Wild Carrot at Four Seasons Hampshire Review

There’s something so uniquely festive about the Four Seasons Hampshire; the roaring open fires, the wintery feel, the strong cocktails and easy decor, makes it feel like a house away from home. Albeit, one much more pleasing than your actual home. They’ve recently renovated their main restaurant, the Wild Carrot, and I visited check out the new digs:

Wild Carrot at Four Seasons Hampshire Review: The Lowdown

Wild Carrot is all about as British because it gets. Named after a dainty white wildflower that grows within the fields of Dogmersfield Park, Wild Carrot is about local and seasonal goodness – the excitement words of the moment. But it’s not only a trendy slogan here; you can really taste the quality of the components within their food, with seasonality staying at the heart of what they do. Wild Chef is headed up by Executive Chef Dirk Gieselmann, who try to create traditional dishes having a contemporary twist. We’re talking a Surrey beef gourmet burger, with blackberry chutney and caramelized onions inside a brioche bun.

The new restaurant is really beautiful in design, with a large open kitchen and bar, to watch the magic in action. The decor is stylish and intimate, with a sense of warmth and intimacy concerning the place. You are able to decide to sit in a cozy booth for a romantic tête-à-tête, or dine with friends on larger wooden tables – all facing the beautiful Hampshire countryside outside. For that summer months, they’ve also got a new open terrace that reflects a conventional English garden, draping with green foliage and delicate lighting. Yes, please.

Wild Carrot at Four Seasons Hampshire Review: The Food

The food is just, well, splendid. Seasonal, local, fresh, tasty – it’s all you could want inside a meal. We started with the Jerusalem artichoke velouté with mushroom tortellini and parmesan; it's, dare I say it, one of the best soups I’ve ever tasted. Thick, rich, warming, by having an exploding burst of flavour in the handmade mushroom pasta, the combination of flavours and textures is simply so right. The burrata with heirloom tomato, avocado, rocket, aged balsamic and pine nuts is no less delicious – an easy, easy combination of flavours which just works, particularly when piled onto their homemade grilled garlic ciabatta. Delicious stuff.

For mains, we try the road Cod with brandade pequillo pepper, watercress and aioli, and the Wild Seabass with potato gnocchi, grilled artichokes, roasted cherry tomatoes and caper vinaigrette. The cod is tasty, complimented having a sharp and sweet grilled pepper, and given a far more intense flavour with the help of a piquant aioli, but the seabass is the real star of the show here. It’s seabass like I’ve didn't have before – thick, meaty – but so perfectly cooked, it simply flakes within the mouth. The seabass is served with some bold, robust flavours, which work so well with it – the grilled artichokes providing an earthiness, the sweet tomatoes lightening things and also the beautifully dense gnocchi adding a needed depth towards the dish. The whole thing is so perfect, I could eat it again and again.

For pudding, we ended on a sweet note using the homemade apple pie with salted caramel ice cream. It’s the type of dessert that isn’t afraid to become simple – and it’s beautiful in the simplicity. The apples are clearly local, simply cooked with brown sugar, on the most perfect pastry base with sweet and salty frozen treats, it’s everything you could want inside a dessert, really.

Wild Carrot at Four Seasons Hampshire Review: The Drinks

We loved the new bar in the Wild Carrot, using its quirky feel and look, filled with vintage-style lamp shades, open fire, plentiful books and comfy traditional leather sofas. The bar is the best place to while away a couple of hours, making the right path through the cocktail list and watching the world pass. The cocktails take presctiption point too; with everything from re-imagined classic cocktails to unusual tipples with local honey, seasonal fruit and home-infused spirits. We loved the barrel-aged Negroni, with hints of oak and an unusual, deep flavour, as well as for something light and refreshing, their Bellini with white peach purée is really a must-try.

Wild Carrot at Four Seasons Hampshire Review: Our Verdict

We loved everything about the new restaurant at the Four Seasons Hampshire – the climate, the setting, the creative cooking. Wild Carrot has style in addition to substance, having a fantastic menu that actually showcases the best of British. We can’t wait to determine exactly what the restaurant does next.