Amersham, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “great local” has had an up-and-down time of it of late, with the Gerrards Cross branch under new management, and The Grocer at 91, which had pivoted to being a food shop in the pandemic, now closed. On the plus side, this “very busy” outpost is still going strong with its “reliable” (if pricey) sandwiches, salads and toasties, and they also recently opened a new Amersham venue, The Grocer at 2 (Whielden St), spanning a grocery store and café.

“Tasty bistro food” is enjoyed in the “lovely setting” of a seventeenth-century former school in Old Amersham, a “cosy” local spot opened by the Gilbey’s gin dynasty 35 years ago. Founder Michael Gilbey passed away in summer 2022, and his widow, Lin, has put the site up for sale. (She also runs its sister restaurant in Eton.)

“Worth the drive out” – Chris & Amanda Lillitou’s “quintessential English country pub” has a super-cute village location in the lush Chilterns countryside surrounding Beaconsfield. The cuisine is down-to-earth, but it comes with the spin one might expect from Amanda’s Tante-Claire training: the soup might be Jerusalem artichoke; the fish ’n’ chips may incorporate Newlyn hake and battered cod’s cheek; and a typical pie would feature game with a suet crust.

This “great independent cafe recently changed hands when the owner sold it on to the longstanding manager” and, having initially been open just during the day (“very good salads and quiches” plus other South African-slanted breakfasts and brunch dishes and “excellent coffee”), it’s now also back to offering more complex meals at weekend dinners. Insufficient reports for a rating at this time of change.

Four years down the line, Daniel Crump and Margriet Vandezande-Crump’s “gorgeous” converted seventeenth-century coaching inn is simply “perfection” to the very many diners who comment on it: “not only do you experience fine dining” (an “innovative menu” whose “consistency is something to behold”), “but you get the choice of great beers too, because it’s a pub!” On the food front, “excellent” tasting menus (including dedicated vegetarian and vegan options) are ably abetted by a “brilliant-value set lunch”. Add in “incredible” service and “what more could you want?”

2021 Review: “Well cooked and presented meals” – and “good value”, too – are served at this unusual venue in the foyer of the beautifully preserved 1930s Rex cinema. There’s also a cocktail bar with live pianist – and a particularly strong lunch and pre-film menu.

This “great country pub” in a Chilterns village makes a handy “all year round” escape from the big city, and has a cleverly constructed menu that changes every week and majors on local produce.

It’s “a fun experience to celebrate a special occasion” at Scott Barnard’s chef’s table-oriented venture seating just 16 people – particularly if you sit upstairs, where chefs plate up the “excellent” eight-course tasting menus before your eyes (ranging from £95 per person for weekday dinner to £120 per person at weekends); downstairs offers a more relaxed sample of the same menu without the drama, and there’s also a glamorous cellar bar if you want to get a head start on the fun.

2022 Review: Upscale Georgian gastroboozer, handy for J1 of the M40, whose “very pleasant surroundings” (in a ridiculously picture-postcard village), superior ambience and “nice garden” add considerably to its charms. The food, which is divided into small and big plates of comfort food-style British fare, isn’t wildly ambitious but is “consistently good”.

The “lovely location overlooking the Thames” – a spectacular Grade I listed country house dating from 1666, now owned by the National Trust and operated as a Relais & Châteaux hotel – is enough in itself to make any meal a “wonderful experience” here; especially if accompanied by “an interesting walk around the parkland” where historical figures from Queen Victoria to Christine Keeler came for R&R. The dining room occupies a prime site within the property with stunning views, where you can enjoy cuisine that’s “good but not inspirational” considering the “eye-watering” prices.

Former stables have been converted into a “wonderful dining room” for the cheaper eating option in the “amazing setting” of Cliveden, the Astor family’s country pile forever famous for hosting the scandalous 1961 pool party at which war minister John Profumo met showgirl Christine Keeler. “Service is friendly and fun” but the food can seem rather “ordinary” – which is “disappointing given the excellent location” (“the menu has the usual staples such as fish ’n’ chips or burger” plus an array of more ambitious brasserie items, but is “not much better than you would get in a pub”).

2023 Review: “Good food at a fair price” was reported again this year at this well-regarded pub: part of a local group with siblings in Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield. In good weather you can eat on the terrace, or book an ‘Oak Pod’ which seats up to 6 people, and incorporate a heater.

“After a minor revamp where the butchery emphasis was toned down and the pub feel improved”, this highly rated boozer (“a noisy part of the Kerridge empire”) “now has a great atmosphere”. “The meat is exceptional” too, whether you select your cut from the counter and watch as the chefs grill it, or just pop in for the “superb burgers” (including the in-demand special burger of the month).

“The best of Tom Kerridge’s places” – his no-bookings local in the centre of the town may look “pleasant, if nothing exceptional”, but it is the one the locals head to in preference to any other. “Normally it is difficult to get excited about a soup and a fishcake” but here the “simple but excellent food makes it worth a special journey” and “service is very welcoming and professional”.

What to make of TV-star Tom Kerridge’s Thames Valley pub, which helped catapult him to stardom in 2012 when Michelin awarded the place two stars. The choice of this ordinary-feeling inn on the edge of town was always “a little quirky”, but for many years satisfaction levels here held up even if the “ambience varies depending on where you are sat, as it can be nice and atmospheric, or you can feel very much shunted to one side”. But for the most part, folks historically didn’t quibble: they just focused on the down-to-earth style and “very high-quality British cooking”. The latter is still sometimes applauded, even if dishes can seem “more traditional and less interesting/exciting than expected”. But the overall tide of sentiment has turned in recent years, with a growing view that “it’s such a pity that what was a fantastic restaurant has now become overpriced and overrated”. Even those who still hail it as “quite possibly the best gastropub in Britain” can still view it as “seriously overpriced and certainly not worthy of two Michelin stars”. And that’s still the upbeat verdict. More representative of feedback are those who say it’s “horrendously overpriced for what is only reasonable pub food” (“two stars? I’m sorry, but that really is a case of the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’”). Despite this being one of Michelin’s worst ongoing conclusions, with their history of kowtowing to TV celebrities we’re not betting on a re-rating any time soon.

2023 Review: “Foraged food prepared over a fire: unbeatable?” – Nick Mash’s higgledy-piggledy village inn is “an absolute treasure of a place”, with “really interesting, special cooking” on a purpose-built wood-fired grill that helps achieve outstanding results. It’s “well worth the trip” to the Chilterns, “(and the beautiful rooms mean it’s worth the stay, too)”. We’ve rated it in the hope that it can maintain the high standards set by former chef Jon Parry, who departed in mid-2022 after five years at the helm.

2021 Review: “A new chef is bringing style and ambition to this lovely period building” – an “intimate” five-hundred-year-old Tudor structure in central Pinner where Stelian Scripcariu has taken over from Terry Farr (owner for over 25 years) at the stoves. A trip “can work out expensive” (nothing new there) but all local reporters say it’s “well worth a visit”.