Royal Oak, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Always buzzing”, this “family-run” fixture is very consistently praised in reports for its “great pizza menu” while also offering British and international classics. (After two decades, the owner-operators put it up for sale in summer 2024.)

In the peaceful countryside of Teesdale – about 20 minutes’ drive from the High Force waterfall – this fine 18th-century coaching inn (with 14 bedrooms) provides a comfy, traditional stop-off. In the panelled dining room, there is a choice of ‘mains’ or ‘pub grub’ on the well-modernised menu – approving reviews this year include of “possibly the best sticky toffee pudding ever!”

A “great tasting menu which changes every six weeks” delivered by staff who are “welcoming and helpful” all “at a great price” is helping dispel the image of this ancient varsity town as a culinary wasteground. Billed, when it opened, in 2022 as ‘Durham’s first tasting menu restaurant’, chef Ruari MacKay – with collaborators Gemma Robinson and Craig Lappin-Smith – raised £100,000 from crowd-funding to launch this simply decorated newcomer, in a courtyard just over the river from the ancient city centre. The aim was to ‘make tasting menus more affordable, accessible and fun’ which they do here at dinner with a six-course selection for £49 per person (three courses at lunch are £27 per person).

“It’s easy to see why this restaurant has been tipped as a ‘Hot Arrival’” say local fans of Jake & Laura Siddle’s ambitious two-year-old, which occupies a muted Scandi-style room in a cobbled part of the ancient city-centre by the river, “with open kitchen area” at the end. “The ambience is relaxed and the team are both welcoming and informative”. There is a lighter four-course meal available for £50 per person, but our feedback relates to the 10-course tasting menu, which fans say is “better, than some at top Michelin starred establishments, because the emphasis is on quality ingredients and flavour combinations rather than culinary theatrics”.