The Whitebrook

Tucked above a country lane in a winding, wooded valley, the Whitebrook is perfectly in tune with its surroundings, majoring in picture-perfect dishes strewn with wild flowers, seeds and herbs. It’s quite a formal affair – very smart, with polished wood floors, pale walls adorned with original art and well-spaced tables sporting crisp napery. The service is impeccable and knowledgeable, with much to explain about the intricacies of the dishes. Chef/owner Chris Harrod prizes vegetables as highly as meat and fish, often making them the star of the show: take a carrot tart, for instance, combining intense, juicy grated carrot with buttermilk sauce and alexanders seeds in an airy, wafer-thin crunchy case, or technicolour, meaty mugwort-smoked beets with 'divine' homemade black pudding, sticky Madeira sauce, caramelised shallot, wild leaves and petals. Foraged ingredients run wild and free through the whole menu – white crabmeat gets paired with fennel fronds and pineapple weed sauce; woodruff cultured cream elevates radishes blanched in lemon verbena; and arrowgrass, sea spinach and blightweed brighten a pearly piece of Cornish day-boat turbot with smoked roe and Jersey Royals. A main act of gloriously tender suckling pig with pine-nut purée, tiny garden leeks, girolles, broad beans and nasturtium leaves was followed by a blast of folksy freshness: honey and elderflower cream with a jewel-like pool of dandelion honey and a sprinkling of sweet cicely. The menu flexes effortlessly from fresh to earthy, and from light to dark – so this dish was followed by a deeper, richer affair: Herefordshire black cherries with meadowsweet, cherry-stone ice cream, milk crisps and crumbled hazelnut cake. The sommelier-backed wine list is a veritable tome, covering most regions and price points – including a superb selection of reasonably priced bottles from UK vineyards.