Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Basingstoke
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Basingstoke restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 12 restaurants in Basingstoke and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Basingstoke restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Basingstoke Restaurants
1. Caprice at Crowne Plaza Reading East
British, Modern restaurant in Reading
Wharfedale Rd, Winnersh Triangle - RG41
New luxury 4 silver star Crowne Plaza Reading East, provides a stylish, contemporary look and feel to suit the business traveller, leisure and spa guest. The hotel, set in landscaped podium gardens, delivers exceptional dining experiences. Serving both modern British & authen...
3. The Wellington Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Baughurst
Baughurst Rd - RG26
“Every village should have one” – a “really pretty pub (with rooms) and a beautiful garden” in the “lovely” setting of the Wellington Estate. Chef Jason King does not trade on its location, as his elevated pub-style classics (featuring produce plucked from the garden) are “imaginative” and “cooked to perfection” too. Top Tip – they sell their own bread and gin over the bar.
4. Marle, Heckfield Place
British, Modern restaurant in Heckfield
Heckfield Place - RG27
Aussie chef Skye Gyngell’s “ambitious establishment” – a Georgian country house dining room in a “beautiful location” overlooking a lake and parkland. They are “very conscious of their environmental responsibility”, with “almost all ingredients locally grown or reared” and served in pared-back style. But while it received strong ratings all-round for its luxury hotel setting, a couple of reports did note “a feeling one has to be on one’s best behaviour!”
5. The Anchor Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Lower Froyle
2021 Review: “So quirky and friendly”, “and the food is great too” at this smart pub-with-rooms geared up for huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ in the Hampshire countryside. Top Tip: “Go for the scrumptious dessert of beer cake and apple ice cream”.
6. Caracoli
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Alresford
15 Broad St - SO24
2021 Review: An “excellent coffee and cake selection” (verging on the “healthy” side), supported by “interesting” snack lunches underpin the allure of this town-centre café – and “in summer you can retire to the courtyard or sit out front to watch the world go by”; “unfortunately the branch in Winchester has now closed”.
7. The Pot Kiln
Game restaurant in Frilsham
Yattendon Estate - RG18
Kate Middleton’s favourite pub, apparently (Raymond Blanc is a fan too) is this rural inn deep in the Berkshire countryside, where noise from the nearby M4 doesn’t impinge on its tranquility. Much-expanded in recent years with the addition of a cookery school, it’s nowadays run by Kate Robinson and her partner, musician Rocky Rockliff (Kate’s ex-husband, game expert Mike Robinson, is no longer involved). Though still popular with our reporters too, there’s a feeling that “the menu has been scaled back in recent times” with meals that are increasingly “good but not special”.
8. London Street Brasserie
British, Modern restaurant in Reading
Riverside Oracle, 2 - 4 London Street - RG1
2022 Review: “Reliable cooking with a buzzy atmosphere” makes this 20-year-old city-centre outfit a useful option; it also gives vegans a decent choice of dishes.
9. Thames Lido
Spanish restaurant in Reading
Napier Road - RG1
Located in the “quirky but fun setting” of a refurbished Grade II listed Edwardian swimming pool, this venue is an “oasis of decent food in the wasteland of Reading”, serving “very good Mediterranean-style food across all three courses”. With views over the pool through plate-glass windows, it’s “great to eat while watching others exercise!”.
10. The Hoddington Arms
restaurant in
Bidden Rd - RG25
2023 Review: “A wonderful country experience” is reported at this rural inn (‘The Hodd’), run by the Barnes family since 2015, whose concise menu aims for superior realisation of classic pub dishes.
11. Clay’s Hyderabadi Kitchen
Indian restaurant in Caversham
22-24 Prospect Street - RG4
Nandana & Sharat Syamala’s part-crowdfunded venue is “not your standard Indian restaurant” – “more like home cooking” inspired by the regional cuisines of Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh, with “some interesting specials always available”. “The venue was previously a Wetherspoons, so it’s a large space which is a challenge to make entirely comfortable but it’s got a good ambience and is well worth a visit”.
12. The Hare & Hounds
British, Modern restaurant in Newbury
Bath Road, Speen - RG14
2023 Review: After months of restoration, this 17th century Georgian building near Newbury re-opened in January 2022 and now boasts a traditional pub, very attractive pitched-roof dining room in contemporary style and 30-bed coaching inn, as well as a covered garden terrace. No feedback as yet in our annual diners’ poll – reports please!
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