The Whitebrook
Whitebrook, United Kingdom
⭐1 Star
The Experience
From Michelin Guide
The very definition of a destination restaurant, this place's isolated woodland feel is all part of its inherent charm. A nature-inspired colour theme and rustic wood flooring suit the location down to a tee. Ingredients are sourced from Wye Valley and their own kitchen garden, and are used in botanically based dishes with natural flavours. Middle White suckling pig is one of their signatures and Hereford raspberries with garden herb sorbet is a fitting end to dinner. There’s also a particularly creative vegetarian menu. Bedrooms follow the theme of bringing nature inside.
Unique Things
From Visitor Experiences
Unique / Unconventional Aspects of The Whitebrook, Whitebrook
1. Dual Michelin Recognition for Sustainability and Culinary Excellence
The Whitebrook is uniquely distinguished as Wales’ most sustainable Michelin-starred restaurant, having retained both a Michelin Star for culinary excellence and a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. It is the only restaurant in Wales to hold both these accolades simultaneously, reflecting a strong commitment to ethical and environmental standards alongside high-quality cooking.
2. Foraging and Hyper-Local Ingredient Philosophy
Chef Chris Harrod integrates foraging from local hedgerows, estuaries, and woodlands into the menu, alongside cultivating a kitchen garden and orchard. This nature-as-larder approach ensures that every dish features locally sourced and often foraged ingredients, making the dining experience deeply connected to the Wye Valley environment.
3. Immersive Foraging Gourmet Experience
The Whitebrook offers an exclusive, intimate foraging experience led by Chef Chris Harrod and expert forager Henry Ashby. This unique activity allows guests to explore the countryside and directly engage with the natural ingredients used in the restaurant’s dishes, blending culinary artistry with an educational outdoor adventure.
Ingredient Stars
From Visitor Experiences
The Whitebrook, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Whitebrook, is known for several signature ingredients that define its distinctive dishes:
Middle White suckling pig: This is one of the restaurant's hallmark ingredients, featured in a signature suckling pig-themed dish that highlights the tender, flavorful qualities of this particular breed of pig.
Hereford raspberries: Used notably in desserts, Hereford raspberries are paired with garden herb sorbet to create a refreshing and fitting conclusion to the meal, showcasing local fruit with herbal accents.
Cornish crab: Fresh seafood from Cornwall, especially Cornish crab, is used in innovative dishes that balance the sweetness of white crab meat with peppery charlock puree and mustard leaves, enhanced by horseradish foam and textured elements like celeriac bark.
Local wild fallow deer: This game meat is prepared medium rare to preserve its soft texture and rich flavor, complemented by homegrown beets smoked with dried mugwort and celeriac puree, reflecting the restaurant’s emphasis on local and foraged ingredients.
Blackcurrant and chamomile: Featured in desserts such as an iced roulade, blackcurrant is paired with chamomile and playful elements like citric sugar "fizzy rocks," highlighting the restaurant's creative approach to balancing bitterness and sweetness.
These ingredients illustrate The Whitebrook’s focus on local, seasonal, and foraged produce, combined with imaginative culinary techniques to create dishes with complex flavors and textures.