‘Tucked away’ is a pretty apt way of describing Sam Buckley’s lauded restaurant Where The Light Gets In. It’s in Stockport, for one – perhaps not the most obvious location for a restaurant that regularly gets grouped up with the world-famous New Nordic restaurants of Scandinavia and Britain's legendary L'Enclume. It’s also up a small staircase on the second floor of an old coffee warehouse – if you didn’t know it was there you’d barely give it a second glance.

Those who do make it through the restaurant’s front door however are greeted with a beautiful, airy cavern of a dining room, flooded with natural light (as the restaurant’s name might suggest) and exposed brickwork. The décor and furnishings are in keeping with the original site, but what really makes the room stand out is the complete lack of a divide between the kitchen and the dining tables. Guests can watch the whole kitchen team prepare their dishes, adding to the ‘openness’ of the space.

There’s only one menu on offer and it’s kept under wraps until you sit down, as the dishes can change at any moment. Sam and his kitchen team work in complete tandem with the seasons, sourcing ingredients from British farmers and fishermen to showcase the very best of what the UK has to offer. Preservation plays a very important part of the menu, too; with such short seasons for a vast array of ingredients, pickling, fermenting, drying and salting allow their flavours to be enjoyed in new, interesting ways long after their season has passed.

While the produce is local, the techniques used in the kitchen and the dishes served at the table feel much more international. There might be chicken yakitori skewers glazed in house-made soy sauce created from sourdough bread offcuts; Beijing-style fried turnip cakes with British crab on top; complex preserves (some well over a year old) used to garnish a bowlful of simple, fresh ingredients. It’s bold, confident cooking that always has a sense of nature and simplicity about it.

The drinks list is just as important as the food itself. Low-intervention and natural wines sit alongside homemade country wines from the restaurant’s vast collection. Opting for the paired wines means each mouthful of the multi-course menu is perfectly matched to whatever’s in your glass.

There’s an enigmatic quality to what Where The Light Gets In offers. It’s a destination restaurant largely due to its location, and the mystery of what you’ll actually be eating only gets answered when the courses start arriving at your table. Ask anyone who has eaten there, however, and they’ll tell you it’s a must-visit. Noma, eat your (dehydrated) heart out.