1 Michelin Star Chefs: Cal Byerley, chef patron, Pine restaurant

Cal Byerley is the chef-patron at one Michelin-starred Pine Restaurant

Cal comes from a local family of farmers who have been working in Northumberland since 1805. Together with his friend Ian Waller, whom he met and worked with at Grasmere’s Michelin-starred Forest Side, Cal co-created the food offering at Pine.

The Pine 

Vallum Farm, Military Road, East 
Wallhouses, NE18 0LL

Website: https://www.restaurantpine.co.uk/

Tel: 01434 671 202

Email: [email protected]

Opening hours:

Lunch:
Friday & Saturday, 12pm - 2pm

Dinner: 
Wednesday to Saturday, 7pm - 12am

Closed:
Sunday - Tuesday 

Patron: Siân Buchan

Head Chef: Ian Waller

Head Sommelier: Vanessa Stoltz

Instagram: @restaurantpine

Twitter: @restaurant_pine

Facebook: @RestaurantPine

Biography

The chef started his career in hospitality at the age of sixteen, working in the kitchen at the nearby Robin Hood Inn, where his passion for food and hospitality was born.

Since then, he has worked in some of the UK's best restaurants, including Simon Rogan's Rogan & Co, Cartmel and Forest Side, Grasmere and Jesmond Dene House in Newcastle.

Whilst at Rogan & Co, Cal discovered his passion for pastry and bread making, and was later the head pastry chef working alongside Kevin Tickle at Michelin-starred Forest Side in Grasmere.

Cooking Style

Growing up as part of a farming community, Cal developed a deep-seated connection with his native Northumberland, inspiring the dishes he creates.

Seasonality is one of the cornerstones of his food style and ethos, along with which comes a propensity for pickling, preserving, foraging and naturally growing produce. He does this to maximise the lifespan of ingredients, and to enhance the flavours available to him throughout the year.

Restaurant Pine

Pine is the debut restaurant by Cal Byerley and his partner Siân Buchan.

The pair dreamt of opening a venture together for several years but it wasn't until the first UK lockdown that it became a possibility.

During that time, they established a high-end home delivery afternoon tea business. It was whilst they were making deliveries, in May 2020, that they visited the site of a building that had previously caught their eye. The building had been taken off of the market, but things took a turn in their favour after a chance meeting with the landlord, which led them to open Pine in May 2021.

Nine months later, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star and a Green star in the Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland 2022.

The food

Dinner at Pine is a tasting menu-only affair, served Wednesday to Saturday. Created by both Cal and head chef Ian Waller, the menu headlines plants and vegetables, most grown in the restaurant's very own farming operations only metres away from the kitchen. 

The restaurant also serves a classic three-tier afternoon tea Fridays and Saturdays, with a number of twists and tweaks to add Cal's own style. 

Sustainability

Since its inception, sustainability has been a key focus at Pine, and this means more than just sustainable dishes: it is extended in every aspect of the restaurant, including looking after the team.

The restaurant operates a four-day week, not only allowing team members to have a better work-life balance but making it easier for Cal, Siân and Ian to streamline the operational side of the business. It partly thanks to this that they have been able to pay attention to how they source ingredients and where those ingredients originate. 

This serves two purposes: firstly, it supports local growers, farmers and producers, and secondly, it minimises the impact that the restaurant has on the environment. The restaurant makes a point of sourcing ingredients locally to minimise food miles and to reduce the number of deliveries. They also have a zero-tolerance policy on plastic and non-recyclable materials being used by their suppliers.

What's more, the restaurant has found a way of provisioning its heating and electricity from sustainable sources, including biomass systems and solar panels.