Why Dorset needs to be your next foodie staycation
If you’re making a foodie pilgrimage to the West Country and bypassing Dorset for Devon or Cornwall, you’re missing a trick. This deliciously green and lyrical county (save for Bournemouth and Poole’s suburban sprawl) dotted with Thomas Hardy market towns and pretty, thatched villages constitutes one big pantry.
Spanking fresh coastal plunder is hoicked into restaurant kitchens, all iridescent and salty; wild garlic, flowers and vegetables thrive in the mineral-rich soil, and dairy farming is written into Dorset’s DNA, or really, just farming in general.
West Dorset’s rural rhythms are as pure as the sweet, unpolluted air, and deeply woven into everyday life. And yet, for so long, this first-rate pantry was just that. Only in the past five years has Hardy Country really got its act together, gingerly spinning its wild bounty and farming treasure into delicious, wholly inventive plates, drumming up restaurant ideas, with trailblazers such as Mark Hix and Harriet Mansell.
Urban chefs and artisans have cottoned on, leaving the Big Smoke for organic produce on par with that of Tuscany’s, setting up restaurants, cafes, bakeries and creating feasts that draw on Dorset’s unflashy spirit, just with wildly delicious food with urban-learned finesse.
Locals fear a Cotswolds-style gloss – they relish the undiscovered, untamed nature of this ravishing corner of the UK, where Saturday lunch is unpicking a Portland crab beside a shingly Chesil Beach, and Sunday roasts are a succulent joint from a friend’s herd These are the very best places to taste the spoils.
The Parlour, Burton Bradstock
Anyone who believes they are in the countryside at Soho Farmhouse will be sorely disappointed with The Parlour. Its farmyard carpark is scruffy, its bar is essentially a makeshift teenage den, and the courtyard is unkempt and scattered with plant pots. Because this is a real farm, not the countryside-for-Londonders flavour. But once inside the restaurant, that gazes across the undulating Bride Valley, loud, well-dressed, well-informed families fill tables and the magic begins to unfold.
Occupying a chunk of Bredy Farm, a few minutes drive away from the coastal village of Burton Bradstock, The Parlour is, without doubt, Dorset’s best pizza joint. Layered with West Country cheese, local vegetables and Italian cold cuts, the loaded slabs of fluffy, home-made dough are flung into an enormous, red-mosaic wood-fired oven. What comes out is something close to euphoria. The Tuscan theme (West Dorset and Tuscany are well-matched in their seasonal bounty, rural rhythms and family-first spirit), continues across the menu, with pasta dishes wrapping flavour-packed, seasonal treasure into their al dente coils — pork and fennel, or maybe fresh asparagus with cream.
Their Sunday roasts (with Italian twists) are a fine reward for those braving the Hardy Country hills — expect slow-roast pork with goose-fat roasties, Tuscan fish stew with mussels and clams, and handsome helpings of thick, creamy tiramisu. bredyfarm.com
Brassica, Beaminster
Brassica really was a first for Dorset. Opened by Cass Titcombe and Louise Chidgey (whose collective culinary pedigree includes The Cow in Westbourne Grove and Canteen), the now beloved restaurant sympathetically wove its London-learned skills into the Midsummer Murder-esque town of Beaminster. It is housed in a cosy, art-clad building that blinks onto the square through a tea room-style mullion window. A log burner warms toes on chilly nights, bare brick and creamy walls are woken up with a splash of contemporary prints and ceramics, and benches are backed by a medley of cushions, evoking a comfy sitting room setting. It’s as if they want you to stay. And you should, because Cass Titcombe’s Mediterranean-inspired menu leverages the best of the surrounding farms and fields, drumming up succulent plates of pork shoulder rigatoni, meaty and moreish halibut fillet on borlotti beans with fennel, and Melanzane Parmigiana, loaded with West Country cheese.
The puddings are superb (sweet, apricot fool, or gingerbread swimming in creme fraiche); as is the wine list, meticulously chosen by Cass to let his menu sing. It’s worth noting that the restaurant is only open for dinner from Thursday till Saturday, and, if you go for breakfast or lunch, ensure you drop by Brassica Mercantile just opposite, a fine curaton of chocolates and crafty gifts, courtesy of Louise’s Conran-focused CV. brassicarestaurant.co.uk
The Pig On The Beach, Studland
Sweeping views over the Purbecks and that postcard-perfect shot of Old Harry's Rock, The Pig On The Beach occupies one of the best clifftop seats in the house. The building itself is a mustard, higgledy-piggledy marvel — almost spooky in character with witch-hat turrets, Gothic mullioned windows and a Victorian skeleton, fleshed out with warm, textured fabrics and cosy armchairs in its various nooks and crannies.
