What: A winery-based restaurant in West Sussex. Part of Wiston Estate, Chalk opened in 2021 but has quietly relaunched with a highly-regarded chef at the helm.
Who: That chef is Tom Kemble, who is probably best known for attracting a Michelin star in his early 30s at Mayfair’s Bonhams in 2015. The Fäviken and Hedone alumnus went on to cook even more ambitious and refined food at The Pass restaurant near Horsham but his tenure was cut short by the pandemic. During lockdown, he launched a high-reaching mobile pizza business called SOPI (he recently sold it as a going concern). Kemble is executive chef working alongside Chalk head chef Bradley Adams, who has been a part of the kitchen team since the restaurant opened. Chalk, the winery and indeed Wiston Estate as a whole are owned by the Goring family. The business is led by Pip Goring, who grew up in South Africa’s Western Cape and introduced wine production to the estate in 2006.
The vibe: Housed in a renovated 18th century threshing barn, Chalk is an impressive-looking space with a high ceiling supported by exposed rafters. The magnolia-painted interiors have been designed by Pip’s daughter-in-law Kirsty, including furniture that has been handcrafted by artisanal workshops on the estate, with crockery sourced from Surrey Ceramics. Paintings from local artists adorn the walls, along with chalk sculptures handmade by Kirsty herself, while Sussex-based printmaker Julia White has illustrated Chalk’s menus with drawings of local wildlife. The dining room seats around 60, there’s a PDR for up to 10 and a pretty alfresco courtyard can seat an additional 60 covers when weather permits.
The food: Accurately billed as ‘considered yet approachable’ Kemble’s cooking at Chalk is a far cry from the Japanese-influenced tasting menus he was offering at his last West Sussex restaurant posting. The menu has been carefully designed to accommodate a range of budgets - starters and mains start at £7.50 and £17 respectively - and be deliverable in a kitchen that can do in excess of 100 covers on a busy sunny day. But despite these constraints Kemble’s attention to detail, lightness of touch and commitment to high-quality produce is very much on display. Dishes include asparagus with smoked cod’s roe and seaweed; La Latteria burrata with broccoli pesto, chilli and mint; hen of the woods gnocchi; and dry-age bavette with peppercorn sauce and watercress. In keeping with Wiston Estate’s sustainable ethos, much of the produce is sourced from the large estate itself. Proteins including venison, beef, lamb and pheasant and beef are all sourced from the estate, while the likes of pumpkin, beetroots, kale and gooseberry grown in an on-site walled-garden. There is a synergy between the vineyard, wider estate and the kitchen at Chalk, with old wine barrels used for smoking salt that appears on the restaurant menu, and spent grape skins from the wine production process, and food waste from the kitchen being used as compost on the land.
To drink: As one would expect, the wine list at Chalk is focused on wines from the estate, including some rarer options with significant bottle age. Alongside Wiston Estate’s own sparkling wines are a tight but carefully chosen selection of still wines including a number of references from South Africa’s Bengula Cove and its sister West Sussex estates Leonardslee and Mannings Heath (the latter are vinified at Wiston Estate).
And another thing: Wiston is not the only Sussex winery to invest in its restaurant offering. Last year, Ditching-based estate Ridgeview launched a relaxed dining space called The Rows & Vine. A little further north, Bolney Wine Estate has just announced a shake up of its F&B, with its Eighteen Acre café set to be overhauled later this year. Alfriston’s Rathfinny, meanwhile, is building on its already comprehensive hospitality offering with its new The Summer Kitchen alfresco dining space. The new initiative joins executive chef Chris Bailey's fine dining restaurant Tasting Room and his more informal Flint Barns Dining Room restaurant.
