445 Best Restaurants in England

Freshness and sustainability are paramount at chef Mike Naidoo's acclaimed seafood restaurant, located in an 1855 stone building on on the water above an artisanal fishmonger. He uses line-caught fish and shellfish delivered from the fishing boats moored just outside in the four-, six- (weekdays only), and eight- (Saturday dinner only) course tasting menus, which might include dishes such as Portland crab dumpling in crab broth, barbecued lobster, and, of course, the catch of the day. On the dessert list are options such as a yogurt and elderflower sorbet.

Flavorful, inventive dishes elevate this hipster casual joint to the top rank of London's midrange gastro titans. With a focus on in-house curing, pickling, smoked meats, and heritage vegetables, expect a cavalcade of unlikely combinations and classic gastronomy specialties. The food is modern European with an emphasis on British produce; their beautifully delicate Cornish halibut with shrimp butter sauce and sea herbs is a prime example.

Be sure to ask for a table in the dreamy, white blossom–filled conservatory at this warm, cozy, and seriously romantic Provençal country-style inn off Covent Garden. Once inside, you'll be won over by the old-fashioned but refined French cuisine and charming country innlike ambience. Options include Loire Valley rabbit ballotine, poached wild turbot, and Charolais beef cheeks with fine French beans. Lunch specials and £39 pre-and posttheater prix-fixe meals (with a glass of bubbles) are a brilliant way to experience the cuisine and celebratory atmosphere. With its warren of candlelit, interlocking oak-paneled dining rooms, and open fires, Clos Maggiore never fails to enchant.

British comfort food classics like ham-and-cheese toasties, bubble 'n' squeak, and even the mighty potato chip are elevated into gastro showstoppers at this classy town house just off the Covent Garden piazza. Prized triple-cooked chips are squeezed, sliced, buttered, and deep-fried to perfection, while the equally famous crustless toasties are all succulent Wiltshire ham hock, Montgomery cheddar, and tangy house pickle. Understated jazz and blues music plays amid the elegant decor, from the antique table glasses and French-linen napkins to the tarnished mirrors and green-velvet banquettes.

The only British female chef with three Michelin stars, Clare Smyth fuses her classical French training with a devotion to quality British produce here. Smyth’s fantastic signature dish—a culinary tip-of-the-hat to her Northern Irish roots—is a baked potato delicately filled with dulse beurre blanc, herring, and trout roe. Seats at the chef’s table, from where you can watch the kitchen work their magic through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, can be prebooked online. Core’s sumptuous Whiskey & Seaweed bar is the perfect place for a pre- or postdinner drink or two.

Set just outside the medieval city walls, this historic pub-turned-restaurant serves locally sourced British produce with creative culinary twists. Mains include confit pork belly with burnt-ends croquettes and monkfish in Parma ham, but it's the "nibbles" (snacks) that are really inventive—try the sausage roll, served as three thick slices with mushroom ketchup. It's a little pricey, but the food is excellent and the portions are very generous. There are also five appealing bedrooms available upstairs, with prices starting from £120 (double that in high season) including breakfast.

For a fresh seafood lunch, nothing beats this no-frills trailer just south of Bamburgh. Freshly caught langoustines, lobsters, scallops, monkfish, king prawns, crabs, and squid are grilled on-site and served with fries or bread and garlic butter. For a quick and easy snack, choose between the Fishy Fries, slathered in a delicious smoked haddock and cheese sauce, and the scallop and bacon roll.

This family-run (by four brothers) riverside café-restaurant, a short walk away from the castle and other attractions, feels like a secret dining spot, but it's quite popular. The location, by the weir of the River Teme, creates a soothing setting for what is very much feel-good food: the wholesome, original dishes use seasonal local produce and are infused with global flavors. Vegetarian and vegan options are excellent, and drinks pairings are suggested. There is a great wine list and local beer, as well as home-pressed kombucha from Shrewsbury (the family has a restaurant there too) and other tasty booze-free drinks. Even if you're not hungry, this is a great spot for coffee and a paddle. 

It's all fin de siècle Vienna at this evocative Art Deco–style grand café on Aldwych near Covent Garden. Dishes on the majestic Middle European menu would do the Austro-Hungarian Empire proud—think Wiener schnitzel, Hungarian goulash, beef Stroganoff, and wonderful würstchen (frankfurters and hot dogs) served with sauerkraut and onions. Savor other goodies like borscht, kedgeree and lamb shank sauerbraten, while desserts include a sinfully indulgent Sacher torte.

Enjoy the best pint of Guinness in London at the atmospheric saloon bar within this Georgian pub, grill, and restaurant just across the road from the Piccadilly Theatre. With its expert in-house butcher and wood-fired grill, expect phenomenal classics like Oban langoustines, lamb hotpot, or traditional beef cheek and Guinness suet pudding bathed in a rich gravy. Dogs are welcome, and be sure to ask to sit in one of the three cozy snugs hidden behind the ground-floor bar. 

