Fraiche

How to judge a top restaurant? Flavours, textures, colours and their various combinations need to be just so, naturally. But there must be creativity, artistry and innovation too. The latest iteration of Marc Wilkinson’s Fraiche, which moved here in 2023 after nearly 20 years on the Wirral, has all the above – and you can add playfulness and Japanese influences into the mix. But this is a restaurant with a difference. The exact location and directions (in a village near Oswestry) are only revealed when you make a booking. The reason? It’s in the serene new ground-floor extension of Marc’s home – an immaculately kept house (complete with a guest room upstairs) on an unremarkable residential street. There’s space for around 12 diners (hence the months-long waiting list), some of whom are lucky enough to have a full view of the chef and his assistant plating dishes in the well-equipped but essentially domestic kitchen. Marc – quiet and serious, yet not without humour – is an ideal host, demystifying the food in a concise, matter-of-fact way. His enthusiasm and knowledge are palpable, and there’s a refreshing lack of flummery about proceedings. The bare bones of the menu are provided on an iPad given to each diner (a more detailed list is supplied as you leave). We counted 17 bijou dishes, all exquisitely presented and often showcasing local produce (a tasting of charcuterie, perhaps) or a particular ingredient (Peruvian black lime, say). Highlights? Cubes of blowtorched smoked eel, matched with braised celeriac and tart apple; ‘shiso taco’, a luscious fig teamed with pistachios held in a fresh shiso leaf (grown in Marc's garden); chunks of meaty carabinero prawns perfectly partnered by crunchy segments of salty fermented asparagus and seafood bisque; a wild mushroom dish showcasing both the resilient texture of hen of the woods and the deep woodland flavours of the foamy sauce. Elsewhere, a humble supporting cast of shallots in various guises (from pickled to caramelised) stole the show from the headline act – slices of the finest A5 wagyu beef in a rich bordelaise sauce. To conclude, ‘a banana meets a peanut’ was the pick of the three desserts: a creamy blob of peanut butter and banana, topped with a slice of the perfectly ripe fruit and a crunchy peanut brittle. Fraiche is unlicensed (though soft drinks including kombucha are offered), although a laudable no-corkage policy encourages diners to BYO. Another joy of eating here is the company: we shared the dining room with six local food-lovers intent on tasting and learning rather than impressing each other. Seeing Marc and his assistant doing the washing up afterwards was also curiously therapeutic. How to judge a top restaurant? By the persistence of the smile on your face on the way home.