Pine
East Wallhouses, Northumberland
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Pine is at one with the land around it. Whether that be upland farms, foraged wildernesses or their own lovingly tended market garden, the integrity and authenticity of this remarkable set-up from chefs Cal Byerley and Ian Waller is evident everywhere you look. Recently extended with a cosy bar and lounge (cocktails and coffees by the wood burner are a popular option) and with hygge cabins now available for overnight stays on Vallum Farm itself, the restaurant continues on its upward curve. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining room overlook rolling farmland, but diners at the eight simple tables are subtly oriented towards the gleaming open kitchen. Opening salvos among the 18 or so courses are well-paced, the array of ingredients and techniques delivering a cornucopia of colour and flavour: a mouthful of mackerel with sugar kelp, pickled rhubarb and borage in a tiny dumpling; a creamy mousse of Berwick Edge cheese topped with infused and slow-dried carrot ‘jerky’ and clarified horseradish gel, for example. You might also be treated to slivers of full-flavoured, home-cured pork neck and a stunning raw scallop infused with its own roe, fermented plum, rhubarb and fennel pollen. A generous warm sourdough loaf made with local einkorn wheat (plus sunflower petals and seeds from the garden) comes with emerald herb butter and an ochre rapeseed emulsion, offering a spectacular intermission before the main act. Dishes such as perfectly rendered pork jowl, slow-cooked over fire with sweetcorn broth, chervil oil and pickled wild garlic 'capers', or impeccably timed monkfish with fermented fennel allow you to simply sit back and savour. Desserts conjure innovative combinations of uber-local flora including delicate rowan-shoot iced cream with fresh cobnut crunch and salted gooseberry slivers. An iPad lists idiosyncratic but well-judged wine options and dazzling mixology, with a particular flair for alcohol-free choices. However, this is not a place of hushed reverence – more a lively gathering of food aficionados exchanging tasters and reactions with laughter and happy sighs. From its ‘calling card’ (a simple sprig of spruce) to the working displays of dried and fermenting products, this is food as art – shared and celebrated in a familial and joyous atmosphere.
