Tom Kemble takes over the stove at Chalk Restaurant and Wiston Estate Winery
As executive chef, Kemble will be working alongside Chalk head chef Bradley Adams, who has been a part of the kitchen team since the restaurant opened in December 2021.
Chalk is described as a continuation of the work that the Goring family – Wiston Estate’s owners – have done to champion a sustainable approach to farming and food on the estate. The restaurant occupies a renovated 18th century threshing barn, holds 122 covers, and draws its name from the soft white limestone that the vineyard sits on.
Kemble, whose CV also includes stints at Mikael Jonsson's Hedone and Swedish destination restaurant Fäviken, will oversee Chalk's regularly-changing menu, which puts an emphasis on seasonal and 'hyperlocal' produce, with the majority of ingredients sourced from the Wiston Estate and nearby farms.
Highlights from the current à la carte menu, available for lunch and dinner, include dishes such as La Latteria burrata with estate pumpkin, sage pesto and radicchio; venison carpaccio with walnuts, Twineham Grange cheese and mixed leaves; Herdwick rack of lamb and belly with wild garlic, hay-smoked pomme puree; and Jerusalem artichoke soup with hazelnut praline and olde Sussex rarebit.
The Chalk wine list consists of many wines produced on the estate, as well as a selection from further afield.
Most recently, Kemble headed up The Pass in Horsham, but left the restaurant in late 2020 to launch a high-reaching mobile pizzeria called SOPI. While SOPI continues to operate, it is understood that Kemble is no longer involved in the project.
