken & liver tart, celeriac remoulade & apple puree (£12.00) - a unique twist on a traditional terrine, this was excellent.
Corn fed chicken breast, confit potato, estate turnips & beetroot (£27.00)
South Coast plaice, baby potatoes, sprouting broccoli & smoked butter sauce (£27.00) - continuing a trend we've noticed (and approve of), the return of butter sauce to many seafood dishes.
What about dessert?
Unfortunately, we ran out of time for dessert, but looking around, we'd suggest you should go straight for the crème caramel with estate honey almond cake and Sussex strawberries if that's on.
The wine list is good, presumably?
It is, of course, the perfect place to try some of Wiston's best wines, which are, as with many English wineries, primarily sparkling. The entry-level is the Wiston Brut NV at £66 a bottle/£12 a glass. We'd suggest going by the glass to try a range of what they have to offer, particularly their excellent Blanc de Blancs (£88/£18).
That said, their non-sparkling Tank Five white wine is very good for an English white, particularly at £30 a bottle. This is, of course partly down to the warming climate (obviously not a good trade-off), so expect to see more decent non-sparklings at vineyards across the south coast. A small selection of non-estate wines are also available on the list.
A tasting at Wiston Estate
What else does the estate offer?
There are various tours and tastings available. You can have a tour of the winery followed by a tasting (£25) or, alternatively, there's a walking tour of the vineyard itself (at lunch or "sundown) and bike tours.
If you're looking to stay over, you can stay at the extremely pretty Pump House cottage, which sounds like a perfect thing after a late dinner at Chalk.
Overall thoughts
We had a really good meal at Chalk, notable for using great fresh and local produce, paired with excellent wines from Wiston itself. If the weather is good, as it was during our visit, it's an excellent place to get away for a day trip, particularly if you pair it with a walk around the nearby countryside or a tour of the vineyards.
More about Chalk and Wiston Estate
Where is it? North Farm, Pulborough RH20 4BB
How to book: Book online for various tours or dining at Chalk
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @wistonestate.
Hot Dinners ate as guests of Wiston Estate. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
Subscribe to be the first to get the news from Hot Dinners
