Weston will be aided by some of the Michelin-starred Chiswick restaurant‘s key alumni, with Tarryn Bingle named head chef at The Rectory; Alex Topp named head chef at The Potting Shed; and Pete Sawyer named head pastry chef.
The new menu at The Rectory will focus on provenance and seasonality with the team focusing ‘on using the best quality ingredients and showcasing them with simplicity and elegance’.
Sample dishes include caramelised veal sweetbreads, ewes curd, gnudi, cordyceps; fallow deer, smoked potatoes, runner beans and garden beets, damson; and Bramley apple crumble soufflé, damson ripple ice cream.
Weston has had his own gardens at Chiswick House for a number of years. The plan this winter is to prepare and extend the capabilities of the Rectory’s vegetable gardens behind the pub ready for production in Spring 2023.
Weston spent 12 years at the helm of La Trompette and has an impressive CV that includes running the kitchen at Harvey’s for Marco Pierre White, working at Guy Savoy in Paris and being head chef of Le Gavroche. He spent over 10 years as Phil Howard’s right hand man at The Square before joining the Nigel Platts-Martin and Bruce Poole-owned La Trompette in 2010.
The Rectory is a Georgian manor house with a ‘stylish but low key feel’ and a sprawling English garden. The hotel was bought by Alex Payne in 2016 and reopened in summer 2017 after extensive refurbishment.
Also owned by Payne, The Potting Shed pub sits across the road from the hotel and is a ‘hugely popular haunt for locals’, as well as a secondary option for guests who want a more relaxed experience.