Groobarbs Field Kitchen
Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor
A meal at Groobarbs Field Kitchen is something special indeed. Based at Groobarb’s Wild Farm in Knutsford, Cheshire, they offer field-to-fork dining, which is exactly as it sounds: ingredients sourced from right outside, from the 6.5-acre kitchen gardens you can see from the window. It’s relatively new, launching in late 2022 but has made a huge impact already, ranking as Knutford’s top restaurant online.
We head over for Sunday lunch, designed by experienced Head Chef, Mark Price. Appropriately for Veganuary, the core of the five-course menu is vegetable-based, while the main event can be either meat or vegan.
The space itself is quite easy on the eye, and clearly hugely popular with the people of Cheshire, ranging from young families to diners of a certain vintage, happily sitting alongside each other on sturdy benches in this beautifully converted modern-rustic barn.
The food varies from week to week, depending on supplies and ideas. Today, our first course is roasted cauliflower, coated in a lighter-than-air golden brown batter and a delicious vegan mayo. It’s the perfect way to serve the humble cauliflower, meaty, chunky and full of winter aromas.
Then, a cute little mug of coconut and squash soup, to go with a chunk of homemade bread, covered with carrot hummus and speckled with seeds. The different flavours work wonderfully together, and the idea that it’s largely come from the same small few acres of land adds something that not even the finest restaurants in the North can match up to.
The charred cabbage is possibly my favourite course. Cooked not a second too long, with blackened tips and a hot, chunky heart, the little drizzle of dairy-free harissa-spiced yoghurt is a fine addition and instantly pushes cabbage toward the top of the leaderboard of British veg.
But the main course is a spectacular take on the classic Sunday roast, and a must for all aficionados. The roast beef (from Ken Webb’s traditional farmhouse, so we’re told) is the star of the show: thick slices, smothered with a rich, dark gravy. It comes with pitch-perfect roast potatoes, all crispy bits and piping hot creamy innards, some pleasant sprouts (not overcooked, unlike most sprouts out there) and a kind of crushed celeriac mash – rarely seen on a Sunday lunch menu but very, very welcome.
The only slight misstep was the Yorkshire, which lacked the soft gooey centre of the best. Having said that, it’s perfectly pleasant, and matches up well with a big chunk of beef and some mushed-up potatoes.
The pudding proves an excellent way to finish things off. It’s all squeezed into a clear glass and consists of thick chunks of possibly-flourless chocolate cake, layers of glorious honey cream, pieces of roast apple and some pumpkin praline trifle. A winning combination if ever there was one.
Hats off to founders David and Becky Fryer and their concept of ‘true seasonal dining’. There’s something truly special about eating dishes created with ingredients freshly picked from the farm and prepared on-site, but combine that with the next-level ideas and cooking skills of the kitchen team and you’ve got yourself one of the finest Sunday lunches in all the land.
