Chef Jason Christie brings seasonality, foraging and inventive cooking to The Crown Inn, Enstone, putting the Cotswolds pub on the culinary map.
For Jason, food was always part of life. Growing up, he was fascinated by ingredients and the act of cooking. One summer, his mother arranged a job for him in a local office kitchen which proved to be a turning point.
“The head chef told me I should go somewhere else if I really wanted to learn,” He recalled. That advice led him to Calcot Manor near Tetbury, where he spent three years building the foundations of his career.
Jason said: “I learned how to cook properly and, more importantly, how to appreciate food for what it is without overcomplicating it. That philosophy has stuck with me ever since.”
Finding his place in the Cotswolds
After five years at Daylesford, where he worked on projects ranging from the cookery school to fermentation, Jason found himself at a crossroads. A chance meeting with Matt Beamish, owner of both The Kingham Plough and The Crown Inn, set his next chapter in motion.
“Matt pulled me aside and offered me the head chef role at The Crown,” Jason explained: “The nuts and bolts of the pub were already so great – the building, the location, the ethos – it was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. I said yes, and I haven’t looked back since.”
Influences and inspiration
Jason’s cooking is shaped by constant evolution, but he points to Rustic Canyon’s Jeremy Fox as a current influence. “The way he treats vegetables is incredibly inventive,” he said. “It’s a reminder that sometimes the simplest ingredients can have the biggest impact.”
That ethos feeds directly into The Crown Inn's new foraging sessions. Guests are taken on a gentle walk through the Cotswolds countryside, learning about wild ingredients before returning to the pub where the kitchen incorporates them into the menu. “Used in the right way, these ingredients bring incredible character to a dish,” Jason said.
A true Cotswolds pub – with a twist
Jason describes The Crown Inn as “everything you’d hope for in a Cotswolds pub,” but it is the food that elevates