It’s as charming in the chillier months as it is in the hazy height of summer, with roaring fires and herb-infused cocktails welcoming autumnal walkers back to base. Roasts are carnivorous and served with braised, charred root vegetables.
True to Piggy form, seasonality and the hotel’s restaurant’s local approach errs on puritanical, with produce (when not plucked from their own bountiful kitchen gardens) sourced from local fisherman and farmers within a 25 mile radius. Highlights include the legendary ‘Piggy Bits’, Jim Adami’s pigeon breast with garden sweetcorn and black pudding and sinfully delicious Westcombe ricotta dumplings.
The 25 mile menu rolls out in the plant-filled, rosemary-scented greenhouse restaurant (think rustic tables, nostalgic light and coastal views), or for an even more relaxed setting, a wood-fired menu can be tucked into on the outdoor patio, with giggling children cartwheeling into the long, lawn-based afternoons. Foodies can join for a pre-prandial tour of the kitchen gardens every day (no need to book) at 11am, watching the chefs snip various herbs and hoik out vegetables that will shortly be spun under hungry walkers in the main restaurant. thepighotel.com
FOUND by Found & Fine, Dorchester
This unassuming, green-fronted cafe sits at the far end of Dorchester’s Trinity Street that’s permanently choked by cars from the traffic lights. We were one of those cars, and that is the only reason anyone comes across this nondescript-but-brilliant bistro. Inside, it's a minty, minimalist take on a farm kitchen, with wood panelling and industrial suspended lamps. The owner’s manifesto is clear: locally-grown, farmed or foraged food spun into sharing plates and seasonal specials.
Come from Thursday till Saturday evening (until 8pm) for small plates and cocktails, or for a lunch doused in sunlight –expect plates such as venison crumpet with wild garlic, parsnip veloute with Dorset truffle arancini, and squash ravioli with sage. The puddings are ludicrously tasty. Immortalised by Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge yet decaying and succumbing to chains, Dorchester needs rescuing by little cafes and restaurants like FOUND, bringing vim and vitality to a stale-yet-splendid market town. foundnfine.co.uk
Catch At The Old Fishmarket, Weymouth
As well as its Georgian pastel antiquity, Weymouth has a shabby, dishevelled side to it that lies a few roads behind its main sea-fronted stretch. Turn a blind eye to the high street chains and chicken shops, and its streets (particularly the harbour front) are the perfect Dickensian film set. Rhythms from eras preceding the author’s endure here, from the congregation of gossipers in the teahouses that spill into the sunshine to the fisherman’s pootling out to secret coordinates. One of these is reserving his finest coastal plunder for Catch, a relatively new arrival, occupying the splendid Victorian bones of the old fish market.
Enter through a Narnia-like door, up a flight of stairs and all is calm, whitewashed and a little Nordic. This is the new digs of ex Pollen Street Social chef, Mike Naidoo, who’s a deft hand at spinning all coastal treasures (an enormous sea bass, brill, really whatever the fisherman procures), into haute, wholly delicious plates. It has earned him a well-deserved one Michelin star, and put a port town in need of a wee spruce firmly on the foodie map. Expect the usual, spanking fresh salty suspects such as Portland crab dumplings, perfectly-roasted scallops, which are meaty and moreish inside, washed down with local Langham’s wine, of course, rounded off with a light, fluffy New Forest Strawberry Baba. catchattheoldfishmarket.com
Lilac Restaurant and Wine Bar, Lyme Regis
Having injected some culinary fizz into the genteel, seaside town of Lyme Regis with Robin Wyld (now closed), Harriet Mansell’s second opening on Broad Street has lured city gourmands all the way down the M3. It’s worth the dastardly motorway trudge, for arty sharing plates, loaded with West Country’s seasonal treasure. All is earthy toned and calm in this former wine cellar, with white table cloths, smart wine glasses and atmospheric Nordic lighting suggestive of a culinary show worth bedding in for.
It’s good value too – artsy locals flock here for cocktails and dinner, digesting their foraged feasts with a moonlight stroll along the beach, where Mary Anning once hunted for fossils, and Jane Austin penned Persuasion. This summer, Harriet opened Garden Table at Lilac, hidden behind the main restaurant in a plant-filled courtyard space that inhales the sea air. Here, 14 diners are treated to intimate foodie theatre, with Harriet cooking her personally foraged, wild ingredients over a fire – except smoked fish and meat sprinkled with summer flowers and flavoursome wild vegetables. lilacwine.co.uk
Rick Stein, Sandbanks
I routinely urge all Dorset-bound foodies to head West, and stay there, dodging the chains, the urban sprawl of Bournemouth and the architectural, and poor town planning of most of Poole. But Hamptons-inspired Sandbanks’ retirees, done-good types and footballers and their wives, quite rightly, deserve a really good restaurant. Somewhere worth a blow dry and nice shoes (the Superga-footed yachties sinking into the Scandi chairs are in for a sartorial treat). And Rick Stein’s Sandbanks outpost delivers, wowing with various spins on classics (deep-fried coconut prawns, Pondicherry cod curry, posh fish and chips with curry sauce, and the like) gleaned from his peripatetic career.
