The Heron Smoke House – located at the recently re-opened Robin Hill – will officially open to the public today (Saturday).
Alex Kimber, Chef and Restaurateur of Heron Food IOW, has been on the Isle of Wight for the last 5 years building The Heron restaurant in Ryde, and more recently, The Braii at Nunwell Farm in Brading.
Now, Alex and the team are expanding with a new challenge; The Smoke House at Robin Hill. The 120-cover seated restaurant features an open-plan bar and inside/outside dining options.
Located at the very top of the park, guests will enjoy panoramic views sweeping down across the valley and up to Brading Downs.
Island Echo was invited along to a special press preview event on Friday afternoon… the food and atmosphere certainly didn’t disappoint. The selection of local ales, gin and whisky on offer was also a nice touch.
Focusing on farm-to-fork ethical dining, the restaurant is a smokehouse-style restaurant with grill menus using a collaboration of suppliers from Nunwell Farm and the wider farming community on the Isle of Wight.
Robin Hill, owned by local businessmen Lee Priddle and John Smith, opened at the beginning of April with over 15 new attractions for the 2025 season, including real mini diggers, crazy golf, an electric boat safari and an indoor ice rink.
Lee says:
“We couldn’t be more excited that Alex has joined us at Robin Hill, he’s an incredible chef and the Heron IOW brand endorses our ambition to provide a premium offering to our visitors and support local suppliers”.
Alex adds:
“Robin Hill is an awesome location, and we are super excited to be working with these guys. The Heron at Robin Hill further cements what we aim to achieve on the Island, to deliver an outstanding dining experience for guests using the finest locally sourced ingredients”.
The Heron Smoke House at Robin Hill is open to the public, as well as park visitors, from midday today (Saturday 24th May). Members of the public should enter the park through the main Robin Hill gates and follow the signs for the Heron car park.
You can book a table online at https://www.heroniow.co.uk/book.
The Smoke House will initially open daily from 12:00 to 17:30 on park opening days only.
Nice but way overpriced for an island business.
Many businesses nowdays on the island are charging
Big Smoke prices or more, some are even adding
service charges (Fishermens cottage to name one of them)
cheeky!
I use to support many businesses but since the pandemic
they have all been taking the piss!
Inflation is 3.5%, why then did Busy Bee which let’s face it is
only a garden centre who scored a 1 ☆ Hygiene rating
yet they increased the price of a large Flat white coffee
from £2.95 to £3.75
I no longer go to such establishments
(Greed is cruel)