Cumbria Restaurant Guide

Food and fell-running trips combine at the multi-tasking adventure brand’s bistro, whose eclectic dishes race all over the place and are “better than pub fare” (though the venue does enjoy a “quality pub ambience”) plus “good value” to boot. Their growing local empire includes Airstream-set burrito joint the Fellshack, cocktail and burger bar The Round, set on hallowed fell-running territory in Keswick’s Market Square, and (most recently) small hotel The Hazeldene, located on The Heads, a few minutes’ walk from the bistro.

2023 Review: “Well-cooked food”, most notably the Grasmere Herdwick lamb that appears in various guises – the signature shepherds’ pie, a slider in a brioche bun, a Greek-style roast shoulder – is par for the course at this family-run restaurant-with-rooms. Breakfast is a particular hit, too.

On the lower slopes of Skiddaw, England’s third highest mountain, a luxury mid-Victorian Lakes hotel that “never fails to impress”. The restaurant has been relocated over the years to amplify the “wonderful views”, and it continues to please with its “good variety of dishes” (from Sunday lunch to salads and Cumbrian rarebit) that are also “exceptional value for money”.

Chrissy & Andy Hill’s vibrant Lake District veteran has been turning out “fantastic food” of a relaxed but appealing bent in a “lovely atmosphere” for over two decades now.

“Capitalising on the stunning views down from Whinlatter Pass”, this converted coaching inn above Keswick (in the Whinlatter Forest) is the epitome of a beautifully located Lakeland property; and fans say it’s “a great place to stay and go walking, then come back for amazing meals”. Chef Sam Miller has lots of top Scandi names on his CV (including Noma and Faviken) and his eight-course tasting menu for £110 per person achieves some high ratings in our annual diners’ poll. Not everyone is wowed – a couple of reporters found it “disappointing given its reputation”, or with dishes that had “too much pickling and cooking techniques that were not to my taste”. But for the majority, it’s ‘mission accomplished’ – “we had high expectations and the food was excellent and service efficient and friendly”.

“Another ex-boozer I remember from adolescence, with patterned carpets and glowering locals now replaced by worshippers of the Michelin divinity” – and by all accounts Ben Queen-Fryer’s gentrified rural gastroboozer (est. 2017) “merits the star” it has held since 2022. “The food never disappoints with quality, quantity and interest” – all the more impressive given that this is a one-man band.

“Such a pleasant place to eat with lots of customers who don’t even realise they’re in a vegetarian restaurant” – this Lakeland fixture of four decades’ standing is part of a town-centre complex incorporating a cinema and jazz bar. Pizza and pasta are staples of the vegetarian Italian menu, and for £28.95 you can book a complete evening out including a two-course dinner and reserved cinema seat.

“Delicious food, beautifully presented in a relaxed environment”, has won plenty of admirers for this spin-off from the nearby Old Stamp House, where head chef Dan Hopkins’s “modern, accurate cooking” makes excellent use of prime Lakeland ingredients, including Herdwick lamb. It’s “good value”, too – especially for the “brilliant set lunch”. ‘Kysty’ apparently means fussy in the Cumbrian dialect.

Ryan Blackburn and general manager brother Craig’s decade-old venture – the poet Wordsworth’s office when he was the local stamp distributor – is a truly “first-class” affair; the “cellar-type interior gives a cosy atmosphere”, while the “unique” tasting menu of locally sourced food (acclaimed by the tyre men since 2019) is abetted by staff who take “evident pleasure” in their work. Is it cheap? Well, “a full-blown evening tasting menu at £95 per person seems really quite reasonable” to one reporter… “anyway, it raised the bar for cooking in Cumbria for me”.

2022 Review: Below a cinema, this popular ‘Vegeterranean’ (vegetarian with a Mediterranean twist) has long been a feature of this Lakeland town. Prices are very reasonable.

Chef James Cross returned to the Lake District after doing time at acclaimed eateries Noma, Per Se and Simpsons to set up this new Nordic restaurant with suitably Scandi styling (wooden plank walls, sheepskin throws on the chairs). The dinner-only dining room turns out eight- or twelve-course tasting menus, and wins raves for the “absolutely faultless cooking, amazing service and atmosphere”.