Penrith, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“A rather anonymous exterior in the ubiquitous local red sandstone makes this excellent little restaurant somewhat missable at first glance”, but venture inside the former bank and you’ll find a “remarkably creative restaurant” offering “a menu of essentially bistro classics, all done well and with obvious generosity”. Add in “relaxed, thoughtful and non-intrusive service”, and it won nothing but praise this year, with one reporter even keen to award it “11 out of 10”. Top Menu Tip – “The slow-cooked beef with Parmesan and truffle chips was a dish of the year”; “a venison suet pie, rich with port, and served with an improbably delicious blue cheese mash and whisky stock-based sauce was the ultimate tasty comfort food, whose deliciousness outweighed the large portion… I still managed a lovely sticky toffee pudding though!”

It might look like “an old-fashioned, wood-lined pub room”, but Ben Queen-Fryer’s five-year old is in fact “a food paradise in the heart of the Lake District” that “deserves all of its accolades”. “A warming log fire and warmer welcome” abet cooking “with flair and invention” (“amazing what a one-man kitchen can produce”). You are not prisoner of a tasting menu here, with three courses for £68 per person available alongside a longer tasting option for £89 per person.

2022 Review: This old-school market-town hotel is a cosseting sort of spot, whether you opt to dine in the “comforting bar area” or the silver-and-ruby-red restaurant, garlanded with two AA rosettes for its “consistently high standard” of “well-presented” food.

2024 Review: “Amazing stay and experience, the dishes were out of this world” – early praise for this January 2023 Lake District newcomer from the high-profile Edinburgh chef. It occupies an Art Deco hotel on the banks of Haweswater Reservoir, now transformed into a self-named fine-dining outfit focusing on local seasonal produce serving some of his signature dishes (shiitake mushrooms on toast; 11-hour slow-roast pork belly; sticky toffee soufflé). There’s also the more informal Brasserie 37, named after the year the hotel was opened. More reports please!