WILSONS RESTAURANT: TRUE FARM-TO-TABLE DINING IN BRISTOL

Michelin Green Star restaurant, Wilsons, is pleased to announce the expansion of their smallholding. Helping to guide the hyper-seasonality of the menu, co-founders Jan Ostle and Mary Wilson’s farm now serves as the sole supplier of vegetables, fruits and herbs to the Bristol neighbourhood restaurant.

Under the care of Mary and Head Grower Anna Barrett, the Wilsons Farm moves with the seasons, producing enough fruit and vegetables for a weekly changing set menu. Unlike many eateries, the farm does not strive to meet the demand of the menu, but instead informs it, creating a balance between producer and restaurant, ensuring that waste is low and the harvest can thrive. If there is surplus, it is used within bread and bakery items, or sold at the neighbouring and newly opened Wilsons Bread Shop every Saturday.

Approximately 7 miles away from the restaurant, the ‘no-dig’ farm sits on 2 acres of land, joining the small network of local producers that Wilsons have been using since their opening in 2016. Beef, from biodynamic farm Three Pools, is utilised in a low-waste capacity, along with poultry from Woolley Park Farm in Wiltshire. For venison, Wilsons look to Grove Game Larder, along with pigs from the neighbouring Belmont Estate, where pork is used for both the menu and to make the array of home-cured charcuterie.

Each week, the Wilsons team, headed up by Jake Garatang (Casamia) and Henry Wadsworth (Le Manoir Quatre Saisons) write a menu entirely based on what is growing and ready to be harvested. Through the Autumn, expect celeriac to be used in dishes such as Celeriac ice cream, Wiltshire truffle and fermented honey, while Ichi Kuri squash cooks slowly within lobster oil before joining together to make Cornish lobster, herbs and butter sauce on the plate.

Across every dish, Jan’s innovative, intuitive cooking and perfected techniques demonstrate the quality of their produce, with Mary’s background in biodynamic agriculture laced throughout.

Find an example menu below:

Leeks and Montgomery

Bread and homemade butter

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Devonshire scallops, Tokyo turnip and scotch bonnet

Dry-aged trout, carrots, brown butter hollandaise

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Mallard, smoked beetroot and mole negro

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Celeriac ice cream, fermented honey, buckwheat and Wiltshire truffle

Canelé

The Wilsons farm produce can be found woven into the weekly changing set menu, priced at £60 per head, served Tuesday - Saturday, and the ‘menu du jour’ lunch special, £25 with a glass of natural wine, Wednesday - Saturday.

For further information and images, please contact Jess on jess@gemmabellandcompany.com.