The story
The Whitebrook is a modern British restaurant at Whitebrook, NP25 4TX, near Monmouth, where the Michelin Star (2026) recognises cooking shaped by the Wye Valley. Chef and owner Chris Harrod builds the menu around ingredients at their peak, drawn from the kitchen garden, weekly foraging and local growers.
Chris Harrod gives vegetables the same weight as meat and fish, and often makes them the centre of the plate. Each dish starts with a single ingredient at its best that week. The kitchen garden supplies much of the produce, and the rest comes from foragers and producers nearby.
A carrot tart combines intensely juicy grated carrot with buttermilk sauce and alexanders seeds in a thin, crunchy case. Mugwort-smoked beets arrive with homemade black pudding, sticky Madeira sauce and caramelised shallot. Cornish day-boat turbot is served with smoked roe and Jersey Royals, brightened by arrowgrass and sea spinach. Herefordshire black cherries with meadowsweet and cherry-stone ice cream close the meal on a richer note.
The dining room has polished wood floors, pale walls hung with original art and well-spaced tables laid with crisp napery. The service is attentive and knowledgeable, with the dishes explained in detail. The wine list champions UK vineyards, organic and biodynamic producers, and lesser-known grape varieties.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
Tucked above a country lane in a winding, wooded valley, the Whitebrook is perfectly in tune with its surroundings, majoring in picture-perfect dishes strewn with wild flowers, seeds and herbs. It’s quite a formal affair – very smart, with polished wood floors, pale walls adorned with original art and well-spaced tables sporting crisp napery. The service is impeccable and knowledgeable, with much to explain about the intricacies of the dishes. Chef/owner Chris Harrod prizes vegetables as highly as meat and fish, often making them the star of the show: take a carrot tart, for instance, combining intense, juicy grated carrot with buttermilk sauce and alexanders seeds in an airy, wafer-thin crunchy case, or technicolour, meaty mugwort-smoked beets with 'divine' homemade black pudding, sticky Madeira sauce, caramelised shallot, wild leaves and petals. Foraged ingredients run wild and free through the whole menu – white crabmeat gets paired with fennel fronds and pineapple weed sauce; woodruff cultured cream elevates radishes blanched in lemon verbena; and arrowgrass, sea spinach and blightweed brighten a pearly piece of Cornish day-boat turbot with smoked roe and Jersey Royals. A main act of gloriously tender suckling pig with pine-nut purée, tiny garden leeks, girolles, broad beans and nasturtium leaves was followed by a blast of folksy freshness: honey and elderflower cream with a jewel-like pool of dandelion honey and a sprinkling of sweet cicely. The menu flexes effortlessly from fresh to earthy, and from light to dark – so this dish was followed by a deeper, richer affair: Herefordshire black cherries with meadowsweet, cherry-stone ice cream, milk crisps and crumbled hazelnut cake. The sommelier-backed wine list is a veritable tome, covering most regions and price points – including a superb selection of reasonably priced bottles from UK vineyards.
4 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
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