We’re excited to try Five Little Pigs when it opens in Wallingford in May; from the chef behind Lata Lata in High Wycombe. 

Five Little Pigs is the name given to the brand new restaurant and bar in Wallingford. The exciting new venue is set to serve European inspired brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks opening on the 21st May. 

The team include Sam Smith and Rob McGregor, friends who founded Wallingford craft beer and specialist spirits bar, Keep Bar. They describe themselves as ‘two mates from Oxfordshire who are passionate about drink!’ They’ve teamed up with Head Chef, Aimee, who also runs Lata Lata restaurant in High Wycombe. They all have a real love for the market town after many years living there. 

Aimee: ‘Wallingford is such a wicked town’ 

The stars seemed to have aligned with this particular partnership. Sam and Rob had always wanted to start a restaurant, but ‘food was a weak point for us,’ says Sam. Aimee already successfully runs a Mediterranean style food restaurant, focused on produce from the Chilterns, serving small plates and seasonal food.

To an apparently eager local community wanting a space that combines both, crafted drinks will accompany excellent food in a laid back atmosphere. 

Their Kickstarter – which included rewards of cocktails named after pledgers on the menu, and Sam cutting grass – initially raised £25,000 in just three days, and eventually an impressive £50,000 in donations. 

Aimee: “it’s phenomenal to know that the community are on board with what we’re trying to do.’’

Local will continue to be the theme, as the team pride themselves on their love of the town, as well as connections built through their hospitality businesses and ever increasing list of local producers over the years. Suppliers, many of which are within 15 miles of the venue, include Nettlebed Cheese, The Missing Bean coffee roasters and Blue Tin Produce (selling free range meat including rare breed pork and Dexter beef in the Chilterns).

The name comes from a novel by Agatha Christie, who once lived 100 yards from the restaurant’s door. It may become a better description of me once I’m through with their menu!

What can we expect?

The all-day dining menu looks to have a really delicious range of European and locally inspired plates (Costa del Wallingford anyone?!). And for bar snacks, think tapas in the Chilterns countryside. Beans, pulses, garlic sauces and plenty of bread to soak up juices from locally sourced meat. 

I love the sound of these dishes in particular:

• Bone-in Blue Tin pork belly with white beans & salsa verde.
• Brown butter chicken Kiev with wild garlic & lemon.
• Lamb shoulder with bitter leaves, crispy chickpeas & yoghurt.
• Borlotti bean and spring greens casserole, with nettle pesto & warm bread.
• Clams with Chiltern’s n’duja cream and sourdough.

The bar snacks look equally as exciting; there will be nothing boring or predictable here. Whether it’s the extra effort put into their bread offering (house pickle plate with sourdough soldiers’), or the increasingly common chicken wings (confit chicken wings with maple & Rosemary). Even their olives are given a spin (fried olives with oregano, caper & lemon stuffing)! With a menu set to evolve with the seasons, there will be even more incentive to return again and again. 

Not content with just local sourcing, the team plan to work with suppliers to ‘create closed loops of production.’ Waste products from Nettlebed Creamery will be used to make soda bread, marinades and also lacto-fermented lemonades.

The drinks offering will be equally inventive and local, with suppliers including Cholsey’s Amwell Springs Brewery and wine from The Brightwell Vineyard – both within three miles. Cocktails will also change seasonally and include Albino Flamingo gin, The Keep’s very own gin.

Five Little Pigs opens on 21 May, for bookings and more information, visit: www.fivelittlepigs.co.uk 

Five Little Pigs
26 St Mary’s Street, Wallingford
Links: Website / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube