Worton Kitchen Garden - Near Cassington

Beth C.

A hidden little gem! We had coffee and cake in the quirky greenhouse style cafe, surrounded by a no dig flower and vegetable garden. Met Simon the owner who is warm, friendly and truly passionate about being able to make use of as much produce grown/reared on site as possible. Can’t wait to see what it looks like in summer!

Ben C.

Love this place. Hidden away, it is an unpretentious gem, with delightful places to eat both inside and outside. Simon is a wonderful chef and host to his restaurant and loves to come and say hi. The food is delicious and full of flavour but aimed at adults rather than kids. Kids have plenty of space to roam and explore including lots of animals to discover. There’s also a good walk from the venue. Only thing that could be improved is the service which, whilst very friendly, was a little slow and haphazard.

Betty R.

We came at the height of summer when the magnificent garden was in full bloom, and couldn’t believe what a lovely place we had come to. The food is thoughtful and ingredient focused. Standouts for me were the celeriac curry, and Tuscan sausage with borlotti beans, and the chocolate and ginger cake. I also loved the Sloe Gin Fizz cocktail.
Proprietor Simon was nice enough to come out and introduce himself, and the other staff are also very kind and accommodating.
If you appreciate beautiful plants and flowers, good food and magical places, you will love Worton Garden Kitchen.

Muriel S. R.

Really enjoyed my meal here and the nice chat with the owner. Service was lovely and the food very tasty. Locally sourced, well-prepared, in a casual setting. Portion sizes good, with plenty of variety on the seasonal menu. I shall be back when it is lighter to enjoy the beautiful garden and some more food next time! Highly recommended.

Mark W.

What a unique and wonderful sensory experience, a hidden gem! Fabulous garden, fresh 3 course late lunch for two on Friday 2nd August. The passion and love for their ingredients was self evident but to be clear this place is big on “character” and “slow food”, the antithesis of modern chain restaurants and more authentic and in stark contrast to the more formulaic and manicured “farmshop/garden centre” restaurants typical of the area. It’s like eating in someone’s private kitchen garden or giant allotment. Talk about field to plate provenance, ingredients don’t get fresher than this!

We were fortunate to visit on a warm summer afternoon and our table for two, shaded by parasol and fruit trees, was alfresco rambling kitchen garden summer perfection. Other tables for 2, 4 and 6 are spaced so far apart around the restaurant sheds and out into the abundant gardens that we didn’t notice half of them until we explored later. For seating at other times of year there appeared to be rustic tables in two parts of the shed and one high ceilinged greenhouse.

The menu is short and, as advertised, seasonal. To start we shared decadent pork crackling with a mirabelle chutney and beautifully sweet tomatoes in a caprese-like salad. For our mains we chose the house mezze - principally homemade babaganoush (fabulous), hummus, tomatillo salad with crusty white house-baked ciabatta-style bread - and then whole mackerel (bbq chard) and beetroot. It was a crime not to try more than one of the three fabulous looking puddings - something chocolate, an amazing sounding cheesecake and a mixed fruit frangipane. We had the latter - a taste sensation.

We made the most of the suggestion to explore the gardens and there appeared to be no limitations to this. There are a number of huge greenhouses bursting with tomato plants, vines and other veg. These are interspersed with combined vegetable and flower beds and fruit trees. We found chickens, geese and turkeys but must have missed the pigs. On our way we came across friendly gardeners and Stacey Gledhill, the artist in residence for the summer. To be clear these are not manicured gardens, they are beautifully wild and at this time of year watering and harvesting might understandably take priority over weeding or meticulous tidying up.

Since our visit I’ve read back through reviews on the usual platforms and have noticed occasionally severe criticism of this establishment when it comes to service, speed of service and pricing. We have no such complaints but it is possible to imagine how they might occasionally arise. Staff are surely not drilled to corporate style rulebooks; some tables are hidden and further from the hub; for this quality, prices are understandably at the high-end of gastropub levels; and this is a working kitchen garden.

In the end it’s a matter of taste, preferences and expectations. For us this was genuinely a five star / exceeded expectations experience in all respects.

Matthew P.

I’d been wanting to visit Worton Kitchen Garden for ages (I was really interested in the concept of hyper local food), so I was very excited to go for lunch today to celebrate my parents anniversary.

We all had different dishes and all of them were delicious. The service was great, waitresses were really friendly, happy to answer any questions. They weren’t pushy and just fitted into the tranquil environment.

Taking of which, the gardens are wonderful, lots of beautiful plants, herbs and vegetables.

Overall a great visit and I will definitely be returning with friends and family.

Richard H.

A fabulous meal here with friends. I loved the relaxed informal atmosphere and sitting out in the garden. The food was simple but very well prepared, with good generous portions. The half crab was huge and the crevettes were plentiful. The staff were helpful and patient explaining the different dishes for us. Definitely try the drinking vinegar!
One star off as it got so dark outside that we resorted to using the torches on our phones. Some citronella flares on stakes, lanterns, or some solar powered string lights would make such a difference to the ambience.
Definitely pay them a visit and support this lovely local enterprise.

K C.

Well worth a visit, an interesting concept and experience. While the prices seemed higher than I expected when taken as a whole with the experience, I'm more than happy to support the business.

Service is excellent, staff were very welcoming and friendly.

The menu was quite eclectic and made me curious to try different options. Some were a hit (sausages with beans) and other a miss (the meze) but nice to try dishes I normally wouldn't choose so a fun experience none the less and would recommend trying the desserts as they went down well.

It was wonderful to explore the gardens with the kids and see some the chickens running around.

The only real negative is the compost toilet. I understand the idea but in practice I found it quite a bit off-putting.

Well worth a visit.