Rugby Restaurant Guide

“Consistently good French bistro-style food, with great service fronted by Pascal” is the offer at this Leamington fixture, which is owned by Aubrey Allen, butcher to the late Queen – so you can have high expectations of the steak-frites on offer (‘best of British native breeds’, naturally).

Still “maintaining a brilliant dining experience” a decade after winning the tyre men’s acclaim, this pub in a 19th-century building (the dining space is a former schoolroom, the bar an old butcher’s shop) is the brainchild of Andreas Antona, owner of famed Brum haunt Simpson’s, and chef Adam Bennett, who also used to work there. Regulars never seem to tire of its “supreme quality” (“celebrated our 150th meal here this year”), and it’s much “better value” than other venues of its quality. For its many fans, “Adam, Andreas and the team are to be congratulated” (not least “for enhancing the value of properties in the neighbourhood”).