Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Coggeshall
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Coggeshall restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 18 restaurants in Coggeshall and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Coggeshall restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Coggeshall Restaurants
1. The Windmill Chatham Green
British, Modern restaurant in Little Waltham
Chatham Green - CM3
The Windmill is hidden away in the charming Hamlet of Chatham Green near Chelmsford and the Racecourses, with the Essex walk just a stone's throw away.As a dog-friendly, family-run restaurant and pub, Tom and Nancy welcome you to discover exceptional, modern cuisine ser...
2. The Square and Compasses
British, Traditional restaurant in Fairstead
Fuller Street - CM3
You feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere at this country pub north of Chelmsford (and dating from 1652) – “a perfect venue for those that enjoy a country walk followed by a decent lunch”. “It really delivers on food” (generously portioned pub grub). “Great beers too!”
3. The Blue Strawberry
International restaurant in Hatfield Peverel
The Street - CM3
You “can’t go wrong” at this stalwart off the A12, where a rendered timbered façade gives way to a conservatory and covered patio. For over two decades it has been turning out traditional and consistent cuisine and, as ever, “the Beef Wellington is the pick of the menu”.
4. The Lion Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Boreham
Main Rd - CM3
2021 Review: “A short drive from Chelmsford” in “the heart of Essex” – this “highly recommended” inn is large enough to host weddings and conferences, with a spacious Victorian-style conservatory for dining that has a “real vibrant buzz”, along with “decent good-value food and very friendly service”.
5. Galvin Green Man
British, Traditional restaurant in Great Waltham
Howe St - CM3
“The Galvins’ rural outpost” – on home turf for the Essex-born-and-bred chef brothers – is much commented-on: a “great gastropub deep in the countryside”, where it’s “an oasis in an area with very little in the way of good eating”. The “smartly decorated” fourteenth-century venue is “well worth the trip” for its “consistently excellent food”, “special atmosphere” and “lovely views over an extensive garden”.
6. The Company Shed
Fish & seafood restaurant in West Mersea
129 Coast Road - CO5
“No frills” it may be (you must “BYO wine and bread”), but the “great seafood” – including the “freshest platters around”, plus hot options – at this very “quirky establishment” (basically a clapboard shack) mean that a visit is “always great fun”.
7. Shillingfords at The Foragers Retreat
International restaurant in Pebmarsh
The Courtyard - CO10
2022 Review: Carl & Beth Shillingford operate out of these converted former stables nowadays (having moved from art venue, The Quay in Sudbury, a few years ago). Food is served from breakfast and then deli-style throughout the day. On certain weekend evenings they bring back the full ‘Shillingford’s’ experience – providing a seasonal menu with many foraged ingredients. Limited but upbeat feedback – “a rustic-feeling place with good, rustic food”.
8. The Secret Garden Café & Restaurant
French restaurant in Sudbury
Buzzards Hall, 17 Friars Street, - CO10
“An unexpected delight in Sudbury” – a “lovely old house” with beams plays host to Stéphane Chapotot and Alain Jacq’s “excellent French eatery”, long a local light (and veggie-friendly too); post-pandemic, it has fused with the formerly separate café, and now serves “very well-sourced and presented” breakfasts and lunches, plus more gastronomic dinners on Fri/Sat.
9. The Crown
British, Modern restaurant in Stoke-by-Nayland
Park Street - CO6
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).
10. The Angel Inn
British, Traditional restaurant in Stoke-by-Nayland
Polstead St - CO6
“At last Suffolk has somewhere very special again” – this “relatively new, upmarket” outfit is set in a five-hundred-year-old country inn that has long had a culinary reputation. Fans say it’s “the best-looking restaurant for miles around”, and is “trying hard” – they’re “obviously chasing a star” in the kitchen, which is praised for its “great tasting menu” (the only option by night).
11. Pig & Whistle Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Chelmsford
Chignal Road, Chignal Smealy - CM1
In a village a short drive outside Chelmsford, this converted sixteenth-century pub has fine countryside views and provides a traditionally comfortable destination, complete with linen tablecloths, candles and cut glass. It wins good all-round feedback (if not a huge volume of reviews) and its modern brasserie fare (with steak, beef Wellington and cote de boeuf to share a highlight) helps it regularly feature in Essex food awards. (Owners Brendan Curran & Justin Mullender are also known for the quality of their put-downs on Tripadvisor!)
12. Stark
British, Modern restaurant in East Mersea
East Road - CO5
Ben & Sophie Crittenden’s tiny 12-seater “is a unique example of how a small, focused team can delight the diner”, with “superb cooking” and “terrific” six-course tasting menus that “never disappoint”. The couple opened the restaurant eight years ago so they could spend more family time with their three children; they closed their nearby tapas bar Dos at Christmas 2022 in the face of escalating costs.
13. Le Talbooth
British, Modern restaurant in Dedham
Gun Hill - CO7
“The delightful setting in Constable Country” makes this famous landmark – opened in 1925 – ideal for “special occasions and memorable meals”, and the beamed interiors are almost a match for the dreamy Dedham Vale location. But the pricey food has too often been judged “average” over many years – critics feel it “doesn’t live up to its reputation or ideal surroundings”.
14. Milsoms
Mediterranean restaurant in Dedham
Stratford Rd - CO7
This attractive hotel in Constable Country is “a very pleasant place to eat”, owing to its terraced gardens and “good basic bistro food” (“plus it’s always open”, which doesn’t hurt). Service is not always a highpoint though, and can be “slow”.
15. The Sun Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Dedham
High St - CO7
“An excellent” stopping-off point in the heart of Constable Country, this centuries-old coaching inn has all the beams and wood panelling you’d hope for – as well as “very tasty meals with nice accompaniments”. There are “lots of tourists”, of course, but it’s a “fun” and “reliable” operation under the same independent ownership for 21 years.
16. Black Lion
restaurant in Long Melford
The Grn - CO10
A fifteenth century inn overlooking the local green that’s ably helmed by the Chestnut Group, who run a series of characterful boozers across East Anglia; it’s praised for a “well-balanced menu” (steaks, fish, veggie options like risotto) and its handy location for visiting local stately homes, with NT property Melford Hall just a five-minute walk away.
17. Kintsu
British, Modern restaurant in Colchester
11a North Hill - CO1
This “lovely local restaurant” with a “cool London vibe in a hard-to-find location off the High Street” showcases chef-patron Paul Wendholt’s “just fantastic” modern British cooking. It’s a “tiny place”, so “sitting at the bar overlooking the open kitchen is really interactive”. The venue changed its name and direction two years ago – “I loved when it was Grain, and I’m so glad the new name and menu live up to expectations”.
18. Moto Pizza
Pizza restaurant in Chelmsford
24 Baddow Road - CM2
Press the green light for service, and then “eat until you can eat no more” – the “simple but effective” formula at this bottomless Neapolitan pizza joint, also with a Colchester spin-off; the “deliciously thin” pies support “fantastic food combinations” (but perhaps best to “go for lunch so that you have the rest of the day to digest all of the offerings!”).
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