Saffron Walden Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Jamie Oliver’s parents Trevor & Sally retired from this sixteenth-century village gastropub after 44 years in November 2020, so it has recently changed hands: it’s now a part of the 12-strong Chestnut group of pubs. The Olivers always ran the Cricketers well, but regulars say “(even in the tepee) the food is possibly up a notch”.

2021 Review: “In the heart of Walthamstow Village”, this “great neighbourhood spot” – a Spar supermarket with kitchen attached – wins praise for its “quality” cooking (“the 2019 Harden’s description of pub-type grub underplays its standard and originality”). “Very relaxed and welcoming for young children”, the venture’s best-known innovation is bacon jam, which you can buy by the jar in various flavours. Other branches have opened in Hackney and, most recently, Hammersmith (somewhat better-served areas, so these respective branches are somewhat less of a local lifeline).

2023 Review: Limited but positive feedback on this successful vegan, which shifted to this new location in a new development near the station in 2021. Worth remembering if you are catching a train and a place of pilgrimage for those who eat meat-free. It’s a rare Cambridge eatery that has spawned openings in the capital (see also).

In scenic Grantchester just outside Cambridge, this “modern and not overcrowded” inn makes an attractive run out of town and generates consistent reports of its “decent” cooking. And ‘is there honey still for tea?’ – as Rupert Brooke famously asked in his 1912 poem set in Grantchester. The answer is a resounding No: the owners seem to have missed a trick with their afternoon tea menu.

“Invaluable in the centre of Cambridge”, this smart independent bistro (est. 2009) maintains a “consistently high standard” with its Anglo-European cooking, and the “covered courtyard area makes a lovely place for dinner” in more clement months.

Former MasterChef finalist Alex Rushmer’s follow-up (est. 2019) to the nearby Hole in the Wall in Little Wilbraham “goes from strength to strength”, offering what’s clearly a “top gastronomic experience” (and, for one reporter, “a favourite restaurant of all time”); the rather “eye-opening” plant-based menu uses only local, ethical and regeneratively grown produce, but this is “such clever food you barely notice that there is no meat”.

2022 Review: “Consistently excellent burgers from a small fleet of vintage Citroën vans” – painted bright yellow and red – ensure this small local brand has high visibility around Cambridge. You can also sample the burgers from a more conventional bricks and mortar site in Wheeler Street.

2021 Review: This “meaty joint” occupies an attractive converted mill, complete with working water wheel. It “continues to please students and locals in its airy space overlooking river and millpond (I saw a kingfisher!)”.

Starry local chef Tristan Welch (whose CV includes stints with Rhodes, Ramsay, Roux Jr. et. al.) is behind this “wonderful brasserie” in a “lovely setting” at the recently revamped University Arms hotel, overlooking Parker’s Piece green. East Anglian produce informs the cooking, which is “good” (if not spectacular) by all accounts, and makes it never less than “a reliable choice” when in this varsity town.

2023 Review: “Focused on simple dishes, with excellent ingredients, all elevated by sharp cooking” – the year-old grill at this new Graduate Hotel (named for the previous hotel on this site) wins positive feedback in our annual diners’ poll (but too limited for a rating).

2021 Review: Look out for the bright yellow Citroën van, if you want to try veteran restaurateur Regis Crépy’s latest venture, selling Alsatian pizza-type Flammekueche in a Cambridge food court. For a tasty, cheap ’n’ cheerful snack that’s a little out of the ordinary, these “light”, “fresh-tasting” and “reasonably priced” wafers of bread dough complete with toppings are just the job.

“A fantastic selection of beers (and gins)” makes the popular former home of E. M. Forster “a very useful and welcome gastro-choice in central Cambridge, where other options are not great”. The food is “reliable” and “decently done but nothing earth-shattering”. Top Tip – “stay downstairs: the upstairs dining room can have a chilly ambience”.

“Expensive, but high-quality yakitori skewers and sushi” are a “delicious and original offering that suit all ages”, and win little but praise for this “very consistent” chain, whose minimalist Scandi style reflects its origins in Copenhagen. Success continues to bring fast expansion, with recent openings in Westfield W12 (in December 2022) and Shoreditch (in March 2023) and more soon to follow in Richmond (October 2023) and Kingston (early 2024). Phew! Top Menu Tip – “truffle paste cauliflower side dish to die for (who knew?)”.

This “always reliable” outfit in a prime tourist location pleases carnivores with its selection of classic British cuts of meat – while the “midweek early evening short menu is very reasonable”. “The ambience is much better if you can get a ground-level table” with views of King’s College Chapel – (“but usually you can’t!”).

2022 Review: Ambitious and “exciting” Indian cuisine is on the menu at this Cambridge operation, which crossed the road into new premises in late 2021 (rendering obsolete complaints of “peeling wallpaper”). Reporters recommend choosing one of the tasting menus, which offer seven courses of standard, vegetarian or vegan dishes – “it meant that I tried dishes I wouldn’t normally choose and really opened up new flavours to me”.

Like the other links in Richard Caring’s ubiquitous national chain, this “bustling” brasserie is a “very slick operation, with great decor”, and it’s useful for “breakfast that will set you up for the day” or “lunch on a shopping trip to Cambridge”. But although it’s consistently decently rated and thought to be “a nice clone”, it “has lost any magic associated with the Theatreland original”.

“Still at the very top level, with some unforgettable dishes” – Daniel Clifford’s brilliantly situated Victorian villa is one of the country’s better-established and most renowned culinary destinations. It helps that it has a charming location – next to the River Cam opposite the varsity’s many boathouses and in the middle of the greenery of Midsummer Common – and its overall approach “has an air of formality without being formal!” There’s an eight-course evening tasting menu for £250 per person (or a four-course lunch for £150 per person), which on practically all accounts is a “dreamy” gastronomic voyage created by head chef Mark Abbott; and backed up by a “hugely interesting” wine list (introduced by a “brilliant sommelier”). As always, there is the odd gripe about the level of expense here, absent which ratings might be even higher. But the most common sentiment this year? – “everything was perfect!”

“Good, well-made pizzas” are served by “cheerful and helpful staff” at Scott Holden’s modern all-day operation, carved out of a pair of 200-year-old shop fronts on a Mill Lane corner. By day the menu leans toward American-style brunch dishes, turning towards Italy with pasta dishes in the evening.