Evesham, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: James Martin is the latest in the line of c’leb chefs to have his name over the door of the barrel-vaulted dining room of this historic Tudor coaching inn (which accommodated both Charles I and Oliver Cromwell at different times during the Civil War). Iconic Luxury Hotels Group (who run Cliveden and Chewton Glen) have managed the property for some time, and pre-rebrand the feedback continued the downbeat tenor – “such a disappointment…”, “trading on its name and reputation” – of recent decades. Here’s hoping James can bring some of the magic here that’s created in Chewton Glen and that this fine space finally starts to live up to its potential.

This “unpretentious but good restaurant” serves “outstanding food for the price – much cheaper than establishments where the food is nowhere near as good”; “service is very friendly and correct”, too – which indicates that a change of ownership a couple of years back has failed to dent a consistent performance stretching back over two decades. The premises was originally the workshop of furniture designer George Russell, remembered in the name. Top Tip – “great fish ’n’ chips are found at the rear of the main restaurant” (under the same ownership).

2023 Review: A “country house atmosphere”, “excellent service” and “delicious food” win praise from fans of this “beautiful” Cotswolds hotel – owned by greetings card mogul Andrew Brownsword – and it “should please every romantic”. Ratings were dragged down, though, by other reporters who feel that the house is “lovely but tired”, while “the food is good-ish, but certainly could be better”.

2022 Review: On the banks of the Avon, this riverside eaterie boasts an excellent terrace overlooking a scenic Saxon bridge. It serves a modern bistro menu, with char-grilled steaks the prime attraction.

“Everything is cooked to order” using “first-class local produce in wonderful flavour combinations” by chef-patron Gus Ashenford, who trained under the late Michel Roux senior and once cooked for then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin at the Kremlin. He took over this former village tea shop with his wife Kate in 2003, and fans reckon it’s still “the best restaurant for miles around”.

“Traditional pub/small country hotel with nice touches”, nine miles south of Stratford, where the northern Cotswolds intersects with Shakespeare – you’ll find “very good local real ales plus superior pub grub, friendly staff and good-value set lunches”. It’s owned by journalist Andrew Knight, who ran both the Telegraph and Times newspaper groups.

Owned by the nearby Donnington Brewery – a “popular, comfortable, attractive and welcoming” roadside inn with five bedrooms and a rangy garden in a “very picturesque” setting. The classic British cooking features a generous dose of grilled meats and game. While, for the odd reporter, it’s “OK but not exceptional”, for fans it “achieves all it sets out to do”.

“A wonderful outlook”; that it’s “convenient while attending the theatre”; and that you should “book early if you want a riverside view from your table”, are undisputed points regarding the RSC’s top-floor dining room. More positive reports say that it has a “nice menu” and that “the food quality has improved recently”. Others, though, continue to find it “all round disappointing”, with “function-style fare” in a room that’s “drab” if you don’t get one of the good seats.

“Excellent game – particularly venison, cooked to perfection over an open flame” – is the prime attraction at this Grade II listed building, which was standing in Stratford when Shakespeare was a boy. Wild-food specialist Mike Robinson presides over the kitchen, where game from their own estate and produce from their own botanical and herb garden is cooked over charcoal or wood (mostly oak and elder). Top Tip – “we’ve had Xmas lunch here for the last few years: always wonderful!”.

2024 Review: This half-timbered town-centre fixture is useful for a “consistent offering” that includes “good-value lunch and pre-theatre menus”. “First ate here in the mid-80s with a Sixth Form school trip – it was good then and still is”.

“Really deserves to be up there with the best” – a “very attractive” restaurant-with-five-flashy-rooms set in Georgian premises, and luring diners to this quaint market town betwixt Stratford-upon-Avon and Chipping Norton. There’s considerable flair to the British cooking (they offer à la carte or a tasting menu), which nods to honest produce like trout and quail.

2022 Review: With its “lovely setting (indoors or outdoors)” and “nicely priced menu” of dishes from around the world – including a selection of “fantastic” small plates to share – this 200-year-old country pub with a contemporary brasserie extension is a useful option near Stratford.

“Always hugely excited to go to Lumiere and always leave amazed” – John & Helen Lowe’s “welcoming” venue in the city-centre, finally won recognition from Michelin in 2023 – “it was a long time coming” as they opened in 2009 – and fans say that “although there are more bells and whistles since the star, the food remains divine”, always “well-designed and both execution and presentation are excellent” (“we think it’s genius, rivalling meals we’ve had in two- and three- star establishments”). You can choose from four, six and ten courses for £85, £135 and £175 per person respectively: “they are superbly balanced, novel in their combinations, minimise waste and make best use of the owners’ produce. And whilst the presentation is excellent, the focus is on the cooking not the image”. “The small room is calm and pleasant, service is enthusiastic and informative… altogether a wonderful place for a meal”.

‘British seafood, Cotswold produce’ is the promise of Gareth Fulford’s small independent near the High Street, where the evening focus is on an à la carte menu (two courses for £58 per person); and where there are also selections for a ‘light lunch’ or a tasting option of six to eight courses for £85 to £100 per person. All the cooking is acknowledged as “very inventive and tasty”.

2022 Review: Rugby World Cup AND Celebrity MasterChef winner Phil Vickery has opened his own restaurant, with his wife Jules and chef Tom Rains, after a year of running a delivery service, No.3 at Home.

2024 Review: “The rotunda is wonderful”, and “can make a visit stand out” at this branch of the ubiquitous chain, which otherwise conforms to type with “food and service that are professional, reliable and entirely anonymous” – “one could eat the same dish every day and find it unvarying, while being treated politely but distantly by the staff”.