The story
Jericho is a Modern British restaurant at 45 Barkstone Lane, Plungar, near Grantham, rated Very Good in The Good Food Guide 2026. It sits on a smallholding in the Vale of Belvoir, between Grantham and Nottingham.
Richard and Grace Stevens opened in 2022, both self taught after seven years learning the industry. The family has farmed Jericho for 200 years, and the dining room is built from materials salvaged from the farm buildings. Cooking centres on fire, with a kitchen garden and neighbouring farms shaping the menu.
There is one format, a twenty-course tasting menu at £130 that can take the better part of four hours. It starts quickly with a mutton croquette cooked over coals with quince paste, then a blackberry-glazed pork belly skewer and a partridge leg in a pear coating. Later come wild mushroom chawanmushi and lamb with turnips in a dressing of lamb fat and walnut oil. Sweet courses include parsnip custard with honeycomb, and a silage ice cream that tastes unmistakably of the farmyard.
Dark and light tones contrast in the dining room, and large windows let in plenty of daylight. A Japanese-style moss wall and displays of agricultural implements sit alongside a kitchen bench with a view of the cooks. The wine list leans biodynamic and low-intervention. The pairings (£80) can run from Pét-Nat to Hungarian rosé and Muscat de Rivesaltes. Michelin lists Jericho as Recommended for 2026.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
Farm restaurants are all the rage, and here – on a smallholding deep in the Vale of Belvoir between Grantham and Nottingham – is Jericho. Richard and Grace Stevens opened for business in 2022, having kitted out the place with salvage from the farm buildings, a Japanese-style moss wall and displays of agricultural implements. The dining room presents an expansive, welcoming space in contrasting dark and light tones, with plentiful daylight through numerous windows. There is a kitchen bench for ringside views of the culinary action, and a couple of tepees outside for overnight accommodation. A measure of the hosts' serious dedication to the cause is the fact that the standard menu is a 20-course taster that will typically take the better part of four hours. That said, the first few meaty mouthfuls arrive at the double: a mutton croquette cooked over coals and served with quince paste; blackberry-glazed pork belly skewer, its fat beautifully rendered; partridge leg in a pear coating. The balance of flavours in succeeding dishes is never short on ingenuity. A hit of elderflower sharpens white beetroot soup, while wild mushroom ‘chawanmushi’ is full of earthy tones, with some pickled mushrooms and a dash of dashi to electrify it. When the meat dishes return, they come in style: lamb with turnips, in a dressing of lamb fat and walnut oil; mixed-pedigree sirloin with an artful swirl of Jerusalem artichoke foam and black garlic purée. Sometimes the balance skews – the Granny Smith apple and sloe jam accompaniments were just a little too astringent and bitter for the mallard they chaperoned. A pre-dessert of ‘whole crop silage’ ice cream tasted hauntingly of the farmyard (file under ‘acquired taste’), but the following sweet things were treats indeed – from parsnip custard topped with honeycomb to smoky Bramley apple cooked in Marmite butter and served with a clod of clotted cream. The personal touch extends to a non-stop playlist, set at a level that just manages to drown out the descriptions of the more softly spoken servers. The wine list is crammed with biodynamic and low-intervention gear, but most will sensibly opt for the drinks pairings, which might take in the heterodox likes of Pét-Nat, Chilean Chardonnay, Hungarian rosé and Muscat de Rivesaltes.
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