SHIPLAKE Restaurant Guide

“Cracking Sunday lunches with football-sized Yorkshires” are the culinary highlight of this “pretty village inn” in a glorious spot just by the Thames (which gets a mention in Jerome K Jerome’s classic ‘Three Men in a Boat’). It’s a notably “stylish” and “buzzy venue” with a “lovely outdoor area” but has never been a particularly foodie destination. Local heart-throb George Clooney was rumoured to want to buy the pub when he moved into the area with his wife Amal – he told Graham Norton “it’s fantastic and we drink all kinds of pints and things”.

“Perhaps the best located restaurant on the Thames” in these parts provides a “great river view and a good buzz”. Run by Shuan Dicken, it provides an all-day menu that offers an easygoing selection of straightforward dishes, especially a “top breakfast”. It used to offer fancier fare, though, and the odd reporter feels the ambition is a little “basic” nowadays.

Set on the water by the town bridge over the Thames, a “typically old-school” outfit that’s “family-run”, “long-established” and “excellent value for money” for what is “authentic Italian food”; you dine in a smart, tiled room with a “nice buzz” and “well-paced service”.

2021 Review: Henley residents can now save on the rail fare to ‘The Smoke’. Hot on the heels of opening a luxury food court in Harrods, the famous store’s first café outside London is to open in late 2019 on the market place of this chichi town (in what was formerly a branch of Nicolas). We are promised an experience akin to the new food hall approach recently adopted in SW1: ‘a menu of dine-in and dine-out options, replicating the current food-to-go and deli offering’ in Knightsbridge.

This “very old pub in a great location next to Henley Bridge” has been a scenic boozer for yonks, but now comes in a “fabulous new incarnation”, having been taken over by seasoned restaurateurs Matt Dockray and Phil Renner, who relaunched in late 2022. The hugely stylish interior (not least in the vaulted dining room, strewn with trinkets) makes it a “great place for a first date”, and there are positive early reports on the elevated pub classics by head chefs Joshua Wilde and George O’Leary – both previously senior sous-chefs at Tom Kerridge’s Marlow joints The Coach, and The Hand and Flowers.

Located in the “quirky but fun setting” of a refurbished Grade II listed Edwardian swimming pool, this venue is an “oasis of decent food in the wasteland of Reading”, serving “very good Mediterranean-style food across all three courses”. With views over the pool through plate-glass windows, it’s “great to eat while watching others exercise!”.

2022 Review: This cosy brick and flint seventeenth-century pub has the seal of approval from cake deity Mary Berry no less, while reports – although on the scant side – generally proclaim it for some “really good” grub (not least the two-course set lunch); extensive gardens are an added boon.

A short drive from Henley, Antony & Jay Worrall Thompson’s attractive gastropub serves a globally inspired menu with burgers and steaks a highlight of the selection. Fans – including those on a trip out of ‘the smoke’ – rate it as a “reliable” destination.

2022 Review: “Reliable cooking with a buzzy atmosphere” makes this 20-year-old city-centre outfit a useful option; it also gives vegans a decent choice of dishes.

2023 Review: In June 202, Dom Chapman took on this well-known Thames-valley pub (he also owns The Beehive in White Waltham, see also), which had been run by the Bonwick family for the previous nine years. It opened too late for feedback in our annual diners’ poll, but an early report from fooderati insider, Andy Hayler, suggested that Champan will be continuing the high quality of The Beehive and also the Bonwicks’ former regime here: “service… was excellent. Overall, this was a very enjoyable evening, The Crown offering a very appealing menu and generally well-made food. … this is already shaping up to be a charming restaurant, and based on the chef’s track record I expect the food to progress further from this solid start”.

2022 Review: The former Land’s End pub got a new lease of life (and name) in 2018 when it was taken over by Niki & Adam Fortes, and the best man at their wedding, Colin Savory (both Colin and Adam having a pedigree at top restaurants). The “great” countryside setting is enhanced by “superbly cooked” pub staples and finer fare and “you can tell there are real chefs in the kitchen”.

Nandana & Sharat Syamala’s part-crowdfunded venue is “not your standard Indian restaurant” – “more like home cooking” inspired by the regional cuisines of Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh, with “some interesting specials always available”. “The venue was previously a Wetherspoons, so it’s a large space which is a challenge to make entirely comfortable but it’s got a good ambience and is well worth a visit”.

“What a return” – chef Simon Bonwick is back on home turf at this diminutive and “lovely” sixteenth-century village pub, not far from The Crown at Burchetts Green, where he established a stellar reputation for classic French cooking over the previous decade. His food is “fabulous” – “precisely cooked with all the flavour you expect and more” (not least the “renowned” pies), and front of house (including wife Deborah) are “delightful, warm and welcoming with a smile”. PS – the chef himself created the artwork lining the quirky venue’s walls.

2022 Review: For “restaurant-quality food in a lovely country setting” head to this country pub, a few miles from Henley-on-Thames. The venue has been serving locals since 1860, and continues to draw positive reports for its simple yet refined seasonal plates.