Gateshead, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“A historic building with some lovely original features” – Kenny & Abbie Atkinson’s Grade I-listed sixteenth-century merchant’s house on the Quayside remains one of the city’s ‘crown jewel’ eateries. It inspired less feedback than its sibling this year, but all rated it as “outstanding”: “the cuisine was delicious and presented very precisely; the sommelier was very knowledgeable and engaging. I would certainly recommend”.

Troy Terrington’s casual fine-dining venue (sibling to Blackfriars and Hinnies in Whitley Bay) occupies the well-known Quayside address which became famous as ‘21 Queen Street’ (long RIP) in days gone by. There was the odd “disappointing” experience this year, but for the most part feedback praises its “excellent” cuisine, including the optional five-course and seven-course tasting menus (£40/£65 per person lunches and Thursday, £60/£75 per person at weekend dinners) praised for “some exceptional dishes”.

2021 Review: Terry Laybourne’s 21 Group closed the beloved Caffè Vivo in August 2018 to much local ire, but after a remarkably short interregnum, the space was “reinvented as an imaginative, wine-led tapas restaurant” (“still with an Italian slant”, and featuring a new bar and metro-chic décor). Reassuringly, head chef Emanuele Lattanzi, a carry-over from the Vivo days, oversees the menu, which dances about all over the place (mac ‘n’ cheese, black pudding, etc.) but so far it’s the “fascinating wine list” which draws all the comments.

2022 Review: This Art Deco (1938) landmark (incorporating Newcastle's only surviving indie cinema) closed for much of the COVID-19 pandemic and started a phased reopening in August 2021. The coffee rooms are in the final phase following a new floor and refurbishment of furnishings throughout the building.

This Ouseburn outfit is “worth seeking out, even though it is off the beaten track”, for its “quirky but delicious food and really good service”. Founder Anna Hedworth worked at Quo Vadis and Rochelle Canteen in London before setting up in a shipping container in Newcastle, and moved on to the current open-kitchen venue six years ago.

2022 Review: You wouldn’t necessarily expect it from the unassuming façade, but former River Café alum Nick Grieve's “small but adventurous” bistro on the main road through Jesmond turns out some “outstanding quality” food – currently in the format of a six-course, no-choice menu (£59).

Le Gavroche-trained chef Dave Coulson came home to open this “firm favourite” in Jesmond, with a winningly puntastic name; the “very good” seasonal tasting menus “mostly favour grown-up tastes” – and if you want to try them for less, there’s a “great-value lunch deal called ‘2,1,2,1,2’”.

2022 Review: Scant reports – too few for a rating – on this ‘upmarket neighbourhood dining room’ from ex-House of Tides chef Danny Parker, in the venerable Jesmond Dene location once part-owned by Terry Laybourne. In addition to dinner service and Sunday lunch, daily afternoon tea is a feature.

This “lovely hotel” in a “beautiful” Grade II-listed Arts and Crafts house remains a satisfying getaway, being particularly “perfect for afternoon tea”. There are several dining spaces, ranging from a bar offering light snacks to the dedicated Fern Dining Room for heartier meals.

2022 Review: A “super-friendly and efficient” stone-fronted country boozer, where chef Paul Johnson (a Nathan Outlaw alum) delivers a “great menu selection” that saw it walk off with a CAMRA Pub of the Year accolade not too long ago.

Kenny Atkinson’s “fantastic inventive food”, delivered across a “truly exceptional menu of 17 bitesize courses” (for £175 per person) in this “intimate” yearling, next-door to his flagship House of Tides, is “an absolute must-do if you are in Newcastle”. “It might be expensive, it might be exclusive and it might be incongruous in the current economic climate, but it’s also exceptional and well worth the treat if you can afford it” – and is many of our diners’ choice as “the best cooking eaten in the last 12 months”.

Chef Ruari MacKay (former head chef of the city’s now defunct Bistro 21) – with collaborators Gemma Robinson and Craig Lappin-Smith – raised £100,000 from crowd-funding to launch this simply decorated newcomer, which launched in late 2022, in a courtyard just over the river from the ancient city centre. The only option is a six-course tasting menu: feedback is still limited but says that “overall for the price it’s excellent, and served by friendly staff”.

Jake & Laura Siddle – long-term senior staff at Newcastle’s House of Tides – quit their jobs to launch their own ambitious restaurant in the centre of Durham, with the blessing of their mentor, House of Tides founder Kenny Atkinson. Heaven knows, it’s a town that could use a venue of some ambition. It opened in April 2023 (late in the day to inspire feedback in our annual diners’ poll) and offers a 10-course menu for £98 (lunch is shorter and simpler for £60). Faru means journey in Old English.

In the multi-tasking (shop, eat, stay) Vallum Farm complex near Hadrian’s Wall, and occupying an old cow barn, there’s “lots to love” about this “absolutely amazing” venture, which was set up by Cal Byerley and partner Siân Buchan several years back. Together the duo delivers a “fantastic experience”, from Cal’s “ever-developing and sophisticated”, Nordic-inspired tasting menus, fuelled by produce from the kitchen garden and Northumberland countryside, to Vanessa’s “incredible” matching wines.