Meriden, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Away from the main property, with a terrace facing onto the golf course, this casually luxurious venue is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and would suit a smartly dressed-down weekend family meal. With its brasserie menu incorporating a selection of burgers and chicken and steak grills, fans “prefer it to the generally more highly rated Glasshouse at the same venue” although even some who mark it highly say: “it’s good, but some of the prices are just far too high”.

“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”.

“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!”.

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).

2022 Review: Upscale Georgian gastroboozer, handy for J1 of the M40, whose “very pleasant surroundings” (in a ridiculously picture-postcard village), superior ambience and “nice garden” add considerably to its charms. The food, which is divided into small and big plates of comfort food-style British fare, isn’t wildly ambitious but is “consistently good”.

“A hidden gem, off the beaten track in Ashridge Forest”, this village pub is “well worth finding” for its “very interesting menu (that changes every fortnight) and pretty rural location” just outside London. David & Becky Salisbury have been at the helm for more than 25 years, and ensure that the kitchen keeps abreast of contemporary dietary requirements.

“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.

“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.

2024 Review: This “great local” has had an up-and-down time of it of late, with the Gerrards Cross branch under new management, and The Grocer at 91, which had pivoted to being a food shop in the pandemic, now closed. On the plus side, this “very busy” outpost is still going strong with its “reliable” (if pricey) sandwiches, salads and toasties, and they also recently opened a new Amersham venue, The Grocer at 2 (Whielden St), spanning a grocery store and café.

2024 Review: “Tasty bistro food” is enjoyed in the “lovely setting” of a seventeenth-century former school in Old Amersham, a “cosy” local spot opened by the Gilbey’s gin dynasty 35 years ago. Founder Michael Gilbey passed away in summer 2022, and his widow, Lin, has put the site up for sale. (She also runs its sister restaurant in Eton.)

“A great little pub with a lovely atmosphere”, leafily located beside a village green just outside Beaconsfield, serving food which “is certainly a cut above your average pub fare” from Tante Claire-trained Amanda Lillitou, who has run it with her husband Chris for 17 years.

A pub has stood on this leafy site on the road to Golder’s Green for three centuries, and was made famous by Edwardian music-hall star Florrie Forde as a ‘little nook down near old Hampstead town’ where Cockneys would head on a day trip. These days a “stalwart still going strong”, it offers a “good-value set lunch in the dining room” (2 courses for £20.95; 3 for £24.95).

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.

“An excellent local with an always-good selection of fish” – reports attest that this West Hampstead fixture lives up to its name and the cooking here can be “surprisingly good”. On the downside, “some tables are not the most comfortable, and very close together”. Top Tip – look out for the good lunch deals.

A handsome boozer with a huge terrace that’s a top choice in the heart of Highgate thanks to its “reliably good food putting some very interesting spins on pub classics”. Inside, it’s “warm and cosy on a winter’s day”, while the “comfortable ambience, good service and dog-friendly attitude are everything you want in a pub”.