West Sussex vineyard, Kinsbrook has announced its new restaurant head chef Jackson Heron.
Jackson, 31, joins the Kinsbrook team this month to oversee the breakfast and lunch menus served seven days a week in the 50-cover restaurant, which is housed in an impressive purpose built split-level Sussex barn style building, located within the vineyard grounds in Thakeham, West Sussex.
Jackson has some serious chef creds under his belt, having previously been part of the opening team at Matt Gillan’s highly praised West Sussex restaurant Heritage which launched to high praise in 2019, where he attained the position of senior sous chef before leaving to join the team at Kinsbrook.
Prior to Heritage, Jackson worked for three years at Michael Bremner’s flagship Brighton restaurant 64 Degrees, where he advanced to senior sous chef after just six months.
Jackson began his professional cooking career in 2014 at Jamie Oliver’s Diner (now closed) in Piccadilly Circus, London.
In 2015, Jackson worked for a year as an apprentice at Lee Westcott’s revered The Typing Room in Bethnal Green, which sparked his passion for fine dining, and enabled him to hone many of the cooking skills evident throughout his menu at Kinsbrook today.
With an emphasis on using high-quality, locally sourced produce, Jackson’s breakfast and lunch menu at Kingsbrook will change regularly depending on seasonality and availability of ingredients, offering dishes that make full use of Sussex’s wonderful natural larder.
Dishes on Jackson’s launch menu at Kinsbrook include:
Breakfast
Granola, yoghurt, Sussex honey & blueberries
‘Lost bread’ French toast with banana, salted caramel & walnut
Toasted sourdough open sandwich with pastrami, crispy onions & house pickles
‘Butcher’s Breakfast’ - toasted sourdough, two fried eggs, Kinsbrook sausage, bacon, tomato & mushroom
Lunch
Lamb shoulder pastilla, pickled cucumber & sriracha yoghurt
Hispi cabbage, pickled walnut & hollandaise
Wagyu Sussex beef tartare, focaccia & pickled shallots
Chicken terrine with black garlic mayo
Tenderstem, caesar dressing & tempura anchovy
Miso caramel, chocolate ganache, sesame & lime
Lemon meringue tart
*above is an example menu only, dishes will change daily dependent on produce seasonality & availability
ABOUT KINSBROOK
Founded by entrepreneurial winemaking duo Joe Beckett (30) and Rebecca Dancer (29), Kinsbrook is a progressive young vineyard and wine producer located in Thakeham, West Sussex. Set in the heart of England’s most influential wine making area, Kinsbrook’s creative, low intervention approach has resulted in a spectacular range of hand-crafted wines including their best-selling Bacchus (white wine), chough au vin (red) and a Pinot Noir Rose - all sold via onsite and via the online wine shop.
The couple, the youngest English vineyard owners in the UK, have recently launched ‘Kinsbrook Farmhouse’ - an impressive split-level farmhouse building within the vineyard’s grounds, designed almost in its entirety by the couple themselves and boasting stunning panoramic views of the vineyard estate and sprawling West Sussex countryside.
Kinsbrook Farmhouse is open seven days a week, encompassing the 50-cover restaurant - led by new head chef Jackson Heron (ex-Matt Gillan’s Heritage) & GM Ashima Dewulf (ex-Fat Duck & Heckfield Place), as well as a dedicated farm shop, cafe and deli that spotlights some of Sussex’s best produce, and full nose-to-tail onsite butchery - where all of the meat is sourced from the most ethical, sustainable farmers within a five-mile radius of the vineyard, and used on the Jackson’s restaurant menu.
The butchery also supplies the restaurant’s ‘Daily Cuts’ board, where different cuts are chosen each day and cooked to order by Jackson and the team. Keeping it as local as you could possibly get, the board often includes venison from the vineyard’s own estate, and lamb from family friend and renowned shepherdess Rosie Martin, who grazes her sheep on Kinsbrook land during the winter months, which then fertilises the soil ready for the vines to flourish in spring - pretty cool right!?
But, the entrepreneurial couple aren’t stopping there! Currently in development are the ‘market gardens’, which will be tended to by expert growers in order to supply florists and Kinsbrook’s own farm shop, and on top of that, the vineyard will soon have some brand new residents in the form of chickens and goats! The couple are also planning to extend their food offering to dinner service within the next six months, evening licence pending.
There’s no doubt Kinsbrook is more than a vineyard, it’s a haven for locals and travellers alike; with Joe, Rebecca, and their very talented team offering carefully crafted wine, delicious food, regular guest chef suppers, live music events, and popular wine tasting tours of the estate.
With more exciting plans up their sleeve over the next 18 months, Kinsbrook is fast becoming a West Sussex destination spot not to be missed…!
