Last Friday evening we had (yet another) delicious dinner at Hallidays of Funtington. This small, almost quaint, restaurant to the west of Chichester has long championed local, seasonal food and so we were somewhat amazed to find one of the starter options to be a risotto with wild garlic leaves. A bit early, I thought - as did my pal Christine McFadden, who had come up from Dorset to share some good food and culinary chat.


Wild garlic by a footpath in the Borders, 30th March 08

The following day, having put Christine on the train back to Dorchester, we set off for lunch at The White Horse at Priors Dean (a jewel of a pub, although far too many people know about it these days!) with our friends Bruce and Kaz who own Dragonfly Teas. After much conviviality The Chief Taster, the Security Manager and I left for Blackmoor Nurseries to buy redcurrants and raspberries before walking the weekend’s feasts off with a quick romp up the Zig-Zag at Selbourne. We could have been in deepest Devon as we snaked around never-ending bends along deep-set lanes, linking pub to nursery. The biggest surprise was swathes of large, flat wild garlic leaves, fresh and green (although a little mud spattered after recent rains) in the banks facing south in the sun. I picked a bag full. Thanks Andy - without your risotto I would have driven straight past and missed out on a wild garlic feast! Surely spring is just around the corner now?