Chester & Cheshire: Ultimate Guide - Winter/Spring Edition

WOOD Chester
A former winner of MasterChef has opened a new
restaurant in Chester – more evidence that the city’s
becoming a foodie destination, writes Suzanne King
Chester foodies have never
had it so good. The city’s
restaurant scene has
turned positively exciting in
recent years, thanks to the
arrival of lively independent
ventures. Eating-out options
now include everything from
Michelin-starred fine-dining
at Simon Radley at The
Chester Grosvenor to streetfood
fun at Chester Market’s
Foodie Fridays.
One welcome new arrival
opened in June; WOOD
Chester is the latest venture
of 2015 MasterChef winner
Simon Wood. Carrying off
the title sparked a career
change for the former data
manager, who opened
his first restaurant in
Manchester in 2017, which
quickly won a Michelin
recommendation and a
couple of AA rosettes. Now
he’s recreated this winning
formula at his restaurant
in the new Hotel Indigo
Chester.
Before my companion and
I had picked up our knives
and forks, the restaurant
was clocking up brownie
points. Running late for
our lunchtime booking, we
arrived out of breath and
flushed of face. WOOD’s
philosophy, though, is
“unintimidating fine
dining” and it lived up to
that promise. Despite our
dishevelled appearance,
the welcome was warm, the
atmosphere relaxed and
no sooner had we sat down
than glasses of iced water
appeared, courtesy of a
smiley waiter who went on
to deliver faultless service
throughout.
The menu gives little away,
each dish listing a few key
ingredients with no detail
of how they’re cooked. It’s
not short of options, though,
offering everything from a
quick pre-theatre meal to
a full-on mystery tasting
menu, where you trust the
chef to deliver whatever
seems best on the day.
Judging by our à la carte
lunch, it would be a leap of
faith worth making. Tasty
amuse-bouches got us
off to a flying start – one a
mini pastry filled with duck
leg and rabbit, the other
smoked eel mousse in a
crispy charcoal cracker. My
first course revealed Wood’s
artistic eye for plating;
citrus-cured mackerel
sitting prettily on top of
discs of pickled beetroot,
dotted with rosettes of goat’s
cheese, spheres of orange
gel and red-veined sorrel
leaves.
“Anjou squab, bacon butty
bread sauce, radicchio,
thyme” was the deceptively
simple title of my partner’s
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