Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Shipton Oliffe
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Shipton Oliffe restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 42 restaurants in Shipton Oliffe and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Shipton Oliffe restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Shipton Oliffe Restaurants
2. Corse Lawn Hotel
British, Traditional restaurant in Corse Lawn
2023 Review: In July 2022, Baba Hine put this long-established hotel (which she started with her late husband 40 years ago, and ran by herself for 17 years) on the market, having decided it’s time to retire. Incorporating a 40-cover restaurant and similar-sized bistro, it’s too soon as yet to predict the next chapter for this well-known establishment, hence for the time being it’s unrated.
3. Wheatsheaf Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Northleach
West End - GL54
2022 Review: Superdry sartorial star Julian Dunkerton, behind the Lucky Onion Cotswold group, owns this “reliable and buzzing” country hotel, where “amazing local ingredients” are “beautifully cooked in a gorgeous setting”. The odd service blip but it's “overall a very memorable eating experience”.
4. Prithvi
Indian restaurant in Cheltenham
37 Bath Road - GL53
“Outstanding and imaginative cooking with an Indian twist” is key to the success of this “elegant and evolved restaurant” over the past dozen years. Locally born founder Jay Rahman worked at top-ranked Birmingham venues Lasan and Purnell’s before taking over and transforming his uncle’s traditional curry house, fka Hassan’s. In line with its evolution, “the sommelier suggests some interesting and well-thought-out wine pairings”.
5. Purslane
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
16 Rodney Rd - GL50
Chef-patron Gareth Fulford’s small indie is a “friendly” location in which to dine upon sustainable seafood and Cotswolds produce – either from the “great set-price lunch”, which changes weekly, or the bi-monthly-changing à la carte. It doesn’t inspire a huge volume of feedback, but fans say it’s an “underrated” restaurant that outperforms the local competition.
6. Le Champignon Sauvage
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
24-28 Suffolk Rd - GL50
“The yardstick against which we compare everything and few, if any, can compete with the quality and value” – an oft-repeated compliment for David & Helen Everitt-Matthias’s long-established temple of foodie pilgrimage (“it is lucky we live 2.5 hours away as if it was closer I doubt we would go anywhere else”). David’s cuisine is “always original, seasonal and well judged and – though carefully presented – avoids the irritating Instagrammability sometimes found elsewhere”. “Helen presides over the room and also the wine with grace” in a manner that’s both “friendly and professional” and the “very good list” is an attraction in itself with “the ample selection of half bottles being a bonus”; and “the cheese basket is a tour de force”. Even devotees concede that “some might find the atmosphere sedate” – a more critical view is that “excellent food and wine is let down by an overly formal approach and lack of ambience” (“the reverential tone is not where we are in 2023!”). Overall, though, the verdict is of a stalwart that’s “serene, calm, well-spaced and good humoured… if there’s a better place to enjoy terrific cooking whilst having a good conversation, I’d like to know about it!”
7. Bhoomi
Indian restaurant in Cheltenham
52 Suffolk Rd - GL50
“Stylish decor, food bursting with flavour and charming staff” win consistently high ratings across the board for local restaurateur Michael Raphel’s venue, inspired by the flavours his chef-grandfather brought to the UK from South India. Fans feel “it’s less ambitious than Prithvi (same ownership) but in some ways nicer”. Top Tip – “lunchtime thali is a delightful bargain, with great tastes for a snip”.
8. Kibou Cheltenham
Japanese restaurant in Cheltenham
Regent Arcade, Regent Street - GL50
2023 Review: “What a wonderful experience” – this original of what is now a national chain (branches in Bristol, London and Solihull) serves “wonderful sushi” and other Japanese dishes that are “as good if not better since it moved to larger premises” – “the most stressful part of visiting is choosing from the menu!”. Top Tip – “the aptly named volcano roll”.
9. L’Artisan
French restaurant in Cheltenham
30 Clarence St - GL50
The Ogrodzki’s “traditional neighbourhood bistro” is a real local magnet for its accomplished Gallic cooking, with Jay Rayner’s 2021 review in The Observer also praising its beautiful homage to the ‘80s. In June 2022, after almost a decade in business, the fine diner pivoted to a more casual bistro/‘Café du Midi’, offering breakfast and set lunch menus from 10am-4pm. Whether or not less is more, it was praised this year for its “changing seasonal menus, authentic dishes, pleasantly cluttered” decor and “delightful service that’s so verrrrry French”.
10. Lumière
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
Clarence Parade - GL50
“At last! A well-deserved Michelin star” for John and (FOH) Helen Howe’s “small, intimate and sophisticated modern British venture” and its considerable fan club is “absolutely delighted” that it is “finally getting the recognition it deserves” (although, to be fair, the question is what took them so long, as we’ve been raving about this place for many years). “Every element is perfectly crafted” to deliver “sublime cooking and stunning presentation” (with much of the produce sourced from a relative’s farm) all “delightfully served”, combining to make Lumière “as good as it gets” – “just what a perfect restaurant should be”.
11. No 131
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
131 Promenade - GL50
2022 Review: In a prime town-centre location, this luxurious hotel (ultimately owned by Superdry founder Julian Dunkerton) is converted from a trio of Georgian townhouses. On limited feedback in this survey, the themes here are the same as in previous years: “attractive setting and good food… but all at a high price”.
12. The Ivy Montpellier Brasserie
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
Rotunda Terrace, Montpellier Street - GL50
“The rotunda is wonderful”, and “can make a visit stand out” at this branch of the ubiquitous chain, which otherwise conforms to type with “food and service that are professional, reliable and entirely anonymous” – “one could eat the same dish every day and find it unvarying, while being treated politely but distantly by the staff”.
13. No. 3 Restaurants
British, Modern restaurant in Cheltenham
12 Royal Crescent - GL50
2022 Review: Rugby World Cup AND Celebrity MasterChef winner Phil Vickery has opened his own restaurant, with his wife Jules and chef Tom Rains, after a year of running a delivery service, No.3 at Home.
14. The Coconut Tree
International restaurant in Cheltenham
59 Saint Paul's Road - GL50
2022 Review: Part of a now eight-strong chain, this youthfully spirited Sri Lankan street-food venture is a laid-back and “homely” (mostly bar stool seating) spot to indulge in some “delicious” sharing plates and wacky “cocktails” – the latter sometimes on fire; best bit – it's “not pricey”, either.
15. 5 North Street
British, Modern restaurant in Winchcombe
5 North St - GL54
“Constant high quality both in taste and inventiveness” has been a hallmark of chef-patron Gus Ashenford’s cooking at the “always delightful” small restaurant, a converted Cotswold tea room, he has run with his wife Kate for two decades. His modern British dishes, underpinned by the French classical techniques he learned under his mentor, the late Michel Roux Senior, invariably “look beautiful on the plate”.
16. 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.
17. 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.
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. The Village Pub
International restaurant in Barnsley
Opening June 2024, in the Cotswold village of Barnsley, the first pub from the shabby-chic Pig hotel group, which has taken over boutique hotel Barnsley House across the road (also opening summer 2024). The food is a pubby version of the Pig formula, with a hearty menu based around locally sourced ingredients, served in rustic comfort.
20. Barnsley House
British, Modern restaurant in Barnsley
2021 Review: Owned by the same folk as The Village Pub, just across the road, this “very fancy” boutique hotel turns out “solid cooking with bold flavours”, and uses “a lot of produce straight from the garden”.
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