Small farms, because Kynd – like its sleek older sister Grace & Savour on the other side of the kitchen garden – is wedded to supporting producers that operate on a human scale, with whom it can build direct relationships. Big flavours, because mimsy little flutters just wouldn’t fit the vibe in this old furnace house with its exposed brick, moody lighting, open-fire cookery, and vast communal table. Kynd is about lively, shared occasions and robust flavours eeked out of British ingredients (sometimes with a Scandinavian inflection born of chef-director David Taylor’s time spent in Sweden, Denmark and Norway).
On offer is an a la carte for a straightforward £75 for three courses, or a six-course Taste of Kynd (£110). Highlights from an early visit included artichoke crisps served with a peppy artichoke harissa, and the fermented oat sourdough bread from the on-site bakery with ampersand butter, excellent for lovage sauce-mopping. The sauce in question was poured round a Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese set custard and did a fine job in countering the richness. Hand-dived Hebridean scallops were as luxurious as those words promise, ‘and there’s nobody between the diver, Joe, and the restaurant’ David said, keen to emphasise those supplier relationships. Obviously, nothing is discarded, the scallop roe and skirt going into the sauce.
Ex-dairy beef comes in tartare form on a complex snack of rosti potatoes with tomato emulsion made using tomato ‘waste’, lacto-fermented gem lettuce from last year’s harvest and radish. A busy few bites, flavour-wise, and actually the sweet beef shone more brightly as a simple flatiron with black garlic and onion miso butter and chard.
Big shout-out to what is already a menu fixture, the very moreish spiralled potato fondant. Ditto the tipsy cake, a Welsh rum-doused dessert to share.
Wines are from the off-the-beaten-track model favoured by Hampton Manor. English wines get good billing, including Welsh pinot noir from Ancre Hill Estates, and I’d Rather Be A Rebel Rosé from Battersea’s Blackbook Winery.
Brave stories? Yes, Kynd is brave because Smoke, the previous restaurant in the furnace house, left big shoes to fill. We’ll let the newcomer settle in and be back with more soon.
WHERE Hampton Manor, Shadowbrook Lane, Hampton-In-Arden, B92 0EN
FOLLOW @kynd_hamptonmanor
BOOK hamptonmanor.com/kynd
The Good Food Guide allows three to six months before anonymously inspecting a new restaurant. Look out for a full review coming soon.
