Welwyn Garden City Restaurant Guide

“Traditional village pub” serving “very good classic French food (“frog’s legs, boeuf bourguignon, crème caramel as a sample three-course lunch”) at a good price” – “Laurent [Brydniak, le patron] runs it very well and always makes a good occasion”. “Hidden down a quiet lane, it’s well worth the journey” – and makes a handy option if you’re visiting nearby Brocket Hall.

“Beautifully situated” beside a lake on the grand Brocket Hall Estate, this bucolic but luxurious former hunting lodge is acknowledged by fans as “a truly great choice for a special occasion”. It’s known for a high standard of traditional Anglo-French cuisine and for (older) traditional types it’s “very pleasing that all fellow diners make an effort to dress accordingly”. But it’s also often attracted lukewarm feedback over many years, and has a stop-go record with numerous long periods of closure, changes of chef, refurbs and relaunches, yet another of which is underway in September 2025 following a closure in May 2025.

“Tucked away in a little corner of Hertfordshire”, this pub/restaurant from “brothers in perfection” Tom (self-taught chef) & Ben (ex-Fat Duck manager) Bainbridge trades in meals that are “innovative, fun and enjoyable”, with an “absolute focus upon flavour” – “staff are warm, caring and always willing to have a laugh”, while the “impressive and comprehensive wine list covers the globe”. (For one fan, it all even added up to “an experience well worth an awful 58-mile drive, mostly on the M25!”). Top Menu Tip – “the most astonishingly flavoursome carrot purée ever tasted”.

In the safe hands of Phil Thompson (whose CV includes becoming Head Chef at the Auberge du Lac at age 24), this decade-old venture continues to do the casual fine-dining thing with aplomb. Reporters “like that there are a number of small rooms” in which to dine (upstairs is the main restaurant, and there’s also an airy conservatory opening onto the Victorian-style courtyard), while the “imaginative cooking” is “creative and beautifully presented” too, whether you opt for the set menus (£55 or £69 per person for two or three courses) or fancier tasting menu (£95 or £115 per person for five or seven courses).

“Delicious sharing plates” of Turkish food that is “so much more than you’d expect” (for instance, meat is sourced from the organic Rhug Estate in Wales) draws a steady crowd to this 10-year-old St Albans outfit and its spin-offs in Harpenden and Berkhamsted. “It gets really full and buzzy on a Saturday night – probably one to book well in advance”. Top Tip – “the staff cater brilliantly for allergens”.

“Yummy mummy hangouts” that have proliferated across the capital and its surrounding high streets over the past few years, with “relaxed and colourful décor” and “friendly waiting staff”. They are very accommodating to families, both “child-friendly” and “pooch central, with snacks and water” – although if you don’t bring your own, you might find there are “too many dogs”. The eastern Med-style cooking varies between “fresh and well prepared” at best to “adequate, sometimes slow” – while “bottomless Bloody Mary or Mimosa on a Sunday can be dangerous!”.

“A consistently good local” from this indie group based in Hertfordshire and with a focus on sustainability – something they pioneered way before it became trendy, running their outposts on green energy and recycling all their waste. Handy for the High Street and the 11th-century cathedral and abbey church, the bright and airy three-floor venue offers “well-sourced, mostly local food” that’s also well priced: £20.95 for two courses, and £23.95 for three.

Run by Sean Hughes and his family – the dining room at this pub in the Cathedral quarter has built a more-than-local reputation for its “very good cooking”, with headline features being some very fancy steaks, including the option of 1kg of Txuleta Prime Rib for £110 per portion. Top Menu Tip – “Good salt cod brandade; excellent chalk stream trout as is the Gorgonzola soldiers pudding”.

“Enjoyable” farmhouse in a countryside setting just north of London that’s “more restaurant than pub, and one of the best places in the area for good cooking” – “there’s lobster and oysters, you could ask for nothing more!” – from “an excellent and varied menu, alongside personable-but-efficient service and a good choice of reasonably priced wines”. It’s a “lively, vibrant” spot, and “in summer, tables out in the garden are lovely, particularly as the conservatory dining room can be very noisy”.

