Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Chipping Norton
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Chipping Norton restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 32 restaurants in Chipping Norton and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Chipping Norton restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Chipping Norton Restaurants
1. The Fuzzy Duck
British, Modern restaurant in Armscote
Ilmington Road - CV37
Within striking distance of Stratford upon Avon (about seven miles away), this boutique inn has been spruced up by Adrian and Tania Slater – the owners of Baylis & Harding – in ‘Contemporary Cotswolds’ style and offers pub classics (steak, chicken pie, fish ’n’ chips) alongside more brasserie-style items (e.g. tortellini, duck breast).
2. Minster Mill
British, Modern restaurant in Minster Lovell
Old Minster - OX29
2023 Review: Limited but good all-round feedback on this handsome hotel on the fringe of the Cotswolds and a short drive from Oxford (part of Andrew Brownsword’s luxurious group), whose beautiful terrace borders the banks of the River Windrush. In the beamed, pitched-roof dining room, chef Joshua Brimmell holds a hard-to-win three AA rosettes.
3. The Yurt at Nicholsons
restaurant in North Aston
Nicholson Nurseries, The Park - OX25
The Yurt at Nicholsons offers a unique dining experience with exquisite, locally sourced menus.Nestled in the leafy village of North Aston, The Yurt’s Michelin-recommended restaurant is situated in the heart of Nicholsons nursery and has be...
4. The Castle at Edgehill
British, Modern restaurant in Edgehill
Main Street - OX15
2022 Review: A dearth of feedback this year on this eye-catching landmark, which looks like a fairytale castle and occupies a striking position, with marvellous views over the countryside (and, for history anoraks, sits near a famous battleground from the English Civil War). Expect decent gastropub fare and a particularly cosy bar.
5. The Chequers
British, Traditional restaurant in Churchill
Church Lane - OX7
Smartly renovated with a ‘no foam’ menu of elevated pub grub to match, this honey-coloured boozer in an idyllic Cotswold village has “benefited from the ‘Country Creatures’ treatment” (now known as Lionhearth) under the co-ownership of locally based billionaire property developer Sir Tony Gallagher, lynchpin of the Chipping Norton set. These days, “the main problem is getting a table”.
6. The Kingham Plough
British, Modern restaurant in Kingham
The Green - OX7
This high-profile Cotswold gastroboozer near Chipping Norton is “always worth a visit” for its “relaxed ambience” and “consistent and tasty” food, from an “interesting menu which uses great local produce”. Matt & Katie Beamish, who have worked for luminaries including Raymond Blanc and Fergus Henderson, took over a few years ago from Emily Watkins, who put the pub on the map – and have created a local group by snapping up The Hare at Milton under Wychwood and The Crown at Church Enstone, too.
7. The Wild Rabbit
British, Modern restaurant in Kingham
Church St - OX7
This fancy Cotswold gastropub is popular with the Chipping Norton set, being owned by Lady Bamford, the driving force of Daylesford Organic (who supply much of the produce). Chef Sam Bowser’s food elicited very solid marks this year, despite the occasional critic who feels it’s “overpriced, even for those of us used to London mark-ups”. Best way to do it? “Go for a country walk before or after and grab a room for the night”.
8. Daylesford Organic Farm, Trough Café
British, Modern restaurant in Daylesford
Daylesford near Kingham - GL56
Lady Bamford’s two-decade-old farm shop and café may be “home to the Chipping Norton set” but it’s “delightful” nonetheless, especially “when the weather is pleasant enough to sit out under the brollies in the courtyard and people-watch while having something tasty for lunch”. Popularity doesn’t come cheap, but one reporter found it “very reasonably priced” this year, bucking the usual critiques.
9. The Boxing Hare
British, Modern restaurant in Swerford
Banbury Road - OX7
This Cotswold local for the Chipping Norton set is a “very busy pub on a Sunday, with great beef choices” and meat – sourced from a farm just six miles away – and is a mainstay on weekdays too: “even if it’s expensive, it’s well worth while ordering the very best of the menu”. Owner Antony Griffith Harris and chef Nick Anderson first worked together more than 35 years ago before teaming up here in 2017.
10. The Fox at Oddington
British, Modern restaurant in Lower Oddington
High Street - GL56
“The Fox has had a major makeover since the old days when it had the ambience of a venerable Cotswold pub” – as you’d expect since the July 2022 takeover by Lady Bamford and her Daylesford empire. Some old timers feel “the money lavished on its gentrification has not resulted in improvement”, although they concede the result is “very comfortable” and deliver a thumbs-up to its selection of posh pub grub (pizza, steak, burgers and Cornish fish for the most part). In early 2023, Giles Coren declared himself a fan too, even if there was nowhere close to park that wasn’t already taken by “gleaming Land Rovers and Porsches, piled three deep in the narrow lanes and stacked on pavements”.
