See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy TOM PARKER BOWLES, FOOD CRITIC AND AUTHOR Updated: 03:05 BST, 22 August 2026
I’ve never quite understood why ‘farm to table’ is something to shout about. Because until all of our food is grown in sterile labs and grim research facilities, pretty much everything we consume starts life in or on the ground, regardless of whether you’re Harvester or Hélène Darroze. Perhaps I’m being unduly pedantic here but, just like perfectly well-meaning staff asking if they can explain the menu (grrrrr!), this seems a case of stating the bloody obvious.Which is not to do down Wild, a ‘farm to table’ place in Berkhamsted. They really do have their own regenerative farm, a few miles down the road, which supplies them with fruit, vegetables, herbs and eggs. This is, of course, an admirable thing. They also bake their own bread, as well as make their own pickles, ferments and preserves. The large, light-flooded room may be pretty empty when we arrive, but service is utterly charming and some of the cooking very fine indeed. There’s white crab meat, hand-picked and splendidly fresh, piled high on a chewy square of burnished hash brown. And a panzanella salad filled with the sweetest, most luscious room-temperature tomatoes, the acidity perfectly judged. ‘Some of the cooking is very fine indeed’: the menu at WildPig’s head croquette has a hint of the farmyard, in the best possible way, and a good hefty chew. While flatbread, blistered and fluffy, comes draped with Baron Bigod cheese and a drizzle of Wild’s own honey. There’s obviously talent in the kitchen, and the ingredients are first rate. But not everything delights.You can’t fault the quality of the bass in their crudo, and I love the jalapeño’s sly chilli heat, but it needs more salt and citrus. ‘Tempura’ batter on the courgettes is nothing of the sort, far closer in thickness and texture to its chip-shop cousin, and the vegetables are mushy and overcooked. Worst of all is the lamb, at £35 for two smallish slices of loin, the fat unrendered, the flesh almost raw. OK, so we leave in somewhat of a rush, as we have a train to catch. But the restaurant is hardly busy, and it seems a crying waste of wonderful meat. Still, we might have caught the kitchen on an off-day. I love what they’re trying to do, and there’s much to relish. With a few small tweaks, Wild could really soar.About £45 per head. 247-249 High St, Berkhamsted HP4; wildrestaurant.co.ukRating:
