Carpenders Park, British, Traditional Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “Just reopened and even better than before”, this ultra-lux country-house hotel has an unusual ‘high-concept’ buffet-style dining room inspired by Asian food halls, with chefs cooking at eight ‘live action food stations’ (robata grill, seafood, tandoor oven et al), from which guests choose as much as they want. It’s not fine dining, but it is good-value in its way and it’s something-for-everyone style suits entertaining or a family get-together.

Katherine (daughter of the late Terry Wogan) and Henry Cripps have long stewarded this top-class, good-value gastroboozer, in a “nice location” near the local golf club; the “seriously good food” makes it “much more than a pub” and “friendly staff” ensure a good welcome.

A “very pleasant country pub” helmed by Sally & Alvin Michaels for two decades, and whose “good food” of Anglo-French bent (including home-smoked fish and meat, and local game) “attracts diners from well beyond its area”; indeed, one reporter who took far-flung American visitors found that they “loved the location and quaintness” of this attractive Georgian locale – also handy for the Harry Potter experience at Warner Bros Studio nearby.

This “hidden gem” – a picture-book Grade II-listed Georgian tavern down a Hampstead side street – is “a great place to take the day off work”, particularly “now the food has been improved”.

A “top pub garden” is the trump card of this handsome, green-tiled tavern on the Chiswick-Acton border, and it’s backed up by “super-attentive service, great food” and “a lively buzz”. It’s been “consistently good” in its current guise for more than 20 years.

“Sensationally good grilled plaice” and the “freshest fish and prawns” help make this 55-year-old north London chippy a “favourite place to go to be cheered up” (“my partner and I think it’s well worth catching the two buses needed to get there!”). “Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan is known to frequent it when playing in the Masters Championships at nearby Ally Pally”. Top Menu Tip – “always order the delicious Greek salad, with the family’s own-recipe dressing”.

One of London’s original gastropubs, Tom Conran’s Irish-themed “neighbourhood joint” in Bayswater still hits the spot after nearly 30 years. “Whoever is in the kitchen does a terrific job, as the food is delicious”. It “can be noisy with bigger parties” and “the upstairs dining room is only small” – but you can always eat in the main bar.

“Now under new management”, this “small and friendly” pub – in the picturesque Hammersmith backstreets known as ‘Brackenbury Village’ – has gone from good to better. It has always been a “solid, welcoming local, with good food and well-kept beer” and its new incarnation is just that bit ‘next-level’: with its “well judged and executed seasonal menus and quality wines by the glass” it’s “buzzing”.

“Great food and drink, especially pizza” makes it worth remembering this stylish (if sometimes noisy) Olympia pub-conversion, a few minutes’ walk from Brook Green (part of the Oak group).

Mathew Carver’s floating ode to the cheeses of Britain and Ireland is a 96 ft double-decker barge moored in Paddington Basin that delights turophiles with cheese-based meals accompanied by a “nice selection of wines at a reasonable price”, with simpler cheese boards and toasties available in the afternoon. The group also operates a cheese conveyor belt in Seven Dials and a new cheese and natural wine bar, Funk, in Shoreditch.

“This upmarket local café” with artistic leanings in Primrose Hill has a “great vibe, relaxed-yet-warm service and consistently good food”. Founded by actor Sam Frears and novelist Andrew O’Hagan, who live nearby, it has an artist-in-residence programme and hosts readings, live music and community supper clubs.