Watermillock Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “A rather ordinary looking chippie on a narrow pedestrianised lane in the centre of town” that’s something of a local mainstay. On limited feedback, it gets a strong thumbs up: “the long queue is tightly managed. Portions are large and there’s very good chips, plus homemade tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon. Good to see that potatoes are local and fish are MSC certified”.

“A rather anonymous exterior in the ubiquitous local red sandstone makes this excellent little restaurant somewhat missable at first glance”, but venture inside the former bank and you’ll find a “remarkably creative restaurant” offering “a menu of essentially bistro classics, all done well and with obvious generosity”. Add in “relaxed, thoughtful and non-intrusive service”, and it won nothing but praise this year, with one reporter even keen to award it “11 out of 10”. Top Menu Tip – “The slow-cooked beef with Parmesan and truffle chips was a dish of the year”; “a venison suet pie, rich with port, and served with an improbably delicious blue cheese mash and whisky stock-based sauce was the ultimate tasty comfort food, whose deliciousness outweighed the large portion… I still managed a lovely sticky toffee pudding though!”

It might look like “an old-fashioned, wood-lined pub room”, but Ben Queen-Fryer’s five-year old is in fact “a food paradise in the heart of the Lake District” that “deserves all of its accolades”. “A warming log fire and warmer welcome” abet cooking “with flair and invention” (“amazing what a one-man kitchen can produce”). You are not prisoner of a tasting menu here, with three courses for £68 per person available alongside a longer tasting option for £89 per person.

2023 Review: “Well-cooked food”, most notably the Grasmere Herdwick lamb that appears in various guises – the signature shepherds’ pie, a slider in a brioche bun, a Greek-style roast shoulder – is par for the course at this family-run restaurant-with-rooms. Breakfast is a particular hit, too.

“Whether you’ve just been for a hike up Skiddaw (just to the north) or a gentle stroll around the lake” (Derwentwater, just to the south), restore your spirits at this buzzing bistro, whose adventurous and keenly priced dishes (aka “fellpots”) make it “the best thing in town” according to its fans. The owners’ local mini-empire also includes cocktail and burger bar The Round, set on the storied fell-running ground of Keswick’s Market Square (where many loops start from the door) and, as of 2022, Fellpack House (FKA The Hazeldene), a nine-bedroom boutique hotel on ultra-pretty street The Heads.

Opened way back in the heyday of Britpop (1996), Chrissy & Andy Hill’s Grasmere stalwart started out serving homemade cakes, but its menu has expanded over the years to take in everything from handmade pastas to curries and ‘Jumble Room mainstays’ like Chrissy’s classic gingerbread with hot toffee sauce. There’s “always a buzz” in the eclectically decorated restaurant but, for one longtime fan, it is the “great food that keeps us going back”. PS – The owners also run bijou B&B the ‘Randy Pike’, on the outskirts of Ambleside.

“In the area, Zeffirelli‘s is rightly celebrated” – this Lakeland fixture (est. 1980) has been a feature of the town centre for nearly 45 years and is part of a quirky site incorporating a cinema and jazz bar. “Although it‘s a vegetarian restaurant, often people eat there without realising there’s no meat on the menu! The food’s well-presented and doesn‘t make a big fuss about being vegetarian”. “With lots of friendly staff, it’s deservedly popular”.

“The Lake District is not short of good places to eat at, but this stands out in an area of brilliant restaurants!” – so say fans of Ryan (chef) and Craig (manager) Blackburn’s well-established destination located in the former office of poet William Wordsworth from the days when he was the local stamp distributor. The main event in the evening is the ‘Journey around Cumbria’ tasting menu with eight courses for £95 per person: “superb food that thoroughly deserves its Michelin star” all delivered by “knowledgeable and warm” service. Top Tip – “priced at £55, it’s very good value for lunch: rabbit cannelloni is good, the steamed halibut superb, the hogget full of flavour and the rhubarb dessert delicious”.

James Cross is celebrating his tenth year at the stoves of this well-established Lakeland foodie mecca, where he has won acclaim for his “unique” cuisine: “incredible dishes with different inspirations, but with a nod to both Nordic and Asian influences” (the result of past stints at Noma, Per Se et al). The stripped-down interior is of a piece with the cuisine and staff are “very welcoming and friendly” too. Top Menu Tip – “The freshly baked bread is out of this world (we were given the rest to take home); The A5 Wagyu was incredible and they made us feel so special as it was our tenth anniversary”; “exceptional vanilla ice cream to finish”.

2022 Review: Below a cinema, this popular ‘Vegeterranean’ (vegetarian with a Mediterranean twist) has long been a feature of this Lakeland town. Prices are very reasonable.

2024 Review: On the lower slopes of Skiddaw, England’s third highest mountain, a luxury mid-Victorian Lakes hotel that “never fails to impress”. The restaurant has been relocated over the years to amplify the “wonderful views”, and it continues to please with its “good variety of dishes” (from Sunday lunch to salads and Cumbrian rarebit) that are also “exceptional value for money”.

2023 Review: Set in 27 acres, this country house hotel is one of the better-known luxury destinations in the Lakes and boasts a dining room whose floor-to-ceiling windows provide magnificent views of Windermere and the surrounding peaks, where chef Robby Jenks presides over the kitchen. It inspired very upbeat (but relatively little) feedback again this year, with nominations as an ideal romantic choice or for its impressive afternoon teas. For a full meal in the dining room, lunch is a four-course affair for £60 per person, and in the evening the sole option is a seven-course tasting menu at £115 per person.

2022 Review: Ratings weakened this year at this luxurious Lakeland hotel, whose wood-panelled, traditional dining room provides a splendid vantage-point for gazing over Lake Windermere. One reporter felt that the “competent, but potentially excellent, cooking was not value for money, due to willing but overstretched service” – perhaps signposting that the blip was due to the tribulations of the times?

“New chef Jack Bond has really hit the ground running” since he joined this “welcoming” converted coaching inn near Keswick with lovely views over the Whinlatter Forest in early 2024, delivering “excellent food in this stunning setting”. In July, he and his wife Beth (the general manager) took things one step further, purchasing the property from Liam & Kath Berney, who retired after 22 years. On early reports, they are making an excellent fist of their new venture, with a “treat” of a seven-course tasting menu (for £120 per person), while at lunch a five-course version is provided (at £75 per person). Top Menu Tip – “particular highlights were the Duck Leg ravioli with the lightest fluffiest Everything Bagel Shokupan; the Gin-cured Trout with Horseradish and the Pumpkin Agnolotti. A real surprise was the Creedy Carver Duck with Kalettes and Rhubarb served with a ‘citrine’ (which has cured my 50-year trauma caused by an unfortunate early duck a l’orange incident!). And the cocktails are sensational (the Winter Old Fashioned is particularly recommended!)”