An evening at The Oakfield

This week we were invited to experience The Oakfield at Chester Zoo and what an experience it was. Every time I visit the zoo there is something new, and this visit was no different. You can enjoy the Oakfield as part of your zoo visit everyday during zoo opening hours or join the team for select openings on Friday and Sunday evenings.

The Oakfield is where it all began for the zoo, serving as the pioneering founder George Mottershead’s family home. Beautifully restored and renovated in 2018, The Oakfield retains many stunning original features. A personal favourite of mine is the bear scratches in the wooden frame of the window of the Oakfield reception area.

We experienced the Oakfield outside of zoo hours, which felt very special as we arrived via the Events entrance, we were guided past the new Snow leopard enclosure and the very chilled Red pandas and up to the impressive Oakfield House.

We were seated in the library and got to enjoy lovely historic details like the intricate wood panelling and the fabulous fireplaces. The Oakfield really embraces its past with photos and pictures on every wall showing some of the special moments in the history of the zoo including visits from Princess Diana and Prince Phillip.

With pride and passion, the Oakfield serves freshly prepared locally sourced food and hand-picked beers, wines and spirits, describing itself as a contemporary British pub at the heart of the Zoo.

The menu has a great variety of offerings for every type of visit, including Bar snacks, Light Bites for the table, some expected Pub Classics and a Small plates menu. The menu makes the most of locally sourced ingredients and really considers seasonality. Executive Head Chef, Ben Finchett has created a menu that will deliver something unexpected. A constantly evolving menu offering good food at great prices.

Whilst there were many pub favourites with a twist highlighted on the menu, including the Oakfield beer battered Haddock, the Cheshire Beef Burger and Pesto Potato Gnocchi, we opted for the Seared Stonebass.

This dish was served with Cheshire New Potatoes. Foraged sea herbs, summer vegetables with a split Sandefjord and chive butter sauce. The fish was perfectly coated with crispy skin and meaty texture, complimented perfectly by the firm new potato and all brought together with the rich buttery sauce. The presentation of this dish was second to none and the colours, made it so appealing – we didn’t leave a drop of the sauce behind.

There were so many options, I couldn’t just pick one, so I went for the 3 for £24 Small plates offer, which is incredible value, as typically each dish would be £8.95. All options on this menu were available Gluten free except or the Hummus dish.

They offer 3 styles of Crispy Coated Chicken wings: Mango and Habanero, Piri Piri and Old Bay and Blue Cheese. I am a sucker for Blue cheese and this sauce did not disappoint, creamy but with a powerful blue cheese, this was a perfect accompaniment to the salty herby flavours of the Old bay seasoning in the crunchy coated chicken wings. The were perfectly seasoned and there were plenty to share.

Wanting something fresh we also went for the Deep-Fried Courgette Flower; a garden grown courgette flower filled with Mozzarella and Ricotta, served with a tomato and basil sauce, dusted with parmesan. This dish is also available plant based. It feels wrong to describe a deep-fried dish as fresh and light, but it was! The balance between the crunchy courgette, the creamy flower filling and the crispy seasoned coating, this dish was a standout and a perfect representation of how Chef Ben likes to offer something a little unexpected.

My final small plate choice was the indulgent Crispy Crushed Cheshire new Potatoes served with a truffle aioli. These were presented beautifully and were perfectly crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, the truffle aioli was indulgent and went great with the other dishes as did the blue cheese dip from the wings.

The portion sizes at the Oakfield are perfect to share, whilst we probably didn’t need a dessert, we treated ourselves. We couldn’t say no to the Chester Zoo Gin and Fr, then berry trifle, made with layers of gin jelly, lavender sabayon topped with Creme Chantilly. This was a lovely finish to the meal, full of flavour and beautifully presented.

We ended our meal having a great conversation with one of the events team who explained the stories behind many of the great photos lining he walls of the library and sharing us some more details about the history of the building.

We cant wait to be back at the Oakfield to try some of the other experiences including the Afternoon Tea, Sunday Lunch and try our hand at the Friday night quiz night.

This experience was kindly gifted by the venue, but all opinions are our own. Don’t believe us… or even if you do, we strongly recommend a visit to The Oakfield.