Norfolk Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “An excellent breakfast” is the top tip at Hannah Springham and Andrew Jones’s good-looking, Georgian restaurant with rooms: sibling to Norwich’s Farmyard. For other occasions, feedback on its straightforward, brasserie-style fare (fish pie, côte de boeuf, burger) is still too limited for a rating.

“The best restaurant in Norwich (which is not intended to damn with faint praise!)”, according to fans of Roger Hickman’s “classy” and long-established dining destination in the city centre (which narrowly edged ahead of nearby Benedicts this year in our annual diners’ poll). All reports applaud the “very assured cooking” – “deeply flavoured with deft presentation and lovely combinations, without a single gimmick or fad”. Service is “willing” (“polite, charming, considerate, good-humoured!”) and “the room itself is elegant, and the napery satisfying”. One gripe – “it would be better to have their more extensive à la carte menu back in the evenings, but I guess the focus on a tasting format is a sign of the times”.

Chef-patron Richard Bainbridge’s “brilliant, fresh and exciting food” wows reporters at the restaurant he opened with his partner Katja almost 10 years ago. With “great staff and a wonderful ambience”, it is yet again plugged by many diners as “the best in Norwich”, but its local rival Hickman’s just had the edge in our annual diners’ poll this year, due to a small minority of critics who found the food “hyped and average” (“but we might have hit them on a bad day”).

2021 Review: “After nearly 30 years under the same ownership” owner James Sawrey-Cookson retired and this “well-loved Norwich institution” changed hands last year: bought by a number of business-minded regulars. Chef of three years’ standing, Iain McCarten is “well into his stride, but what makes this place so popular is the whole atmosphere (there is a real sense of belonging”). “Hopefully the new owners don’t ruin the formula” although change is certainly afoot, with a new outside terrace and adjoining brasserie section opening in autumn 2019.

2021 Review: “Exceptional” Indian vegetarian and vegan cooking wins high ratings for this “beautifully decorated” little restaurant on a central Norwich backstreet – a family-run business operated by “people who really care”.

Locally born chef Daniel Smith’s “modern British” cuisine at his village pub-restaurant on the edge of Norwich is “always a winner” for its “imaginative flavours” and “excellent service”. “We eat here regularly and it’s first-rate both for the food and the pleasant atmosphere”, while “the set lunch and the tasting menu are both brilliant”. The venue’s name is left over from a previous African-themed incarnation.

“Holt in Norfolk is a jewel of a market town, and Meadowsweet is a little jewel of a restaurant with rooms” that’s won acclaim as “a superb addition to the county” since its 2021 launch by Greg Anderson and Rebecca Williams. “Service is personal and spot on” and “the house and dining room feel warm and friendly without trying to be bleeding edge”. When it comes to the “ambitious” ten-course menu for £130 per person – “every dish is thoughtful and delicious” with “chefs all working out of a tiny space and involved in introducing the courses”. “Prices seem to have risen sharply since they got their Michelin star, but we think it’s worth it!” – “worth the journey… bravo!”

“Set in the deer-filled grounds of a stately home” and owned by Chelsea art dealer Ivor Braka, this much commented-on pub-with-rooms “shows more contemporary art on its walls than the average West End gallery” (Tracey Emin, Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst, Anthony Caro and co.). Mark Hix alumni Stuart & Simone Tattersall oversee the victuals: mostly “meat and game from local estates” (“some cooked on the open fire”), but the “broad and inventive” menu isn’t just for carnivores. “Top Menu Tip – the whole shared-chicken Sunday Roast is beautifully done and excellent value”.

Overlooking the green, this village pub-with-rooms was acquired by East Anglia’s Chestnut Group in 2022. Some reports this year suggest that “things have started to slip” under the new regime, and that what “used to be a favourite” is “no longer quite as special as it once was”, but “at its best, the food is excellent” still (and, despite the critiques, its locally sourced pub classics have so far retained their Bib Gourmand).

This “thoroughly reliable pub” is “just a short stroll from the coast” with views across the salt marshes. “Everything works well despite the casual, almost laid-back approach”, while “the imaginative menu is definitely a notch above the pub norm”.

2021 Review: Fans are “happy to report the continued success and popularity of owner Desmond’s venture on the north Norfolk coast” – lionised in a BBC TV series, and combining “really good freshly cooked” farm food with “lots of outside space to run around in”.

A “great-value” menu featuring plenty of fresh fish, along with local meat and game, has attracted a loyal following for this “very friendly” family-run North Norfolk venue over more than 20 years. Co-chef/founder Angela Long has ensured that standards remain high since the loss of her husband, Richard, two years ago.

2021 Review: “Relaxed, friendly” and a “brilliant pub”, just along the coast from Blakeney, which was taken over by old school friends in 2011, and swiftly given a retro, nautical refurb’; the “delicious menu” takes in local north Norfolk catch and game.

This “excellent fish venue with locally sourced produce” is owned by Galton Blackiston, chef-patron of Norfolk’s grand Morston Hall, and operates both as a seaside chippie for eat-in or takeaway and as a bookable restaurant upstairs, with views of the pier and fancier dishes such as king prawn Goan curry with roti and coconut rice. Sauces and ice creams are all produced in-house.

“Eating is simply a delight” at this “lovely old pub with quirky little dining rooms” and a menu that “focuses on top-quality local ingredients”. Chef Jeremy Parke and his wife Rachael, formerly of Relish in Newton Flotman and Number 29 in Burnham Market, took over after our annual diners’ poll in summer 2023 from Ben & Sarah Handley, who left after 10 years at the helm; we are leaving the ratings untouched, with Rachael saying the approach would remain largely the same, with the addition of small plates to the food menu and cocktails to the bar.

The attractive dining room of this ivy-clad independent hotel on the Holkham Estate, not far from the beach, has a focus on locally sourced food that mirrors the estate’s ambitions in the sustainability stakes. In keeping with the tenor of reports over the years, the food continues to be “a little hit-and-miss, but it’s a terrific setting and the service is usually reliable” at least.

“A lovely, authentic French bistro run by friendly couple with lots of favourites on the menu that’s been a great addition to Norwich” – husband and wife team Thomas Aubrit and Gemma Aubrit-Layfield are celebrating their third year in the Norwich Lanes, having launched just as covid struck at the start of 2020.

“A fresh and vibrant menu with a fusion of local foods and inspired cooking” inspires enthusiastic (if limited) feedback on Jimmy Preston’s funky two-year-old, which started as a pop-up and went permanent in late 2021. In early 2023, The Observer’s Jay Rayner also raved over its “face-slapping flavours” and “cheeky, magpie-like romp across Asia” (including XO seasoning which includes Frazzles, Scampi Fries and Monster Munch).