445 Best Restaurants in England

Something of a local institution, this popular stalwart of the Birmingham curry scene has been serving up impressive baltis and a good selection of other Indian dishes since 1987 in a smart dining room with glass-topped tables and henna-decorated walls. Tradition dictates that a proper balti, a one-pot dish, should be served to the diner in the thin metal dish in which it was cooked to ensure that no flavors are lost.

In a narrow alley off Cathedral Close, you can lift a tankard of bitter in the very rooms where Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh enjoyed their ale. The pub dishes out casual bar fare, from sandwiches and grills to steak-and-ale pies, either in the bar or in the beamed and paneled upstairs restaurant. Drake, in fact, once wrote, "Next to mine own shippe, I do most love that old ‘Shippe' in Exon."

Whether you're in the mood for beer-battered fish-and chips or a chicken and bacon pie with a puff pastry top, this welcoming pub-restaurant with great views over the harbor specializes in a well-executed, modern approach to classic British pub fare. Service is attentive and friendly, and there's an excellent selection of beers and ales.

A 15th-century inn just five minutes from Lacock Abbey, Sign of the Angel serves traditional food in a cozy and intimate setting. Some dishes, such as the roast loin of beef with Yorkshire pudding or the seasonal savory pie of the day, are as traditional as the decor, but modern touches—orange butter sauce, for instance—add an extra dimension. Enjoy the dish of the day for lunch or relax in the garden with a cream tea. When you creak open the heavy door and are greeted by the hearty fire in the huge chimney, you could be forgiven for thinking that you stepped back a few centuries. Upstairs are five beautifully rustic rooms in which to stay.

In a quiet, edge-of-the-center location, this popular Italian eatery packs in the crowds on weekend nights with its inexpensive and classic pasta and pizza dishes. Try the mixed seafood spaghetti with garlic and tomato sauce or the 'nduja pizza topped with a spicy, spreadable pork sausage, mozzarella, and tomato. The atmosphere is cheerful and bright, and the food is straightforward.

One of Cornwall's oldest pubs serves simple lunches as well as evening meals in wood-beam rooms that display the work of local artists. The traditional menu includes fish pie, salads, and burgers, as well as Cornish crab linguine. There's also a separate, quieter restaurant upstairs, and you can eat at the tables outside at the front or on a rooftop terrace for excellent harbor views.

Just steps from Market House, the Snooty Fox is a bustling inn and restaurant that makes the most of quality ingredients from local Cotswolds producers. Real ales and local ciders are served at the bar, and teas, coffees, and hot and cold meals are available all day. During winter, the roaring fire adds to the ambience, and there's a patio to use in summer. Twelve traditionally styled rooms are also available on-site.

Family-run, this longtime restaurant takes a more formal, old-fashioned approach to service. The menu of traditional Italian favorites is cooked from family recipes and includes main dishes such as veal sirloin grilled with rosemary and garlic butter and black linguine with crab-claw meat and scallops. Upon arrival, sip an aperitif in the lounge before being escorted to your table for a silver-service, white-tablecloth meal. Pre-theater dinners are a good value.

Seasonality and local provenance are the guiding principles of this mellow, minimally decorated café–restaurant tucked up a side street between the harbor and Porthmeor Beach. You're encouraged to share the tapas-style dishes, which include St. Austell Bay mussels with shallots, garlic, white wine, and cream; hand-dived Dorset scallops, with cauliflower and hazelnuts; or turbot with anchovies, tarragon butter, and cider. The menu also includes some choice vegetarian options, and booking ahead will enable you to enjoy the restaurant's famed fixed-price "Sunday feast" lunches (£38; not served during peak summer months).

Just over a mile south of Penshurst, this historic pub first opened its doors in 1520 and in many ways hardly appears to have changed today. Its big inglenook fireplace and heavy beams give it character, the views from the hilltop are lovely, and the good food (a mixture of traditional pub grub and slightly more sophisticated fare) make it a pleasure to relax inside. Come on Sunday to try the popular lunchtime roasts.

