The story
Next Door, at 68 Main Street in Frodsham, is a modern British restaurant that holds three AA Rosettes for 2026. The kitchen works from a concise seasonal menu inside a 17th-century timber-framed building that was once a butcher's shop.
Richard keeps the menu tight, with just four choices at each stage. His years in larger kitchens show in the precision of the cooking. Ingredients arrive from Cheshire farms and around the British Isles, and the kitchen uses them whole.
Smoked eel comes with lettuce, chicory and sloes, and venison bresaola with pear, brown butter and parsnip. Dry-aged beef fillet is served with ox marrow bone, heritage carrot and leeks. Desserts stay modern, such as cinder toffee with salted caramel and oats.
The dining room has crooked timbers, plain tables and watercolours on the walls. Vicky runs front of house and also looks after the wine. The short seasonal wine list starts with house selections from £24.
There is a seven-course lunch tasting menu at £70 per person and a nine-course evening tasting menu at £90 per person. A daily market menu runs at lunch Wednesday to Saturday and on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, at £36 for two courses or £40 for three. A la carte is available on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Richard and Vicky Nuttall do indeed live ‘next door’ to their restaurant – a 17th-century timber-framed building that was formerly a butcher’s shop owned by three generations of Vicky’s family. She runs front of house and does sommelier duty in the dining room – an airy space with crooked timbers, plain tables and watercolours on the walls. Richard, meanwhile, has cooked in some big kitchens, and his experience shows in a concise, pared-back menu of up-to-the-minute dishes with just four choices at each stage. Seasonal ingredients are deployed with deftness and imagination – smoked eel with lettuce, chicory and sloes, for example, or venison bresaola accompanied by pear, brown butter and parsnip. Meat from Cheshire farms is a big feature, as in dry-aged fillet of beef with ox marrow bone, heritage carrot and leeks or a pork chop embellished with quince, kohlrabi and sorrel. It's also worth ordering a couple of sides such as parsnip purée topped with crushed hazelnuts or chips cooked in duck fat (‘delicious, although there were just four of them, which works out at over a pound per chip'). Desserts keep it modern with assemblages such as cinder toffee with salted caramel and oats. A short seasonal wine list kicks off with house selections from £24.
3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
Location
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