Located beside the Staffordshire canal network in Lichfield, The Boat is a restaurant and on-site micro-farm led by chef Liam Dillon. The restaurant appears in the Michelin Guide and the Estrella Damm Top Gastropubs list. Liam’s cooking focuses on seasonal produce and sustainable sourcing, with modern British food at its core. The Boat holds three AA Rosettes, features a recognised wine list and reached the final stage of the AA Sustainability Award in 2024.
Over the past eight years, Liam has transformed a traditional pub into a combined restaurant and working micro-farm. The growing space supplies a portion of the restaurant’s ingredients, allowing produce to be harvested close to the kitchen.
The micro-farm plays a central role in the restaurant’s sustainability goals and continues to develop each year. It currently includes five beehives that provide honey and support pollination across the site. Pigs are raised to supply meat and help reduce kitchen waste. Twenty-four hens provide eggs, while vegetable beds and polytunnels allow crops to grow throughout the year. These include less common ingredients such as cicely and wasabi.
Liam has also developed an aquaponics system that links fish farming with crop production. The system raises trout and carp, using nutrient-rich by-products to feed plants. In a county without a coastline, this allows The Boat to produce its own trout for the menu using organic feed.
This home-grown produce sits alongside other local and responsibly sourced ingredients on the restaurant’s seasonal menus. Guests can choose from an à la carte or short tasting menu at lunch, with a more focused short or full tasting menu offered in the evening.
Dining at The Boat
The menu is structured around snacks, starters, mains and sides. Dishes may include Porthilly rock oysters, Cornish cod with confit leek, pickled alexanders and smoked dulse butter.
Main courses include Staffordshire lamb served with Lichfield asparagus and crispy sweetbread, as well as Cornish monkfish with brown shrimp and green peppercorn.
Desserts feature options such as smoked cardamom panna cotta with garden raspberries, or a Manjari chocolate parfait served with sherry and artichoke ice cream.
Guests may also choose a British cheese selection, which can include Truffled Tunworth, St Andrew’s Cheddar and Sparkenhoe Blue. These are served with root vegetable pickle, a fig laminated roll and wholemeal crackers.
The wine list reflects the same approach to sustainability as the food. Many bottles come from organic and biodynamic vineyards, selected to complement the seasonal menu.