Young locals and windblown walkers gather in Keswick's liveliest café for excellent coffee or tea, fruit-flavored cordials, and some serious hot chocolate. The music is laid-back; the staff is undeniably cool; the walls are hung with paintings and photos; and there are pizzas, tapas, and pints of local beer for long rainy days or cold winter nights.

Part of chef Rick Stein's empire, this French-leaning bistro with contemporary art adorning its walls has a secluded feel. The menu is strong on seafood but also offers tasty vegetarian choices, featuring dishes like porcini linguine with white truffle oil, oven-dried tomato and thyme tart with Blue Vinny, or smoked chicken breast with carrot, ginger, and chili sambal. Look out for the "lunch specials", such as mussels in a cream sauce, and steak sandwich. Children are also well catered for. When the weather's nice, you can dine in the sunny walled garden, while Ruby's Bar next door offers a cozy nook for gins and cocktails. Upstairs are 10 spacious bedrooms individually decorated with stylish modern pieces.

This hole-in-the-wall restaurant, a neighborhood favorite for more than 30 years, is an amazing bargain for this pricey part of town, serving good basic Chinese food at reasonable prices. Standouts on the extensive menu include ma-po tofu, barbecued pork with noodles, and seafood ho-fun. It’s not fancy, but service is fast.

Sustainability is the goal of this pub, which has its own water supply and hydroelectric power; the kitchen uses as much produce as possible from the immediate area and makes its own gin and vodka. Most of the menu is traditional pub fare—burgers, hot dogs, loaded fries, and nachos, for example—aimed at the Langdale walkers who fill the rustic, wood-beamed dining room. Tables spill out onto the terrace in sunny weather. 

In the center of Broadway, this pub-restaurant makes a handy stop for a snack, lunch, drink, or something more substantial. Among the hot dishes, you're likely to find wonders such as slow-cooked pork belly with vegetables or king prawn, crab, and chorizo linguine. There's a good wine cellar and plenty of cask ales available. The imaginative decor blends the traditional and trendy with large mirrors, log-studded walls, and eye-catching knickknacks. The pub can be crowded on the weekends, but on a weekday it's cozy and convivial, with an open fire in winter and comfortable seating. 

Established in 1889 not far from St. Paul's Cathedral, little seems to have changed since the height of the British Empire at this quirky eatery. Although there are some things Sweetings doesn't do (dinner, reservations, coffee, or weekends), it does, mercifully, do great seafood. Sit at raised linen-covered counters and chase down the Dover sole, skate wings, and whitebait with tankards of Guinness and Champagne "Black Velvet." Regulars love the potted shrimps and West Mersea oysters, and be sure to finish off with the jam roll or spotted dick.

Situated in Ambleside’s old mill yard, the Tap Yard serves craft beers fresh from the tanks in a wood-filled but contemporary, high-ceilinged space that also has outdoor seating. It's a lively spot in the evenings, popular with locals as well as visitors, and there's a wide menu of wood-fired pizzas, gourmet burgers, and antipasti to share. Dogs are welcome, and there's a separate children's menu.

This inspiring vegetarian restaurant is incredibly popular, so come early for a light lunch or later for a more sophisticated evening meal. The food here has a pan-Asian influence, with dishes such as Korean fried cauliflower with kicking kimchi and steamed buns stuffed with ginger-braised halloumi. There's also an excellent collection of wines from around the globe.

Owned by talented graphic designers and photo artists, ThewitchEZ is certainly a unique concept: delicious German- and Polish-influenced comfort food served in the middle of a design studio (which means you can have your passport photo taken while you wait). Never mind the weirdness of the concept; this place is a whole lot of fun, and the food is good to boot—schnitzel, pierogi, German sausage, pizzas, and more.