“The jewel of Cockfosters” at the northern end of the Piccadilly Line – this vibey self-styled ‘Anatolian with attitude’ serves “posh Turkish food” in a “great atmosphere” (“like you’re in a central London restaurant”, according to fans). The grilled meat is “very good”, and “on Saturday night there’s a DJ and people really dress up”. There’s a second branch at The Grove spa hotel near Watford and also (as of July 2025) an outpost in the West End (inside the Horizons Casino in Leicester Square).

2023 Review: This village pub-with-rooms just off the A1 offers “attractively presented food” on a menu which is “a cut above standard gastropub fare” – best enjoyed in the “new outside dining area, which in summer evokes a lovely Mediterranean feel”.

After working alongside Gary Rhodes and serving as Head Chef at Tom Conran’s Notting Hill venue The Cow, chef James Rix launched this smart Home Counties pub (replete with a large beer garden and heated gazebo) together with wife Bianca in 2004. Its rustic Italian- and French-inspired cuisine attracts reviews ranging from “good quality” to “excellent” – with meat (including Josper-grilled steak) a standout, and starters and desserts that are “not too shabby” either.

“An oasis in North London” for 25 years – Austrian-born Julius Oberegger’s “excellent local restaurant” in Whetstone is “the closest to fine dining without going to the West End” – with a “well prepared and imaginative menu” that skips round the world from fresh Jersey rock oysters and English rack of lamb to chicken Milanese, wok-fried noodles, and chilli and soy-glazed tofu.

Spacious and lavishly kitted-out gastropub in a “lovely setting on Totteridge Common” – billed as a ‘country pub in London’, its menu ranges from pizza, burgers and steaks to Sunday roasts. The food is “decent” by most accounts, if “not cheap”, but it’s a “pleasant” place to visit.

This 16th-century tavern in Mill Hill is run by brothers Luca & Matteo Delnevo, whose heritage is evident in the Italian menus that are served here: “much better than the other local pub offerings” and “never disappointing”. (And now, “they also have some Asian-style dishes” as part of the offering.)

“Reliable, high-quality Chinese fare” is the hallmark of this family-run operation now in its fifth decade, with five outlets in well-heeled parts of the capital. “Not all the food is authentic Chinese cuisine, but it is all immaculately prepared and as fresh as you like”, and comes with a “polite welcome and attentive service”. “A cut above – prices are to match”. Holland Kwok opened the original on Chelsea’s King’s Road in 1979, closely followed by branches in Esher, Mill Hill and Knightsbridge, then Wandsworth Common in 2011. He now runs the company with his son Andrew. Top Tip – “weekday lunch is exceptionally good value”.

This enticing multi-cuisine spread at a country estate hotel near Watford is a real bargain at £74 per person (£94 per person on Friday dinner and at weekends) – “if I win the lottery I’ll be here every week”. There’s an impressive array of ‘stations’ to mix-and-match, from sushi, robata grill and Asian, via seafood, roast meats, live pasta, stone-baked pizza and salad bar to cheese & charcuterie, vegan and dessert. All-in-all, it makes for an experience that is entertaining and fun for all the family, if not necessarily very foodie.

Away from the main property, with a terrace facing onto the golf course, this casually luxurious venue is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and would suit a smartly dressed-down weekend family meal. With its brasserie menu incorporating a selection of burgers and chicken and steak grills, fans “prefer it to the generally more highly rated Glasshouse at the same venue” although even some who mark it highly say: “it’s good, but some of the prices are just far too high”.

“Freshest fish” from Grimsby and “wonderful chips” are the hallmarks of this “reliable stalwart of Finchley” – a “friendly and fast-service” family-run Turkish chippy, which opened in 1998. Some regulars, though, feel it’s “a shame they reduced the size of the restaurant (it’s now cramped and doesn’t feel quite as nice)”.

“A hidden gem, off the beaten track in Ashridge Forest”, this village pub is “well worth finding” for its “very interesting menu (that changes every fortnight) and pretty rural location” just outside London. David & Becky Salisbury have been at the helm for more than 25 years, and ensure that the kitchen keeps abreast of contemporary dietary requirements.