Stoke Holy Cross Restaurant Guide

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.

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”.

“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.

Ex-Alimentum chef Mark Poynton opened an eponymous restaurant at this country house hotel ten minutes’ drive from Norwich in March 2023, with Byron Franklin as his head chef. The debut allowed little time for feedback in our annual diners’ poll on their offering which features a five-course menu for £75 per person; or a nine-course menu for £100 per person.

“Lovely” daily-made pasta wins star billing at this “really good Italian” from former Roux at the Landau head chef Oliver Boon and his brother Ben (Ben & Oli). The “short but varied menu” is “creative, tasty yet somehow still traditional in feeling – in the Italian way rather than a British take on Italian”.

“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).