This early-19th-century pub and restaurant in a thatched cottage has an elegant dining space in the conservatory and more casual tables in the airy bar. Sourcing of ingredients is taken seriously here—the menu lists not only the suppliers but specific reasons for choosing them—and this is all put to good use in Modern British dishes with hints of the Mediterranean. Start with squid ink arancini, then move on to pork T-bone or a fresh catch of the day from the fish board. The long wine list is predominantly Italian, but there are also some good New World choices. Madingley is 5 miles west of Cambridge, about a 10-minute taxi ride.

Walk past the cozy bar in this traditional 17th-century pub to eat in the snug dining room with the clutch of locals who come nightly for the traditional British comfort food. Plates such as beer-battered fish-and-chips or local butcher's sausages and mashed potatoes are easy crowd-pleasers. They also do a popular traditional roast on Sunday at lunchtime.

On the first floor of a shopping center, in what is known as Trinity Kitchen, you'll find a changing (bimonthly) lineup of six pop-up restaurants featuring the offerings of top food vans from around the country installed next to permanent options serving burgers, gluten-free-pho, Indian, Mexican, gyros, or pizza. Recent temporary vendors have included Yoi Fried Chicken (a spicy pan-Asian take on chicken bao); Hong Bao Asian Street Food (vegetable tempura, pork skewers, curry dishes); Yard Dog (hot dogs and mac-and-cheese); and Burgerati (smash burgers).

This restaurant run by two alumni of celebrated The Fat Duck in Bray now has two Michelin stars for its meticulous but unfussy modern cooking that features "prime ingredients expertly prepared" and an eclectic but outstanding wine list. Starters include sweetbreads with smoked maitake mushrooms and pickled lingonberries in a cumin-infused sauce and scallops and black winter truffles in broth, while entrées like poached and roasted duck or grilled venison with a beetroot sauce display a similar inventiveness. An attached shop sells wine and glassware.

This wine bar and café serves up tasty modern British food within a stone's throw of the British Museum. Weather permitting, you can sit in its pretty Georgian courtyard.

To those in the know, this friendly neighborhood trattoria is one of the best Italian restaurants in town. The emphasis is on unpretentious, well-executed dishes bursting with verve and flavor, from fresh pappardelle with beef shin ragù to succulent steelhead rainbow trout served with borlotti beans and salsa verde. The atmosphere manages to be both buzzy and intimate, whether you dine on the bright, airy ground floor or in one of the basement booths. Service is pitch-perfect and there's an excellent wine list.

One of the region's best gastropubs attracts many locals as well as visitors for delicious updated British classics including beer-battered haddock, braised ox cheek, and an 8-ounce burger with roasted shallots. Everything is served in a smart, cozy, wood-filled contemporary pub with mellow music, flickering candles, a slate floor, and a fireplace. Several of Cumbria's best beers are on tap alongside a good selection of world beers. The attached Lodge next door provides a cozy, informal place to stay. 

Discreet and intimate, this restaurant is a showcase for the French-inspired cuisine of chef Michael Macdonald, who, as the restaurant's name implies, holds vanilla in high esteem. The fixed-price menu borrows the flavor of a French bistro and shakes it up a bit, so you might have filet mignon with polenta or something more adventurous, such as fennel escabeche with mackerel and vanilla. The three-course lunch menu is a fantastic bargain at £25, and the seven-course menu gourmand for £70 is a tour de force.

Small but acclaimed, this seafood restaurant attached to a fishmonger's specializes in innovative cuisine using the freshest ingredients. Options change daily but might include dishes like roast Devon hake with chorizo or sea-cured mackerel with puffed rice and ponzu sauce. There are three set-price dinner menus, ranging from four-course (£55) to eight-course (£95), and three at lunch, starting at £25 for two courses. There are only 10 tables, so reservations are strongly recommended.

Since 1838, local dignitaries and visiting celebrities have come for leisurely lunches, afternoon tea, and delicious dinners at Victoria’s at The Queens Hotel. The menus showcase local produce and contemporary British cooking with a stylist twist, and the two-course lunch menu is particularly good value. Burgundy walls, padded chairs, and tall windows enhance the space.