Chester Oddfellows relaunches restaurant as Cultivated by Elliot Hill


The two-strong boutique hotel brand, Oddfellows has relaunched the restaurant at its Chester hotel as Cultivated by Elliot Hill.

Head Chef, Hill joined the Oddfellows team earlier this year and has created a restaurant which not only sits perfectly within the Oddfellows ethos, as imaginative and progressive, but also offers a menu to the city that is unlike anything else available.

Hill said, ‘To have the opportunity to bring this style of food home to Cheshire is just wonderful. I previously worked in Manchester, Moscow and London and I’ve brought all I’ve learned back to Cheshire, where the fantastic regional produce makes it a pleasure to produce simple, yet sublime dishes.

'Cultivated is a dream I have had for many years – where plates are designed primarily by the ingredients we have – so we create the narrative of the dish in synergy with the produce.'

Before joining the team at Oddfellows, Hill worked in London, when the small plates movement had huge momentum. He said, ‘I love the ethos of small plates, their casual nature and the flexibility it gives the diner – and it inspired me to create ‘odd’ plates.

'Some are small, some are large and some can be both. Some we cook very simply, allowing the ingredient to shine and others we’ll use complex techniques and flavours, to ensure we get the best out of every morsel.’

Cultivated sits within the award-winning Georgian townhouse hotel, with large glass doors that open onto the garden. Hill has created a herb garden for use by the kitchen team and enjoys planting produce that can be used in, or as inspiration, for his dishes.

The restaurant feels alive with a living moss feature wall, foliage, micro-herbs and flowers growing in bell jars. Dramatic leafy wallpaper adds to the ‘living’ feel.