The story
The Pass in Crawley is a modern British restaurant at South Lodge Hotel, Brighton Road, Lower Beeding, West Sussex, RH13 6PS. It holds four AA Rosettes (2026) for culinary excellence.
Ben Wilkinson cooks a seven-course tasting menu, served at dinner only. It starts with snacks and moves into a sea and earth sequence of produce-led dishes. The Good Food Guide calls his cooking a tour de force, pairing luxurious ingredients with classical technique.
The dining area stretches the chef's table idea across a small room. Raised banquettes and plush swivel stools look onto the kitchen. A normal-height table loses some of that theatre but gets more chef action at the table. Monika Zurawska leads the service, alongside a sommelier who is helpful without pretension. The restaurant sits inside a Victorian mansion hotel, in 93 acres of gardens and woodland.
Recognition
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History
With three dining options, a spa and a vineyard tucked into 93 acres of gardens and woodland, this sprawling Victorian mansion is confident in its role as a modern-day country house hotel. The Pass attracts all the accolades, playing up to its name by extending the idea of a chef’s table to an entire (if small) dining area. Raised-up banquettes (you do feel a little perched) and incredibly plush swivel stools come with kitchen views, while a tucked-away, normal-height table misses the culinary theatrics but sees increased tableside chef action. Best of all, a de-luxe glow-up has infused The Pass with a 'special occasion' feel that was seriously lacking previously – which is just as well, because Ben Wilkinson's cooking is a tour de force, delivering the right combination of luxurious ingredients, modern juxtapositions and classical technique. His seven-course tasting menu (dinner only) segues from snacks to a sea-earth sequence of exquisite, produce-led, painterly dishes. Exemplary courteous service helps no end, led by Wilkinson’s partner Monika Zurawska and supported by a top-tier sommelier who is not only unpretentiously helpful but also gives good vinous bants.
4 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
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