Betchworth, Japanese Restaurant Guide

The high-end Japanese-style dining at this splendiferous country-house hotel is “a special treat from start to finish: every visit fulfils your salivating expectations and appetite” – innovative Polish-born chef Wojciech Popow combining Nordic influences with his sushi-master skills in dishes like red bream nigiri with Cornish ants; or rice with young pine shoots foraged from the estate. There’s also the slightly bonkers option of eating a Japanese yakiniku barbecue in your own hot-air balloon – not flying, but tethered in the Italian Garden. It’s all “great fun and great food, but be prepared to sell a kidney to cover the cost”.