11. The Fox at Oddington
British, Modern restaurant in Moreton-in-Marsh
Lower Oddington - GL56
2022 Review: In an attractive Cotswolds Hamlet, this ivy-covered sixteenth-century pub has been included in our guide for many years as somewhere that’s a cut above, with lovely courtyard garden, real ales and superior grub. With its 80 inside seats and 40 on the terrace, it was taken over in mid-2021 and given a refurb by Lady Carole Bamford, owner of nearby Daylesford Organic. Too few reports for a rating, but very early feedback says it’s “happily survived Covid and good all-round”.
12. The Swan Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Ascott-under-Wychwood
4 Shipton Road - OX7
2021 Review: The co-founders of group that owns The Chequers in the Cotswolds and The Talbot in North Yorkshire have added another historic venue to their collection – a 16th century inn, complete with a 100-cover dining room and seven guest bedrooms. No survey feedback as yet, but press reviews are very upbeat.
13. The Feathered Nest Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Nether Westcote
“Sample Michelin-chef food” (that chef being Matt Weedon, who won the honour at Glenapp Castle and Lords of the Manor) at this ex-malthouse-turned-country-bolthole in a chocolate-box Cotswolds village. Not only is the setting “wonderful” – ideally placed between Burford and Stow-on-the-Wold, and with “great views” over the Evenlode Valley from the garden – Weedon’s locally sourced cooking (not least the six-course tasting menu) is “wonderful” too.
14. The Old Butchers
Mediterranean restaurant in Stow on the Wold
Park St - GL54
“Simple food, well executed” and service to match are the watchwords at this seafood specialist with a mismatched name from former Bibendum head chef Pete Robinson and his wife Louise. The couple launched the venue in 2005, and their two children are increasingly members of the team.
15. The Killingworth Castle
British, Modern restaurant in Wootton
Glympton Road - OX20
In 2021, after selling The Ebrington Arms near Chipping Campden, which they’d run for 15 years, Jim & Claire Alexander were able to fully focus their attentions on this seventeenth-century inn, handy for Blenheim Palace; chef Adam Brown (a Ramsay alum) oversees the locally sourced food, which inspired solid marks this year, if little in the way of commentary (other than to say that it’s “good again at last” – perhaps a result of the Alexanders’ renewed focus).
16. Horse & Groom
British, Modern restaurant in Bourton On Hill
2021 Review: Classic, “lovely” Cotswolds inn, with rooms, that’s well-reviewed in all feedback for its “good pub food”. Even those who find it dependable, however, can feel that the menu “could use some more interesting dishes”.
17. The Swan Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Burford
Swinbrook - OX18
2023 Review: “High-quality pub food” and a “lovely setting by the river” earn high ratings across the board for this traditional Cotswolds inn. “On a brilliant sunny bank holiday Saturday, The Swan was rammed but the amazing staff never missed a beat – the chef & kitchen churned out really delicious food, and nobody was less than delighted with their choices”. Top Tip – “the sticky toffee reaches new heights of orgasmic satisfaction”.
18. The Slaughters Manor House
British, Modern restaurant in Lower Slaughter
Copsehill Rd - GL54
This archetypal Cotswolds manor house, just outside Bourton on the Water, occupies a seventeenth century property that’s nowadays part of Andrew Brownsword’s hotel group. The cuisine – under chef Nik Chappell – wins a consistent thumbs-up (“we do enjoy going here... results can be a bit hit and miss, but are mostly good! while service is very good and the dining room attractive”). As well as a fairly pricey à la carte (three courses for £80) there’s a relatively affordable all-day menu served in the bar and lounges (with dishes such as omelette Arnold Bennett, steak, posh sarnies, and so on).
19. Lords of the Manor
British, Modern restaurant in Upper Slaughter
Stow-on-the-Wold - GL54
2022 Review: “High-quality service and food” are on the menu at this famous Cotswolds hotel – a sumptuous seventeenth-century former aristocratic vicarage in honey-coloured local stone. In his first appointment as head chef, Charles Smith, who has a stint at New York’s Per Se on his impressive CV, has launched the new Atrium dining space (see also); more relaxed meals are available in the Dining Room.
20. Atrium at Lords of the Manor
British, Modern restaurant in Upper Slaughter
Stow-on-the-Wold - GL54
2022 Review: Limited but upbeat feedback on this relatively recent (2019) addition to the well-known Cotswolds manor house, with Charles Smith delivering a nine-course tasting menu for £95. Fans do say it’s “wonderful”, but we have to leave a rating till we have a few more reports.
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