Ollie Dabbous pops up at Chelsea Barracks for the Chelsea Flower Show

A tantalising chance to dine at the former garrison, now a high-end residential development, which will be open to the public for the first time in 150 years

Ollie Dabbous, chef proprietor of Michelin-starred restaurant Hide, will be opening a pop-up, Chelsea Barracks Kitchen by Ollie Dabbous, during Chelsea Flower Show (May 21-25).  A short stroll from the floral extravaganza, in the gardens of the Barracks’ new residential development, it will have a brasserie serving breakfast, a deli and a bar with a grazing menu. 

For starters: roast Orkney scallops, crushed peas & mint, £18

The main event, though, will be Dabbous’ fine-dining restaurant serving lunch and dinner, with a menu that features starters such as Loch Duart salmon tartare (£15); roast Orkney scallops, crushed peas and mint (£18); and coddled egg with smoked butter, mushrooms, charred sourdough with lardo and pickled walnuts (£18). Mains include papillote of halibut from Gigha – the remote Scottish island – with mussels, yellow courgette and warm nasturtium broth (£36) and barbecued Ibérico pork, mustard leaf, toasted sweetcorn and white miso (£36): a feast cultivated with all the finesse that gourmands would expect of this inspirational chef, who trained at Le Manoir, and one that chimes with the back-to-nature ethos of the event.

“The food I cook is entirely product-driven, taking the very best ingredients, questioning why we like them and then highlighting those qualities in the most organic, restrained manner,” says Dabbous. “It is food you can’t recreate at home, but it is also food that respects the integrity of ingredients and the toil that goes into producing them.”  

Mains include papillote of Gigha halibut, £36, and barbecued Ibérico pork, £36

This will be the first time Chelsea Barracks has opened to the public for 150 years. The former garrison for the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards has been turned into luxury residential properties with restaurants, shops, sports facilities, health club with a spa – and a delicious rumour has it that Dabbous will be opening a permanent restaurant there too…