THE village of Chipping Alderton in the Cotswolds has a population of 340 people, one post office, and — as of six weeks ago — a restaurant that has become the most talked-about new opening in Britain.
Marco Bellini, the Italian-born chef who became a household name through three series of his BBC show The Honest Kitchen, has spent two years converting the derelict Crown and Anchor pub into The Larder, a 40-cover restaurant that serves what Bellini calls "honest British food with Italian soul".
The waiting list is currently three months. Bellini has turned down approaches from investors who wanted to help him open in London. He says he's not interested.
"London has enough restaurants," he told me, sitting at a table by the window with a view of the village green. "What it doesn't have is this." He gestured at the room — the original stone walls, the reclaimed wooden tables, the kitchen visible through a hatch at the back. "This took two years. I'm not going to leave it."
The menu changes daily based on what's available from local suppliers. On the day I visited, it included a starter of Cotswold asparagus with a soft-boiled egg and anchovy butter, a main of slow-roasted Herefordshire beef with bone marrow and horseradish, and a dessert of elderflower posset with shortbread. The cooking is technically precise but the effect is of simplicity and generosity.
The locals, who were initially sceptical — "We thought it would be all London prices and London people," one told me — have been won over. Bellini has reserved ten per cent of covers each week for village residents at a reduced price. He employs twelve people from the surrounding area. He buys his vegetables from a farm two miles away.
"This is what I always wanted to do," he said. "Cook good food for people who are actually there."