Restaurant in Wrecclesham, United Kingdom
Serious cooking, dinner-party format, book ahead.
Maison is a Michelin Plate-recognised surprise tasting menu restaurant in a 15th-century Farnham farmhouse, run by chef Ben Piette and his wife Lornette. At £££, it delivers French-inflected, locally sourced cooking in an intimate dinner-party setting — one of the more personal and accessible serious tasting menu experiences in the South East. Book two to three weeks ahead; seats are limited.
There are only a handful of tables at Maison, and the menu changes constantly. If you're the kind of diner who needs to know exactly what they're eating before they commit, this isn't your place. But if you're willing to hand over control and trust the kitchen, Maison delivers a level of cooking that its rural Surrey setting gives no indication of — a Michelin Plate holder for both 2024 and 2025, Pearl Recommended for 2025, and rated 4.9 out of 5 across 94 Google reviews.
The setting is a 15th-century red-brick house on Wrecclesham Road in Farnham, and the experience is built around a surprise tasting menu that shifts with what's available and what chef Ben Piette wants to cook. You won't find a fixed menu to screenshot and share with the group chat. What you will find is French-inflected modern cooking that uses local ingredients with assurance, served in a space that Piette and his wife Lornette genuinely live in , they occupy the upstairs while the downstairs is given over to guests. That arrangement isn't a gimmick. It shapes the entire atmosphere.
Maison feels like arriving at a very well-connected friend's house for dinner , one who happens to cook at a serious level. Lornette Piette manages the front of house and the approach is warm and unhurried rather than formal. The room is quiet enough for conversation. There's no ambient noise problem here, no thumping music, no cramped communal tables. The mood is close to a private dinner party, which is exactly the intention.
For first-timers, the most important thing to understand is that you are not choosing your dishes. The surprise tasting menu is the only format. Dishes are French in technique and sensibility, with local produce woven through. If you sit at the counter rather than a table, you can ask for Ben's Table , a specific counter seat in front of the open kitchen where, unusually, you're invited to bring your own ingredient, which Piette will incorporate into an extra course. That option is worth knowing about before you book.
The price tier sits at £££ , meaningful spend, but not at the level of the major London tasting menus. For a multi-course surprise menu with this level of Michelin recognition, that positioning makes Maison one of the more accessible serious restaurants in the South East.
Booking difficulty is moderate. The seat count is small enough that leaving this to the last minute is a risk, but Maison is not at the level of impossible-to-get London counters. Plan at least two to three weeks ahead, more if you have a fixed date in mind. There is no online booking confirmation available through this listing , check the venue directly for current availability and booking method. There is no dress code listed, but the dinner-party atmosphere and the price point suggest smart-casual at a minimum.
Maison suits couples and small groups better than large parties , the intimate room and small table count means larger bookings will need to be arranged in advance and may not always be possible. Solo diners have a genuine option here: Ben's Table at the kitchen counter is a natural fit for one person, and the warm front-of-house approach from Lornette Piette means solo dining here doesn't feel awkward.
Wrecclesham is not a dining destination in the conventional sense, which makes Maison's presence here notable. If you're travelling from London or elsewhere in Surrey for a special meal, the comparison to consider isn't other Wrecclesham restaurants , it's whether Maison justifies a destination trip. For the kind of intimate, chef-driven tasting menu experience it offers, venues like hide and fox in Saltwood and Hand and Flowers in Marlow operate in a broadly similar register: serious cooking, personal atmosphere, outside the major cities. Maison's French technique and the bring-your-own-ingredient option at Ben's Table give it a distinct identity within that group.
For those interested in how Maison fits into the wider picture of destination dining in the UK, it's worth reading across to venues like Moor Hall in Aughton, L'Enclume in Cartmel, and Gidleigh Park in Chagford , all operate at a higher award level, but Maison's intimacy and personal format offer something those larger, more formal destinations don't always deliver.
See our full Wrecclesham restaurants guide for more options in the area, or explore Wrecclesham hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences nearby if you're planning a full trip.
Maison is worth booking if you want a serious tasting menu that doesn't feel like a formal restaurant , and if you're prepared to give up menu control entirely. The Michelin Plate recognition across two consecutive years and a 4.9 Google rating across nearly 100 reviews are meaningful signals in a room this small. The French-led cooking, the intimate atmosphere, and Ben's Table option make it a strong choice for couples, solo diners at the counter, and small groups celebrating something specific. It is not the right choice if you need dietary flexibility built into a fixed menu, if you need a large group table, or if you want the full ceremony of a multi-star London dining room. For what it actually is, it over-delivers on its price point.
There is no menu to order from , Maison runs a surprise tasting menu only. Dishes change constantly and reflect what's in season and what the kitchen wants to cook. The one input you have is Ben's Table: if you book the kitchen counter seat, you can bring your own ingredient and chef Ben Piette will build an extra course around it. That's worth doing if you want a more active role in the meal.