All is a paean to land and sea West Country produce, from the gooey and gorgeously caramelised Coombeshead sourdough to the Cornish grilled lobster (a must for any first-timers). Punters return religiously for Stein’s legendary Indonesian seafood curry and the Launceston-reared steak, seared with panache (and drowned in bone marrow gravy). The views (away from the beach’s car-park side) are sensational — a pancake-flat, ankle-deep stretch of water that moves through shades of pink in the evening, when the kite and windsurfers come out to play. rickstein.com
Soulshine Café, Bridport
If you’ve read about the arty contingent that have either returned to childhood pastures or left London rents for Bridport’s artisanal, (more affordable) scene, pull up a chair at Soulshine Café on a Sunday. You’ll need to visually wade through the tourists to find them, but they’ll be sharing secrets over juices from the orchard, and eating well-proportioned brunch classics (the avocado on toast with bacon is divine), and just-baked pastries.
Interiors are relaxed and imbued with that famous West Country hippy spirit — the yogi lot, with celestial inclinations, love it here, as do the ex-Londoners gagging for a salted padron pepper (perfectly braised), or a proper cappuccino (from the Goose & Badger roastery). The pocket-sized patio at the back of the café is a heavenly spot on a summer’s day, and if in town for a hot minute, be sure to pick up their freshly-baked bread and deli goodies at the very front of the café (the sort of fresh, artisanal picnic that Fortnum & Masons can all but dream of). Children are welcomed with open arms (and well-thumbed books), and the café puts on various supper clubs, with guest chefs, authors and even mushroom experts. wearesoulshine.co.uk
Crab House Café, Weymouth
It’s the sort of spot that only the locals know about. Our seafaring friends finally let us in on the secret — their favourite seafood joint, where they fuel up on oysters and Portland crab before a long afternoon on their yacht. The menu is written hastily with the latest haul: terracotta crabs (some monster specimens), plump, iridescent hake and freckled turbot.
Reassuringly makeshift, shack-like interiors belie the refined, finely-tuned plates of roasted skate wing with chorizo, whole plaice roasted with anchovy butter and Somerset cider onions. It’s a restaurant full of substance, without the frills and with poetic views across a shingled Chesil Beach. crabhousecafe.co.uk
Peppina, Poundbury
King Charles III’s Poundbury regularly divides: Georgian pastiche or the promised land? But spend an afternoon marvelling at its squares, architecture and the courtyards, which mimic the Georgians’ handsome symmetry and perfect proportions, and you could easily be swayed. Particularly if you swing by Peppina for a ricotta-filled pistachio cannoli or a graffa.
Tucked in a courtyard reminiscent (shock) of a palace stables, the Sicilian café may feel utilitarian, if not a little underdressed, but the delectable pastries and reassuringly fat focaccia sandwiches demand little in the way of fancy decor. This is the stellar work of Angelo Fischera, a spirited, bouncy character who’s deftly pared Dorset produce with Sicilian recipes, and exhibits that typically Italian warmth (children tinker in the corner on a mini kitchen and people of all tribes linger in this easygoing space).
Behind a counter filled with plum cannoli, baci, arancini, and sweet cream-loaded brioche is a small, industrial-style bakery where the holy grail of all sourdoughs is baked and Sicilian cooking lessons take place. Look out for their Thursday pizza nights, and, if staying at a nearby Airbnb, or in need of picnic material, their boxed pizzas, bread and biscuits will transport you to Sicily’s sun-scorched coastline with one bite. peppina.uk
Parnham Park Restaurant
On the fringes of timewarp Beaminster lies 140 acres of parkland, and at its centre, a rambling Elizabethan pile, whose skeleton is held up solely by thick braids of wisteria. Its mullioned windows are charred, its innards burnt to cinders by a devastating fire, (the alleged perpetrator and previous owner was later found drowned in Lake Geneva). It all sounds a little Frederick Forsyth (and it was), but rising from the ashes, courtesy of James and Sophie Perkins, is something quite extraordinary. The wings have been restored to their former glory and filled with antiques and taxidermy, one as a separate house to rent for a bucolic Dorset weekend.
The team retraced the original landscaping in what was an overgrown tangle of garden – now bursting with colour and genteel topiary. And now, they’ve opened a restaurant – a paean to Dorset’s exquisite, just-caught seafood and its wild superlative farm produce.
