Suffolk, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: This half-timbered fifteenth-century former coaching inn is a “reliable venue for good food”, with a menu that ticks boxes all the way from basic cheeseburger or beer-battered hake ’n’ chips to more original offerings such as goat cheese doughnut with beetroot sugar and a flexible selection of dishes available in two sizes – as either starters or mains. Top Tip – “the great lobster Caesar salad”.

“Old fashioned, with understated service and great ambience” – this impressive Grade I listed property dates from 1440 and was once the HQ to 1970s TV chef Robert Carrier, who restored it in the early 1970s. There’s a wide range of à la carte, tasting and afternoon tea menus, all in a traditional mould and all at relatively affordable prices.

A “beautiful” 400-year-old barn conversion creates a “lovely relaxed atmosphere” for the “interesting food and own-produced wines” served on Wyken Estate, whose vineyard was planted in 1988. The café at the other end of the barn reopened after a four-year closure in September 2024, serving more relaxed lunches, and there’s also an open-air pizzeria knocking out wood-fired sourdough pizzas on Saturdays.

2021 Review: “Quirky, quaint and stylish, with excellent food” – Julien & Karine Jourdain took over this antique Belgian gunboat in October 2018 from the Crépy family, and it’s “one of the best Ipswich has to offer”. Permanently moored in the marina, near the city-centre, its modern European menu options vary by the day.

2021 Review: A “great place to eat in Lavenham”, this wine bar and restaurant-with-rooms in a beautifully converted fifteenth-century brick-and-timber house rates strongly across the board. Hosts Jo Knight and Rod Benson are locals.

2021 Review: “The most beautiful old Tudor building” in the stage-set town of Lavenham is “just the place for a special-occasion meal” – whether “an indulgent tea served on old-fashioned trays” or “a sumptuous dinner in the elegant Gallery restaurant”.

“Gastropub? More like a fine-dining experience” say fans of this “prize-winning” and “dog- friendly” Brit-alian venue (est. 2015), which secured top honours on Estrella Damm’s Top 50 UK Gastropubs list for the second time in 2024. For all the headlines, it continues to attract cynics who feel it’s “vastly overhyped”, “not as good as it was” or who note “ever-increasing prices”. Still, all who report rate the cooking as “good” or better. Top TIp – there’s no doubting that the ‘Be Unruly’ “tasting menu on Thursday is exceptional value” (£49 per person for five courses, as per the usual £75).

“Consistently great cooking from Paul Yaxley” that’s “reasonably priced”, too, makes this “absolutely delightful venue” – a Grade II listed former guildhall – “a destination for that ‘special occasion’ dinner”, with “attentive service” led by his wife, Sarah. Some fans, though, say “the cooking’s good but it would be nice to see the menu revamped more often”.

“Wow, what a find!” – Chef-patron Zack Deakins’s townhouse on Angel Hill offers “delicate, subtle, tasty and skilful cooking” in a “beautiful room”, along with a “cheery, warm welcome” and “attentive, friendly service” – “one table wanted the tasting menu but one with no fish; one no meat; one vegetarian... no problem at all, the staff were flexible and made helpful suggestions”. There’s also “an interesting, well-chosen wine list with wines from unusual countries (Croatia; Lebanon; Japan)”. It’s “great for business lunches”, too.

2021 Review: “For that romantic meal close to the town centre within super gardens and with a great terrace”, this elegant restaurant with rooms provides a “gorgeous” setting and “delicious cooking”. At lunch, there’s a cheaper set menu (as well as the option of sandwiches and salads).

“Bury St Edmunds is quite a gastronomical wonder town” and near the top of the pile is this “small beauty” – an “unpretentious” sort of place set up by chef Justin Sharp and FOH wife Jurga in 2009, and which has retained the tyre men’s acclaim since 2021. The “fabulous” and “scrummy” food is a mash-up of the Mediterranean and the Middle East that “never fails to delight”, while there’s “always something exciting, interesting or unexpected” on the wine list (particularly if you like organic and natural wines). Top Tip – the “off-pitch location” (a residential square) “means parking nearby at lunchtime is impossible”, but on the plus side it’s only a ten-minute walk from the train station.

A 500-year-old country inn set in gorgeous Suffolk countryside provides a stunning backdrop to a meal at this ambitious property, which has been owned by Richard Sunderland & Sarah Broadbent since 2022. But if “after spending millions the place is very nice”, the odd report also has reservations: the traditional (and sensibly priced) French-inflected cuisine is well-rated by one repeat-visitor, but another feels that: “they seem to be chasing a Michelin Star, but are trying to run before they can walk”.

2023 Review: In the heart of Constable Country, this gastropub with rooms is “a busy venue with a good atmosphere and friendly service”. Foodwise, it’s praised for cooking that’s “outstanding” at the “very reasonable price”; and wine lovers are well-catered for too, with 250 bins (they also run their own merchants).

“Locally sourced food cooked to perfection” and a “charming welcome” reward visitors to Constable Country who are lured by the distinctive yellow facade of this 15th-century coaching inn, owned and operated for 22 years by Piers Baker. The “great menu”, which takes most of its cues from Italian cuisine, makes this “a place to while away the afternoon” over a long lunch.

“The setting is beautiful” – “especially outside in the summer months” – at this famous half-timbered destination, which has been a restaurant since 1925 and is a major favourite in the area for special occasions thanks to its marvellous beamed interior and heavenly location in Constable Country. Even those who acknowledge these strengths, though, note that “the food varies in quality and does disappoint” as results are “only average and very overpriced”. Also, “service can go downhill, especially when there is a large wedding going on… but it is lovely…”

In a very comfortable 18th-century coaching inn, set in the “quaint village of Mistley”, California-bred Sherri Singleton’s neighbourhood restaurant (with rooms, plus a kitchen shop and cookery school) has long been of note for its “great seafood”, which includes “wonderful” grilled options, year-round Mersea oysters and bargain moules-frites nights on Thursdays. One caveat: owing to all the above (plus its great-value set meals and River Stour views) it “gets busy, so you must book”.

2023 Review: This “delightful old village pub/restaurant” earns consistently strong ratings for its locally sourced and well cooked meals, which appeal to “locals and walkers alike”.

Having switched hands from ‘Hotel Inspector’ Ruth Watson to six-strong group ‘The Hotel Folk’, there are “impressively high standards across the board in this charming Suffolk spot”; “fish is a strong point” of the operation, which is also reputed for its “relaxed ambience with a silver demographic”. “The interesting Orford Castle is close by” and can be glimpsed when dining al-fresco.

2021 Review: This comfortable old inn between Southwold and Aldeburgh has generated all-round enthusiasm since joining East Anglia’s Chestnut Group a couple of years ago: the food is well rated and “friendly staff make a meal here a real pleasure”.