Somerset, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“This small family-run restaurant never fails to please” – Adam & Martine Fellows celebrate the 20th anniversary of their fish-focused, French-inspired bistro this year, having moved to a new townhouse address in 2022. Their dishes are always “beautifully cooked and presented” and there’s a “variety of menus to suit different budgets”. Top Menu Tip – “excellent scallops in a champagne sauce with samphire and asparagus”.

“A great addition to the food scene in Somerset” – this two-year-old operation from chef-patron Nicholas Balfe (previously of the team behind Peckham’s Levan, now flying solo) occupies a converted bank, with a dining room in the original vault, open kitchen and diners’ counter. Foodwise, the focus is on reasonably priced modern bistro fare not a million miles from its original stablemate’s ‘bistronomy’. Other features include an outside terrace (for coffee or snacks) and rooms for a stay. Top Tip – “good value lunch menu”.

“A treat after viewing the interesting gardens” – this ‘Country House Reimagined’ is a handsome, limestone Georgian pile in lovely Somerset countryside and is the brainchild of billionaire Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos’s (ex-editor of Elle Decoration). Where eating is concerned, the main event is a “gorgeous” panelled traditional chamber (for more inexpensive meals, head for The Garden Café – “a beautifully designed glass box” overlooking the kitchen garden and orchards – ). “Good local produce, much from the grounds just outside” is presented alongside meat from heritage breeds on a three-course menu for £85 per person. One or two reports suggest “it’s good but doesn’t quite hit the heights it’s aiming for” but on most accounts it’s merely a “fantastic” experience – “love the range of Newt ciders” too.

A “small but perfectly formed bistro-style” venue which was set up by Richard Guest and FOH Cedric Chirrosel in 2011, and has since firmly made its mark on the local dining scene with its impeccable local sourcing and “nice French-style cooking” (also inflected by British and Asian touches). Fans say that the “idiosyncratic” venture is “as good as it gets locally” (“when it is open we never go anywhere else”).

This stunning converted chapel (with rooms, artisan bakery and wine shop) was long in the hands of Catherine Butler, but in summer 2022 slotted into the Stay Original Company’s roster of SW boutique hotels and pubs. “For a small town Bruton has plenty of places to enjoy good food” – and, albeit “less fancy than the others”, this remains a safe choice for “straightforward, well-cooked fare” (including “a lovely lunch after a walk round the wonderful Newt” country estate).

2021 Review: This “lovely” thatched village pub opened in 1680 as an inn for passing travellers, and still makes a “delightful stopover” just off the A303 near Crewkerne. Ratings for its “high quality”, “classical” food have revived in the past 12 months under new owners backed by Nick Jones of Soho House (who also own the Beckford Arms at Tisbury and the Talbot Inn at Mells). Steve Hill and Michelle Payton, who ran it for 15 years, have retired to France.

This “newly refurbished family-owned pub with rooms” – originally a mid-Victorian cider house – in a “lovely village” near Sherborne, makes for a “perfect stop-over en route to Devon or Cornwall”, with “agreeable service” and “reliable food including interesting fish dishes”. Co-owner Doune Mackenzie-Francis has a foodie background as a former marketing manager for Leith’s School of Food & WIne.

2022 Review: Opened in June 2021, this tastefully revamped old pub is the work of the Eggleton family – the team behind The Pony & Trap (now known as The Pony Chew Magna). The offering, realised by chef Jordan Meagher, “centres around proper ‘pub classics’”.

“Worth the trip to the pretty, hip rural Somerset village of Bruton for an occasion” – Merlin Labron-Johnson’s “incredible” venue enjoys a massive following out of all proportions to its tiny size; and is one of the most commented-on destinations outside London in our annual diners’ poll this year. There’s no menu at this “very farm-to-table oriented place” – for £120 per person (with a cheaper, cut-down lunch alternative) you put yourself in his hands and the “expertly prepared” results are “exquisite… bursting with flavour”. “Service is light but gracious and the atmosphere, in the small but beautifully decorated room, is lovely if lacking a bit of life…” but all that’s about to change since, in autumn 2023 he successfully completed an oversubscribed £125,000 kickstarter campaign to create ‘Osip 2.0’ in a new space. Details to follow.

A “small restaurant in Sherborne, owned by an Australian couple”, and where the “good” and “unusual” food pays testament to chef Paul Merrony’s Gallic training with the likes of Albert Roux at Le Gavroche; there’s an “interesting list of well-chosen wines at reasonable prices to match the excellent food”.

“Great modern European food using locally sourced ingredients at very reasonable prices” again wins praise for this local fixture. Chef-patron Sasha Matkevich grew up in south Russia but has lived in England for 30 years.

2023 Review: “Fantastic for a foodie weekend” – this comfortably boho country-house hotel in the Mendip Hills from the Pig group owes its vibe to the shabby-chic interior designed by Judy Hutson, wife of Robin Hutson (ex-Hotel du Vin and Soho House) who founded the chain a dozen years ago with backing from Ineos billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. The 25-mile kitchen sourcing regime results in some “amazing local ingredients” on the table.

2022 Review: The team from the former Pony & Trap in Chew Magna – nowadays The Pony Chew Valley – opened for the first time in Bristol with this new venture in May 2021 (rather late in the day to inspire survey feedback). The menu features dishes cooked over open fire from chef Hugo Harvey. But the ‘bistro’ appellation seems a bit of a misnomer, as the only evening option (there is a cut-down lunch alternative) is a 4-course menu and you need to pay up-front if you book in advance (which is the presumption).

This “delightful genuine neighbourhood restaurant” on a quiet street corner in Southville is “almost perfect – unpretentious, effortless and with sublime food and drinks”. Launched after lockdown, it serves a “delicious Italian-inspired menu” from chef-owner Pegs Quinn, who spent four years at the famous River Café, while his wife Mary Glynn ensures a “friendly and welcoming service, so it’s like being a guest in someone’s home”. “The room is nothing to speak of but that doesn’t matter as it’s about the conviviality and the awesome cooking”.

“Small restaurant – great food”; that’s still the deal at Elliott Lidstone’s 14-seaters in two shipping containers at Bristol harbour’s Cargo development. There’s an à la carte menu of affordable modern bistro cooking, or you can go the whole hog and opt for their seven-course unwritten tasting menu, which costs £55 per person (with optional wine flight at £40 a head).

“A container with a terrace” on the docks which, despite not being strictly veggie, “elevates even the humblest of veg to mouth-watering delights”. In December 2022, chef Rob Howell and partner Megan Oakley (ex-of the Pony & Trap) launched a sister restaurant, Root Wells, in Wells, Somerset, following the same ‘more veg, less meat’ ethos.