St Ives, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This ivy-clad Georgian coaching inn is the “a top destination for wine in Cambridgeshire” – and “also a good all-rounder” – thanks to its long ownership by Master of Wine, John Hoskins. “Sadly” for their many admirers, John and his wife Julia sold up after 29 years in summer 2023, although the new owners, East Anglia’s Chestnut Group, have promised a ‘seamless transition’ with minimal changes.

Like the other links in Richard Caring’s ubiquitous national chain, this “bustling” brasserie is a “very slick operation, with great decor”, and it’s useful for “breakfast that will set you up for the day” or “lunch on a shopping trip to Cambridge”. But although it’s consistently decently rated and thought to be “a nice clone”, it “has lost any magic associated with the Theatreland original”.

“Still at the very top level, with some unforgettable dishes” – Daniel Clifford’s brilliantly situated Victorian villa is one of the country’s better-established and most renowned culinary destinations. It helps that it has a charming location – next to the River Cam opposite the varsity’s many boathouses and in the middle of the greenery of Midsummer Common – and its overall approach “has an air of formality without being formal!” There’s an eight-course evening tasting menu for £250 per person (or a four-course lunch for £150 per person), which on practically all accounts is a “dreamy” gastronomic voyage created by head chef Mark Abbott; and backed up by a “hugely interesting” wine list (introduced by a “brilliant sommelier”). As always, there is the odd gripe about the level of expense here, absent which ratings might be even higher. But the most common sentiment this year? – “everything was perfect!”

“A fantastic selection of beers (and gins)” makes the popular former home of E. M. Forster “a very useful and welcome gastro-choice in central Cambridge, where other options are not great”. The food is “reliable” and “decently done but nothing earth-shattering”. Top Tip – “stay downstairs: the upstairs dining room can have a chilly ambience”.

2023 Review: “Focused on simple dishes, with excellent ingredients, all elevated by sharp cooking” – the year-old grill at this new Graduate Hotel (named for the previous hotel on this site) wins positive feedback in our annual diners’ poll (but too limited for a rating).

2021 Review: This “meaty joint” occupies an attractive converted mill, complete with working water wheel. It “continues to please students and locals in its airy space overlooking river and millpond (I saw a kingfisher!)”.

Starry local chef Tristan Welch (whose CV includes stints with Rhodes, Ramsay, Roux Jr. et. al.) is behind this “wonderful brasserie” in a “lovely setting” at the recently revamped University Arms hotel, overlooking Parker’s Piece green. East Anglian produce informs the cooking, which is “good” (if not spectacular) by all accounts, and makes it never less than “a reliable choice” when in this varsity town.

2021 Review: Look out for the bright yellow Citroën van, if you want to try veteran restaurateur Regis Crépy’s latest venture, selling Alsatian pizza-type Flammekueche in a Cambridge food court. For a tasty, cheap ’n’ cheerful snack that’s a little out of the ordinary, these “light”, “fresh-tasting” and “reasonably priced” wafers of bread dough complete with toppings are just the job.

In scenic Grantchester just outside Cambridge, this “modern and not overcrowded” inn makes an attractive run out of town and generates consistent reports of its “decent” cooking. And ‘is there honey still for tea?’ – as Rupert Brooke famously asked in his 1912 poem set in Grantchester. The answer is a resounding No: the owners seem to have missed a trick with their afternoon tea menu.

“Invaluable in the centre of Cambridge”, this smart independent bistro (est. 2009) maintains a “consistently high standard” with its Anglo-European cooking, and the “covered courtyard area makes a lovely place for dinner” in more clement months.

Former MasterChef finalist Alex Rushmer’s follow-up (est. 2019) to the nearby Hole in the Wall in Little Wilbraham “goes from strength to strength”, offering what’s clearly a “top gastronomic experience” (and, for one reporter, “a favourite restaurant of all time”); the rather “eye-opening” plant-based menu uses only local, ethical and regeneratively grown produce, but this is “such clever food you barely notice that there is no meat”.

“A very well-balanced wine list” is an attraction at this autumn 2022 newcomer, which combines both a restaurant and wine bar (the latter evenings-only in a crypt-like space). Early feedback is quite limited, but says the modern British cuisine can be “excellent” (and The Telegraph’s William Sitwell was also a fan, hailing – in a very early doors visit – “wholesome, generous cooking”, albeit with a few “experimentally disastrous” dishes).

Holly & Dan Fancett’s “fantastic, French-influenced bistro” is “going from strength to strength” after two years in business (the pair previously ran the North Street Bistro on the North Norfolk coast). The “small, intimate” venue is particularly of note for its “excellent set-price lunch menu” (dinner is also a two- or three-course prix fixe) and service is just as “excellent” too.