Called The Cart Shed, the 30-cover restaurant officially opened its doors earlier this month and has a bar, summer terrace, and glass house area. Previously reserved for overnight guests, the restaurant is now open for lunch and dinner seven days a week on a bookings-only basis.
Dorset-born chef, Wilcox, whose experience includes Michelin-starred restaurants The Ledbury in London and Sienna in Dorset, as well as an appearance on season six of MasterChef: The Professionals, leads the kitchen, serving regularly changing seasonal menus centred on locally sourced ingredients and designed to showcase Dorset produce. The 18+ restaurant encourages guests to ‘leave the chicken nuggets at home’.
Menu highlights include blowtorched bream with smoked rhubarb, pickled cucumber and yoghurt; cured beef with pickled walnut ketchup, egg yolk and smoke oil; 8oz Balson’s sirloin steak with chimichurri; and pea and broad bean risotto with feta and pine nuts. Desserts include white chocolate ricotta with pickled apple, cucumber and shortbread crumb; and brown sugar parfait strawberry with raspberry vinegar and sesame snap.
While hotel guests can access a full à la carte menu, non-residents are served the set lunch and dinner menus which include lunch, served daily from 1pm until 4pm, with diners choosing either two courses or three small and dinner from 5.30pm until 8.30pm, with guests offered a four-course chef’s selection menu.
“We’re very excited to be working with Marcus to make Outbuildings a destination for food, just as it is for rooms,” says Ed Whitehead and Dom Sanchez, owners of Outbuildings Dorset.
“Marcus’ menu is already blowing guests away - and he’s only just getting started.”
The hotel, based at Whitehead’s parents’ farm just outside Bridport, launched in 2021 with just one room, The Coop. Since then, the family-run hotel - formerly separate holiday lets - has grown to 11 rooms, cabins, and huts.