The Black Rat Restaurant, Winchester (88 Chesil Street) is a restaurant and bar serving high quality food with locally produced ingredients. We are open for dinner seven nights a week plus Saturday and Sunday lunch.
The Black Rat is a converted pub that still has its warmth and friendliness, but is now a fine dining restaurant. The food is all freshly prepared in our kitchen and could be described as ‘Modern British’. If you are looking for a relaxed evening out with warm, friendly service then look no further. The wine list has some 80 wines with a balance between Old and New World. We have a bar upstairs where you can have a pre-dinner drink whilst perusing the menu. Non dining guests are also welcome to make use of our bar, unless a private party is using it. To avoid disappointment we strongly advise that you book in advance, especially at the weekends!
see more photos of the restaurant
The Food
The food is all freshly prepared daily in our kitchen and could be described as ‘Modern British’. Where possible the food is sourced locally from small dedicated suppliers with the importance being on the best quality we can get our hands on. The restaurant also has an allotment where we grow as much as we can so we can use it at its peak. Fish is from Brixham Fish Market and the Solent, local game from Blackmore Game, Secretts Farm vegetables, meat is sourced from Huntsham farm, cheese from Premier Cheese and smoked produce from Brown and Forrest .
The Team
The kitchen team is lead by Chris Bailey who was trained in Michelin starred restaurants such as Chez Bruce in London and Zaranda in Madrid. He is very passionate about food and ingredients and tries very hard to source local produce.The restaurant manager, Christien Hay, originally based at The Rod Box, has come from the Peat Spade in longstock where he helped in the opening of this excellent country eatery. He is also involved with the sourcing of freshwater game fish for the kitchen.
History of the restaurant
The Black Rat has been run as a pub for as long as anyone can remember. It has now been completely renovated, whilst keeping all of its old world charm. The building itself dates back to The 1700’s although in the cellars there is evidence of 15th or 16th century stone work. The new owner, David Nicholson, has been in Winchester since 1995 running The Black Boy Pub just across the road in Wharf Hill and near the river. It is well worth a visit if you are into real ales. See more photos, Contact us, Make a booking