The surprise tasting menu format makes dietary flexibility more complicated here than at a la carte restaurants. Contact Maison directly before booking if you have dietary requirements , the kitchen may be able to accommodate, but this is not a venue where you can simply flag allergies at the table and expect the menu to flex easily around them.
Maison operates at a level that has no direct local equivalent. For a comparable intimate, chef-driven tasting menu in the wider South East, consider hide and fox in Saltwood , similar in scale and ambition. Hand and Flowers in Marlow offers a more accessible, pub-format take on destination cooking in the same region. If you want to stay closer to London with a higher award tier, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is the formal comparison, though the experience and price point are materially different.
Small groups are possible, but the intimate room and limited table count mean that larger parties need to be planned carefully. Contact Maison directly to confirm availability for groups of four or more. The dinner-party format works well for small gatherings but is not designed for large celebrations that need a private room or flexible seating.
Yes, with the right expectations. The dinner-party atmosphere, personal front-of-house approach from Lornette Piette, and the quality of cooking make it a strong choice for anniversaries and intimate celebrations. The surprise tasting menu format adds a sense of occasion without the stiffness of a formal dining room. If your group needs full control over the menu , for dietary reasons or personal preference , it may not be the right fit.
At £££, Maison sits well below the major London tasting menus while delivering Michelin Plate-level cooking two years running and a 4.9 Google rating. For that price tier and that recognition, it over-delivers. The comparison to aim for is not whether it's cheaper than Restaurant Gordon Ramsay , it's whether the intimate, home-like format and French-led cooking suit what you're looking for. If they do, the value is clear.
For the price and the format, yes. The surprise tasting menu is the entire point of eating here , it's not a fallback option or a special occasion add-on. If you book Maison, you're booking the tasting menu. The French technique, the local ingredients, and the option to bring your own ingredient for Ben's Table add up to a format that's meaningfully different from most tasting menus at this price point. Comparable chef-driven tasting menus in the UK , such as Midsummer House in Cambridge or Opheem in Birmingham , operate at higher price points with more formal settings.
Better than most tasting menu restaurants at this level. Ben's Table at the kitchen counter is a natural solo seat , you can watch the kitchen, bring your own ingredient for the extra course, and the warm approach from Lornette Piette means solo diners aren't left feeling like an afterthought. Book the counter specifically when reserving if you're dining alone.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maison | £££ | Moderate | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | ££££ | Unknown | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | ££££ | Unknown | — |
| The Ledbury | ££££ | Unknown | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | ££££ | Unknown | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | ££££ | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Wrecclesham for this tier.
There's no ordering at Maison — the menu is a surprise tasting format that changes constantly, with Ben Piette building dishes around local and French-influenced ingredients. If you want more input, book Ben's Table in front of the open kitchen, where you can bring your own ingredient and he will create an extra course around it. That's the closest thing to customisation on offer here.
The venue data doesn't include a documented dietary policy, but the tasting menu format with advance booking means restrictions should be communicated at the time of reservation. A surprise menu at this level typically requires the kitchen to know in advance — don't leave it until you arrive. Contact Maison directly before booking to confirm they can accommodate your needs.
Wrecclesham itself has no direct comparable — Maison is operating at a tier above what the village otherwise offers. If you're travelling from London or the wider Surrey area and want a similarly intimate tasting menu format, you're looking at venues further afield. Maison is worth treating as a destination in itself rather than as one option among local alternatives.
With only a handful of tables in the entire room, Maison is not set up for large groups. Small parties of two to four are the realistic sweet spot. If a private-feeling experience is what you're after, booking Ben's Table for a pair works well — but don't plan a group dinner of six or more without confirming availability directly with the restaurant first.
Yes, provided the occasion suits an intimate, dinner-party atmosphere rather than a formal celebration with speeches and a crowd. The small room, surprise menu, and the way Lornette Piette manages front of house — treating guests as old friends — makes it well-suited to anniversaries or birthday dinners for two. It holds a Michelin Plate (2025), which adds weight to the occasion without the stiffness of a full Michelin-starred room.
At £££, Maison sits in the mid-to-upper tier for a tasting menu outside London, and the Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 signals consistent quality at that price point. For what you get — a changing menu, attentive service from the Piettes who live upstairs, and a room with genuine character — it represents reasonable value compared to equivalently priced London options where the setting and experience feel more transactional.
If you're comfortable handing over menu control, yes. The format suits diners who trust a kitchen rather than those who need to approve each course. The French-influenced, locally sourced approach gives the menu a clear identity, and the constantly changing dishes mean repeat visits offer something different. If you want to shape what you eat, booking Ben's Table with a personal ingredient is the one lever you can pull.
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