Cornwall-based chef and grower Dan Cox to open Crocadon next month

Five years in the making, Crocadon will serve regularly changing tasting menus based on what has been harvested on Cox’s organic and regenerative farm of the same name that week. 

The 25-cover restaurant will be set in a restored barn ‘framed by the rolling hills of the Tamar Valley’. 

The London-born chef took over the 120-acre Crocadon Farm in 2017 ​​having spent seven years working for Simon Rogan Group, which included helping to establish Rogan’s biodynamic farm Our Farm and three years running the chef’s London outpost Fera as executive chef. 

Cox had initially planned to launch the restaurant soon after taking on the farm - which is located near Saltash in south east Cornwall - but delayed its launch when funds ran low and it became apparent that it would take a lot of work and time to get the farming operation as he wanted it, not least the switch to regenerative agriculture. 

"I underestimated how much work it would be. Taking on a farm is very different to taking on a restaurant," Cox says. "I came here knowing how to grow but farming on this sort of scale is not easy. In the first year there were areas of the farm that I didn't even go to. It was just too much." 

With Cox now focusing on establishing the restaurant, the farm will be managed by husband-and-wife duo Tim Williams and Claire Hannington-Williams who have experience managing regenerative farms and permaculture-based growing systems.

The farm will supply the kitchen with hundreds of varieties of vegetables, fruit and herbs throughout the year, with a focus on perennial crops. 

Crocadon Farm is also home to livestock, including rare breed sheep and cattle, and chickens. Some produce for the restaurant will be sourced from local suppliers that share the ethos of the farm, including mushrooms and seafood. 

Accessible pricing

There will be the choice of two tasting menus priced at £65 and £95 for around six and 10 courses respectively. 

“The prices are accessible - we very much want to attract the locals and are in the middle of a cost of living crisis so it's reflective of that," he says. 

Dishes will include Nuka golden turnips; Gigantis beans and cured Saddleback pork loin; brown crab and lemongrass; and whey caramel, yoghurt and caramalised apple.  

Each plate of food will be ‘as rooted in nature as it can be’ with Cox’s cooking style described as ‘aesthetically pared-back yet technically complex’ drawing on elements of his classical training.

Getting back into the kitchen

"I’m looking forward to getting back into the kitchen," he says. "We’re not trying to take ourselves too seriously. The space will be very casual. I want it to be very conversational. It will be relaxed and super friendly, but still a special experience.” 

Crocadon will initially be open for dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. On Sunday, a three-course lunch will be available as a more relaxed sharing style offering. 

The restaurant is likely to close throughout the whole of January when bookings are expected to be low. 

The wine list will focus exclusively on natural, organic and biodynamic wines from across Europe, with plans to introduce more wines from the West Country over time. 

Crocadon Farm is also home to a microbrewery and pottery. 

Working alongside Dan Cox will be head chef Michael Thompson (formerly at Cub, Fera and Pollen Street Social) while front-of-house will be overseen by Cat Kirkwood, previously general manager of Amass in Copenhagen.  

Cox’s CV prior to working with Rogan includes The Greenhouse in Mayfair, Number 14 in Verbier, and Can Fabes in Catalonia. In 2008 he won the Roux Scholarship.