Westerham Restaurant Guide

This sixteenth-century pub, complete with beams, log fires and an updated interior, has a “great small menu which changes constantly”. A “lovely spot” for a meal, “whether inside in the winter or in the garden in the summer”.

2023 Review: This “lovely” mid-Victorian boozer (believed to be the only ‘Haycutter’ in the country) earns solid ratings for its “good old-fashioned pub grub” and “brilliant” all-round performance. It is now part of the Brunning & Price group.

2022 Review: The French cuisine may not be cutting-edge, but it is both consistent and highly accomplished at this ten-year-old restaurant with rooms in north Surrey. Chef owners Laurent Pacaud and Martin Bradley ran the business as a catering company for ten years before that.

“A jeweled oasis” in the southeastern London ’burbs – this “exceptional venue continues to maintain the highest standards of hospitality” in an area a short drive from Bromley where there’s “not much competition”. Chef/Patron Andy McLeish trained under Nico Ladenis and has been at the stoves here since 2000 (with head chef Dean Ferguson joining shortly thereafter). “Reliably high-quality food” is provided in a “well-appointed” setting. Top Menu Tip – “jugged hare was a particular treat, not often seen on menus nowadays!”

“Still hitting the mark” – this family-run Cantonese flies more under the radar than once it did, but inspires nothing but positive reports from its loyal fan club (“consistently good… never had a bad meal here”).

Tony McDermott’s “great fish ’n’ chip shop” has earned an enviable reputation for its “fantastic fish and really good service” over almost 40 years – making a less-than-glamorous corner of Croydon “well worth a visit”.

In a “pretty village setting” (“what’s not to like about sitting under a pergola in the Kent countryside?”), seasoned restaurateurs the Tanner brothers run this much-garlanded gastroboozer. The food choices are “simply cooked” but “not mundane like you could do yourself” (indeed, “to call this pub food would be truly a disservice”).

“The Dead Hippy burger is a dirty, dirty legend” – the best-named burger on British menus and “if not the easiest burger to eat definitely the tastiest” (especially when chased down by a boozy “hard shake”) – at the “cool” chain founded 15 years ago by Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis. The expansion of recent years seems to have ground to a halt with the closure of branches in Boxpark Croydon and Clapham Old Town, with a new strategy based around boosting sales via a national network of delivery kitchens launched in 2023. Top Tip – “root beer is available if you want a bit of real Americana!”

2021 Review: This September 2019 yearling in the heart of the town (occupying a former NatWest bank, hence the name) is notable for its owner: Stuart Gillies is the former CEO of Gordon Ramsay's restaurant group, and has launched this venture with the help of wife Cecilia. Previously a chef, Gillies has devised a ‘European small plates’ menu for the two-floor wine bar.

2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.

This contemporary curry house wins solid ratings for its food, with unusual chef’s signature dishes including a mixed grill of achari ostrich filet, chicken tikka and lamb chop. Family-run, it transferred to Chislehurst after a decade in Plaistow Lane, Bromley.

This suburban subcontinental offers an unusual take on Indian street food, having been set up by three brothers keen to pay homage to their grandmother’s cooking, inflected by her travels in Africa and Saudi Arabia; its “authentic” recipes attract nothing but positive reports.

This “smart and trendy location” from the ‘I’ll Be Mother’ group, set in an Arts & Crafts house with “lovely views” over Happy Valley, offers “high-quality food, attentive service and great surroundings”. There’s also “a nice terrace for meals, if the weather permits”. Not surprisingly, it’s “popular and often hard to book”.

“Perhaps the most luxurious restaurant in Tunbridge Wells” – this “very smart Regency villa where [W.M.] Thackeray lived” provides a “very attractive” location for a meal; and is also praised for its “lovely, finely pitched service”. But while Patrick Hill’s well-regarded cuisine continues to win praise, there was also the odd reporter this year who felt it was “technically fine but with some over-fussy dishes that didn’t let the good-quality ingredients fully shine”.

This “lovely food-led pub” – a carefully modernised beauty from 1854 on Crystal Palace’s thriving ‘Triangle’ – showcases chef David Yorkiston’s “really great cooking – way, way above typical gastroboozer fare”. “Controversially, it has banned kids under 10” but not everyone objects (“we think the atmosphere is all the better for it, even if it means we can’t go there as often as we’d like)”.

2023 Review: “Always fresh sourdough pizza” has helped build a strong local following for this hip southeast London group, with outlets in Crystal Palace, Nunhead, West Norwood, Herne Hill and Elephant & Castle. A new natural wine selection from specialist importer Les Caves de Pyrène is now available alongside the craft beers on tap. Top Tip – “make sure you leave room for the ice cream”.