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The Whitebrook Monmouthshire I NP25 4TX T 01600 860254 w w w. t h e w h i t e b r o o k . c o . u k
I N TE RVIEW W I T H TH E C H E F The Whitebrook is a Michelin star restaurant with eight rooms, set in the blissfully peaceful Wye Valley. In 2013 Worcestershire born chef Chris Harrod and his wife Kirsty followed their ultimate dream of owning their own restaurant, and within 11 months The Whitebrook was awarded a Michelin star. The restaurant has since been included in The Good Food Guide 2017 Top 50 UK Restaurants. Every dish served from breakfast through to dinner boasts locally sourced ingredients, many of which are foraged within a short distance from the restaurant. Prior to The Whitebrook, Chris opened Colette’s as head chef at The Grove Hertfordshire. He spent almost four years working for Raymond Blanc at
What’s your most essential kitchen item? A team with enthusiasm and a constant drive to be able to do better What do you cook at home that you never cook at the restaurant? Simple pasta dishes, or something quick and easy one pot cooking. A chef always wants the best possible ingredients, how do you choose your suppliers? At The Whitebrook we are inspired by our surroundings and we want our guests to experience the flavours the Valley has to offer. We have a kitchen garden so we are growing a lot of our own produce or we are out foraging the valleys surrounding us or picking the hedgerows. All our other produce is coming direct from growers or producers local to the restaurant. As a chef quality always has to come first and I am so lucky to have some of the best producers in the country on my doorstep.
106 | WE ARE HERE & NOW
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, and began his steady rise in the kitchen as sous chef to Alan Murchison at L’Ortolan in Shinfield, Berkshire. It was Raymond Blanc and his time at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons that influenced Chris profoundly: ‘What I thought about food changed completely when I got there. Everything is about quality and the freshness of the produce. As a chef it’s all about questioning and tasting, and that’s really stayed with me’. The Whitebrook is the epitome of a gastronomic rural retreat, offering exceptional value from £224 which includes dinner, bed and breakfast based on two people sharing.
What do you consider to be your best dish to date? We do a dish of Wye Valley asparagus that we roast with pine and serve with lots of foraged ingredients such as hogweed, fiddle ferns and hedge bedstraw. We serve this with a light sauce made from mead that we get from nearby Tintern. It encapsulates everything we are about at The Whitebrook. Where do you go when you want to eat at a restaurant? An independent restaurant cooking with the best ingredients with relaxed style of service and a real passion for what they are doing. In your restaurant who would be your ideal diner? Guests that are open to trying new tastes and having new food experiences. Who has been your greatest inspiration? Raymond Blanc has always been my greatest
inspiration. I really admire his commitment to delivering his vision for Le Manoir, down to the smallest detail and his passion for achieving maximum flavour from the ingredients he uses. Do you have a secret obsession? Dark chocolate hob nobs Your all time favourite meal in a restaurant and where is it? The Fat Duck in Bray, a true dining experience. What is your favourite comfort food? Scrambled egg on toast Which celebrity chef would you like to cook with and why? I have been lucky to work with some great chefs and it was a real honour to have Raymand Blanc visit us at The Whitebrook and have a chance to cook for him and show him what we achieved.