This isn’t Sophie and James’ first rodeo, with James’ history of restoring historic properties and the couple famously organising knockout celebrity parties at their previous, famously eccentric Northampton home, Aynhoe Park. There’s a sense, as you edge up their stately, tree-lined drive, that you’re entering a splendid private home. Which you are. But turn right, walk through a fairy-lit arboretum and you’ll enter the walled garden, where an elegantly unpretentious, cocktail-studded scene now occupies a beautiful greenhouse. Chefs whip up plates in an open kitchen, alongside the upholstered bamboo chairs, chintzy plates and a shabby-chic piano, all a little olde worlde, yet decidedly new energy for this stretch of Dorset.
Tuck into implausibly fresh, torched mackerel pepped up ginger, ‘lamb from Alex’s farm’ in a whisky glaze, and Sophie’s courgettes, lathered in labneh and sprinkled with edible garden flowers. Don’t miss the majestic white deer roaming the grounds, or the storytime soundtrack in the loos, or, emphatically, the Parnham Pintxos cocktails — consider pre-booking a cab. parnhampark.co.uk
Seaside Boarding House
The lane tracing the cliffs from the pansied-pub, coastal village of Burton Bradstock, towards a Daz-white, Edwardian Boarding house, elicits a jolt of vertigo. It's humbling, and wholly West Dorset — a sort of road that leads to nowhere curving high above a beguiling mass of blue. Except it does. It leads to the Seaside Boarding House, a quiet triumph from the team behind The Groucho Club whose strong seafood game is ramped up with a sun-trap terrace, and, unsurprisingly, right-on cocktails.
Tuck yourself under white tablecloths for a drawn out afternoon, cracking Portland Crab and washing down oysters with Langham’s sparkling wine. On a sunny day, it’s a pretty louche scene, by West Dorset standards, where the light-filled dining room exhales onto the terrace, with all eyes on the horizon. Those walking off the Westcombe cheddar soufflé (unreal), or the buttermilk pudding (pure rapture) along the cliff paths may ponder just how the nearby mobile home holiday parks bagged such an exquisite chunk of the Jurassic Coast. And yet, the unpretentious spirit of this field-meets-sea coastal stretch is, really, what lends it its enduring charm.
It still feels a little undiscovered. Guests sinking into the Boarding House’s whitewashed, coastal rooms will feel rightfully smug, particularly after an invigorating swim at Hive Beach or having nursed an Seaside Breeze cocktail with fried baby squid as the sun dips. theseasideboardinghouse.com
3 of the best Dorset foodie experiences to book
If you want to experience more of Dorset’s growing gastronomy scene with a full-on foodie experience then there is much to be explored. Here are some of our favourites booze tours and feasts.
Langham Wine Estate
Following its sparkling wine of the year award from IWSC (triumphing over various well-established Champagne houses), Langham Wine has become something of a South Westerly pilgrimage for oenophiles, bringing the county’s chalky soil and wine-making panache into sharp focus. Their owner’s generational farming experience informs the minimal intervention method, and the vines can be inspected (and the four wines sampled) with various tours.
Linger for lunch at the Estate’s vineyard cafe, occupying an old Dutch barn, where a wall of hay bales keeps things low-key, and Fizz Fridays pair Dorest’s musical talent with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and themed suppers. langhamwine.co.uk
Flames and Feast
Specialising in fire cooking with a Middle Eastern twist, Dorchester-based Flames and Feasts is a sky-high standards catering company that friends recommend quietly in their circles like precious amulets. It does what it says on the tin, plenty of flames, and lots of seasonal feasting, with Louise Perry-Warnes smoking and flame grilling on theatrical, Argentine-style asados. It’s a bewitching, almost ritualised performance beneath rural Dorset’s star-brandished skies, which now also extends to a series of pop up suppers. These are often held in the secret gardens, woodlands or parkland of some of East Dorset’s most romantic, wildly beautiful private houses. flamesandfeasts.co.uk
Black Cow Distillery
Proud distillers of the world’s first milk-derived vodka, Black Cow Vodka brought a little maverick energy to the green, rambling heart of Dorset's dairy making culture. The story goes, that a fifth generation dairy farmer and his neighbour conjured the idea from a drinking session, and now its 250-strong herd of dairy cows (grazing on hills seemingly drawn by a child that wrap Beaminster and overlook the sea) produce the creamy goods, with the milk-based vodka distilled and bottled by hand. Browse their website for the Lyme Regis-based Black Cow saloon for various launches, quick courses and tasting from vodka and cheese pairing nights to vodka cocktail making workshops. blackcow.co.uk
