Dunston, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: A collaboration between Sheffield cook Richard Smith, his restaurateur wife Victoria and the award-winning craft brewers Thornbridge; “creative fish dishes” feature alongside meats – all well-singed on the fancy Bertha indoor charcoal oven – and the “great location” (skirting the Peak District) makes it particularly “good for outdoor eating”.

This swish country house hotel, in one of the Peak District’s most picturesque villages, is transforming before visitors’ eyes as part of an ongoing, £1.1 million makeover. As we went to press, the more casual ‘Garden Room’ had already been reborn, with chef Adam Harper (ex-of the acclaimed nearby Fischer’s) overseeing a new menu with impeccable local sourcing such as Chatsworth beef; this, the more formal fine diner, will follow suit, but meanwhile won praise this year – well “on its way to a Michelin star” by some accounts. All reports acclaim the “brilliant food and ambience in all areas” and it’s also tipped for afternoon tea.

The future of this well-known Edwardian manor house seemed in doubt when it went onto the market in mid-2023, but instead longtime guardians Max & Susan Fischer (latterly handing the reins to son Neil) have leased two of their pubs – the Prince of Wales in Baslow, and Bulls Head at Foolow – to Nick & Jemma Beagrie of the Bakewell bakery, and refocused their interest on Fischer’s, so far kept afloat thanks to lucrative new deals with the likes of luxury giants LVMH, who will oversee a new summer champagne bar (part of their wider expansion plans). Given such exciting events, there was the odd blip this year, but the general tenor of reports was still upbeat (“never had a bad meal here”; “best meal of the year”).

2022 Review: This “lovely gastropub” on the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth estate gets mostly positive feedback for its “good food and real ales”. There’s sometimes a perception, though, that “it falls short” of its potential: “the cooking was fair, but it could be so nice here”.

This “long-established and well-loved Sheffield classic, in a perhaps surprisingly suburban location” (of Nether Green) serves “imaginative three- and four-course menus and tasting menus” – with “great food” and “superb service”, it “always feels like a special experience”. A “small venue (26 seats) with over-table lights, creating a more intimate space in the evening”, it is approached up “steep stairs, which may be an issue for some”. Co-owner chef Tom Lawson left after 10 years in summer 2024, so it is now wholly owned by co-founder sommelier Alistair Myers, with Dan Conlon as head chef. Top Tip – the midweek tasting menu is £65 per person (much cheaper than at the weekend when there’s only a £110 per person option, or the ‘Kitchen Bench’ at £135 per person).

This “old manor house” handy for Chatsworth (and “not to be confused with the Peacock Inn in nearby Bakewell”), may “feel old-fashioned”, but its “great food and interesting menu” (from tasting menus to more “relaxed” options, both taken in the “fine dining room”) make it “a pleasure” by all accounts. Local ingredients (beef and lamb, say) are sourced from the Haddon Estate on which it sits.

“Initially housed in a converted shipping container, but shortly (in 2024) to move to a leafier suburb” – Luke & Stacey Sherwood have won fame since they opened in 2016 in the city’s ‘Krinkyl’ development and in September 2024 their success has enabled them to up sticks to the Oughtibridge Paper Mill development on the edge of the Peak District, now complete with two bars, an all-day dining terrace, an outdoor kitchen, bedrooms, and a deli shop on site. Reports hitherto auger well for the move: “What can you say? this restaurant is better than most Michelin-starred restaurants you will visit”. “Exquisite combinations from locally foraged and international sources are wonderful to look at and eat” and the “always interesting and well-researched drinks pairings” are a form of “magical alchemy”. (Another visitor in March 2024 was The Times’s Giles Coren, who humble-bragged about now being the first reviewer to visit, but left Sheffield delirious with the thrill of such good food for so little money and very excited about coming back to try the new place). We’ve maintained the current ratings during the move. Three final thoughts: -1- Will the absence of the recherché shipping container and higher overheads of the new set-up dispel some of the mystique that’s so far distinguished the place? -2- One reporter notes that “the chef has been to Japan and some dishes can be a bit unbalanced with umami flavours dominating”… hopefully a passing phase. And -3- if you don’t want to travel to the new location then Konjö (see also) will be moving into the Krynkl shipping container they’ve left behind.

2022 Review: No feedback as yet on this brave September 2020 opening – a tiny, 8-seat chef's table restaurant (all seats are at the counter) with an ever-changing and affordable tasting menu (7 courses for £30 on opening) from chef Luke Reynolds. Reports please!

2023 Review: “Nice, if somewhat out-of-the-way, neighbourhood-style spot serving small plates and good wine”, outside Sheffield – a bar / kitchen and shop that started life with sell-out pop-up dinners. Its cuisine was given a strong plug by The FT in early 2022.

Flo Hiller and Joe Shrewsbury’s “great, informal” small-plates restaurant, in what is a happening dining ‘hood, has wowed the likes of Marina O’Loughlin since opening in 2019; you “can see the influence of Moro”, the famously creative Clerkenwell icon, on its “exciting menu”, and bonus points for its soft drink pairings, “many homemade”. In 2023, they opened a bakery/café/essentials shop, 100m away on Sharrow Vale Road, with plans to create a laid- back extension to the main restaurant.

2023 Review: This “excellent seafood restaurant” was opened in 2021 by “top Sheffield fishmonger J H Mann” – an institution that opened a century earlier in Hillsborough. “Being run by a fishmonger means they have varieties way more exciting that the usual offerings, including lobster, oysters and scallops” – which means it’s “a wonderful place for fish lovers”. The retail part of the business is now based in Sharrow Vale, with a second shop in Bakewell.

“Correctly described in last year’s guide as ‘What the Peak District needed… and now has” – this “warm, welcoming” and unmistakably ambitious venture (crowdfunded five years back) occupies the cosy setting of a converted stable block. Chef-patron Lee Smith oversees the modern British cooking, based on “really good locally sourced produce (meat is from a real farm shop next door)”, and “tasting menus are not obligatory” since there’s also a “good à la carte” – plus the £23 per person ‘Market Menu’, which will have you in and out in under an hour. Whichever you go for, it’s all “exceptionally good” and “definitely worth the detour” if you’re heading up north.

The River Wye is the river in question, and this attractively located period restaurant with rooms (dating from the 1600s) sits nearby, complete with walled garden. It doesn’t inspire huge volumes of feedback, but fans are enthusiastic: “a fabulous meal here to celebrate an 80th birthday – wonderful food was beautifully presented”.

A “very enjoyable and original menu of small and large plates is eaten with a great view of the countryside” (particularly from the conservatory, though you can also eat in the bar) at this “always superb” 12th-century inn – Visit England’s pub of the year in 2023, and – even more impressively – the fifth oldest pub in the land. PS – if you want to linger in the Peak District, they now have five luxury bedrooms as well as a stand-alone cottage, ‘The Barn’.