Hertford, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Tucked away in a little corner of Hertfordshire”, this pub/restaurant from “brothers in perfection” Tom (self-taught chef) & Ben (ex-Fat Duck manager) Bainbridge trades in meals that are “innovative, fun and enjoyable”, with an “absolute focus upon flavour” – “staff are warm, caring and always willing to have a laugh”, while the “impressive and comprehensive wine list covers the globe”. (For one fan, it all even added up to “an experience well worth an awful 58-mile drive, mostly on the M25!”). Top Menu Tip – “the most astonishingly flavoursome carrot purée ever tasted”.

After working alongside Gary Rhodes and serving as Head Chef at Tom Conran’s Notting Hill venue The Cow, chef James Rix launched this smart Home Counties pub (replete with a large beer garden and heated gazebo) together with wife Bianca in 2004. Its rustic Italian- and French-inspired cuisine attracts reviews ranging from “good quality” to “excellent” – with meat (including Josper-grilled steak) a standout, and starters and desserts that are “not too shabby” either.

“Beautifully situated” beside a lake on the grand Brocket Hall Estate, this bucolic but luxurious former hunting lodge is acknowledged by fans as “a truly great choice for a special occasion”. It’s known for a high standard of traditional Anglo-French cuisine and for (older) traditional types it’s “very pleasing that all fellow diners make an effort to dress accordingly”. But it’s also often attracted lukewarm feedback over many years, and has a stop-go record with numerous long periods of closure, changes of chef, refurbs and relaunches, yet another of which is underway in September 2025 following a closure in May 2025.

“Enjoyable” farmhouse in a countryside setting just north of London that’s “more restaurant than pub, and one of the best places in the area for good cooking” – “there’s lobster and oysters, you could ask for nothing more!” – from “an excellent and varied menu, alongside personable-but-efficient service and a good choice of reasonably priced wines”. It’s a “lively, vibrant” spot, and “in summer, tables out in the garden are lovely, particularly as the conservatory dining room can be very noisy”.

In the safe hands of Phil Thompson (whose CV includes becoming Head Chef at the Auberge du Lac at age 24), this decade-old venture continues to do the casual fine-dining thing with aplomb. Reporters “like that there are a number of small rooms” in which to dine (upstairs is the main restaurant, and there’s also an airy conservatory opening onto the Victorian-style courtyard), while the “imaginative cooking” is “creative and beautifully presented” too, whether you opt for the set menus (£55 or £69 per person for two or three courses) or fancier tasting menu (£95 or £115 per person for five or seven courses).

“Yummy mummy hangouts” that have proliferated across the capital and its surrounding high streets over the past few years, with “relaxed and colourful décor” and “friendly waiting staff”. They are very accommodating to families, both “child-friendly” and “pooch central, with snacks and water” – although if you don’t bring your own, you might find there are “too many dogs”. The eastern Med-style cooking varies between “fresh and well prepared” at best to “adequate, sometimes slow” – while “bottomless Bloody Mary or Mimosa on a Sunday can be dangerous!”.

“A consistently good local” from this indie group based in Hertfordshire and with a focus on sustainability – something they pioneered way before it became trendy, running their outposts on green energy and recycling all their waste. Handy for the High Street and the 11th-century cathedral and abbey church, the bright and airy three-floor venue offers “well-sourced, mostly local food” that’s also well priced: £20.95 for two courses, and £23.95 for three.

Run by Sean Hughes and his family – the dining room at this pub in the Cathedral quarter has built a more-than-local reputation for its “very good cooking”, with headline features being some very fancy steaks, including the option of 1kg of Txuleta Prime Rib for £110 per portion. Top Menu Tip – “Good salt cod brandade; excellent chalk stream trout as is the Gorgonzola soldiers pudding”.

“An oasis in North London” for 25 years – Austrian-born Julius Oberegger’s “excellent local restaurant” in Whetstone is “the closest to fine dining without going to the West End” – with a “well prepared and imaginative menu” that skips round the world from fresh Jersey rock oysters and English rack of lamb to chicken Milanese, wok-fried noodles, and chilli and soy-glazed tofu.

2023 Review: This village pub-with-rooms just off the A1 offers “attractively presented food” on a menu which is “a cut above standard gastropub fare” – best enjoyed in the “new outside dining area, which in summer evokes a lovely Mediterranean feel”.

2023 Review: “No menu and it’s whatever is made on the day – I love it!”. Australian chef Chris Honor’s all-day neighbourhood café in Muswell Hill serves “Ottolenghi-style food” to a high standard.

“A favourite restaurant of all time!” – this “very consistent” Essex institution first opened in 1958 and its performance over many years has earnt it a special place in the hearts of its dedicated fan club (which includes Rod Stewart, the Beckhams and other TOWIE notables). “The food is always to a very high standard with the best seafood” – “it can feel very crowded but the fish is always well cooked”.

2022 Review: Popular with walkers, this attractive eighteenth-century boozer is “very cosy inside and out” (the latter courtesy of a “godsend” of an outdoor tipi). On the culinary front, it's “a cut above pub grub, with surprisingly well-cooked and presented food, especially the fish dishes, and good veggie options too”. “Their own beer (Farr Brew) is also very fresh and tasty.”

“Excellent restaurant-quality cooking” – “several notches above typical gastropub standard” – wins fans for this venue on the edge of a common in a “quaint town in leafy Hertfordshire”. Chef and co-owner Matthew Reeder operated a supper club on the premises when it was run as a pub by his father; he later returned with the skills he picked up working in some top-class kitchens (The Typing Room, Galvin Bros, Anglo, where he was head chef), delivering meals that “take some beating”. ‘Steak nights’ do feature, but more characteristic dishes include the likes of Salt Marsh Lamb, Pea à la Française, Black Garlic; or Roasted John Dory, Caper, and Sea Herbs.

Planning a bucolic trip to Epping Forest? Incorporate lunch at this newly (Dec 2024) relaunched pub in Chingford, near Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge, with 28 bedrooms – the fifth site from Heartwood Inns. There’s a sizable dining operation with 90 covers in the bar, 142 in the dining room, and 90 on the outdoor terraces. Sample dishes: Beetroot terrine, French onion soup, slow-cooked shoulder of Highland venison, Artichoke and chestnut mushroom pithivier, and Autumn ‘Still Life’ dessert.

“A fascinating location in a jeans factory” in Walthamstow creates a certain rarity value for this funky operation, where you eat amongst sewing machines and bins of denim. Foodwise the mantra is ‘Hearty. Healthy. Hella Tasty’ – with results (albeit on limited feedback) dubbed “sometimes delicious, sometimes just odd”.

“Sunday lunch where the plates of traditional roast dinners are overflowing” typify the “great meat dishes” which are a highpoint at this East End duo, run by a firm of outside caterers. Both occupy fine spaces, be it a Victorian factory in Dalston (the original, opened in 2013, and famous to fans of the 2021 hit film ‘Boiling Point’); or a fine “airy” Georgian building in South Woodford, complete with large outdoor spaces. Vegetarian options, though, win less praise. Top Tip – bottomless brunch is a feature in both locations.

“Pleasant country inn” that offers a “great Italian menu (fritto misto, lobster and prawn raviolo)” and “wonderful service, with a smile that is genuine, not forced”. Proprietors James & Magda Harkin “know what they’re doing”, both having worked in leading London restaurants, while James’s parents ran the Alpine restaurant in Bushey for almost 50 years.