Downton Abbey meets The Crown at this quintessentially English, old-school dining salon located within an Edwardian-era hotel down the road from Buckingham Palace. A favorite with royalty and courtiers, here you can enjoy daily specials like traditional beef Wellington and Dover sole or antediluvian quirks such as Eggs Drumkilbo (a hard-boiled egg/lobster seafood cocktail with caviar, currently reinvented using soft quail eggs)—a onetime favorite of the late Queen Mother. The Michelin star is clearly not just for the food, but for the impeccable service as well. Opt for the raspberry sorbet with Ayala Champagne for a decadent end to your meal.

With one seating a night and one fixed-price menu that changes seasonally, dining in this six-table, family-run restaurant is more like eating in someone's home. If you get tired of Whitby's ubiquitous fish-and-chips, Ditto offers fine-dining alternatives like pork belly with potatoes Anna and butternut squash or pan-fried chicken breast and rolled chicken thigh in a truffle cream sauce. Desserts include burnt Basque cheesecake with fresh strawberries. Be sure to book well in advance.

Zoom up to the 40th floor of 110 Bishopsgate and head straight for the cult signature dish of confit duck leg, Belgium waffle, fried duck egg, and mustard maple syrup for a taste of foodie bliss. Open 24/7, with spectacular panoramas of The City, you might satisfy the munchies with a foie gras breakfast, served all day, alongside streaky bacon and homemade Nutella or an Elvis PB&J waffle with banana brûlée. Look, too, for the bag of spiced pigs ears and the big-as-tennis-balls spicy ox cheek doughnuts dusted with smoked paprika sugar. There's always a party vibe and you'll often find live music in the dining room.

It's all Cockney banter and full English breakfasts at this tiny family-run café and onetime gangsters' lair near Brick Lane and Columbia Road markets. The atmosphere may be rowdy, but it's all good-natured, with greasy fry-ups (think eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans, toast, tomatoes, fried mushrooms, black pudding, and cabbage and mash) served alongside homemade Italian dishes like lasagna and cannelloni and British classics like pies and roast dinners, all courtesy of matriarch Mama Maria. With the ornate food-paneling (installed in 1946 by local carpenter and regular customer Achille Capocci) as a backdrop, a visit to E. Pellicci feels a little like a wonderful performance of East End life being staged for your benefit. 

This bakery, which supplies bread to many of East London's top eateries, has a friendly café and deli on-site, where you can sample some of the tastiest toasted sandwiches in the city. The shop also stocks a concise range of elegant household items.

Set in the former beer cellar of the Blue Posts pub in Chinatown, you'll find the tiny Evelyn's Table, a gastronomic experience based on amazing set tasting menus featuring top-notch British produce, with Scandinavian and Japanese notes, all underpinned by classical French technique. Arrive promptly for the two synchronized dinner sittings per night, which may wow with Scottish langoustines with pickled blackcurrant or flower-strewn Cornish cod with brown butter dashi. Enjoy a chat with the head chef, quality tunes, and wonderful paired wines. Book well ahead.  

It's worth detouring a bit for this supremely appealing pub on the village green at Great Tew, about 8 miles northwest of Woodstock. The small restaurant offers a traditional but creative menu, which includes dishes like pea and shallot ravioli or a panko breaded mushroom burger. The bar stocks fruit wines and local ales and offers a small cocktail list; there's a fine selection of mugs and jugs hanging from the beams too. Book ahead on weekends. If you can't bear to leave, a spiral stone staircase leads to six guest rooms.

One of the top restaurants in the country, and ranked by many food writers among the best in the world, this extraordinary, three-Michelin-star place packs in fans of hypercreative, hyperexpensive cuisine, who enjoy it for the theater as much as for the food. Culinary alchemist Heston Blumenthal is famed for the so-called molecular gastronomy he creates in his laboratory-like kitchen, and his name has become synonymous with weird and funky taste combinations. Famously, his signature dishes include bacon-and-egg ice cream and snail porridge. All senses are stimulated here in wildly creative ways, not just the taste buds. It's the very definition of not for everyone, but those with a taste for adventure (and deep pockets) find it a magical experience. The Fat Duck is in a discreet building in the small village of Bray; look for the duck-inspired implements hanging outside. Reservations are issued monthly for a period of four months in advance, and the booking process is strict; call or see the website for details.

A 10-minute drive from Stow-on-the-Wold in Nether Westcote, this popular gastropub is as cozy and comforting as the name would suggest. The sophisticated food here is exceptional, the products are so local that the staff can usually point to the farm from where the meat was sourced, and the beer and wine list is impressive. If you want to try as much as possible, opt for the six-course tasting menu. There is a vegan menu, too. Within the restaurant, a large bay window and terrace offer up views of the valley below, and attention to detail gives the pub some humorous touches such as the saddle-seated stools. If you decide that you are just too comfortable to move, there are four rooms to extend your stay in.

Billing itself as "Vegeterranean" to reflect its Mediterranean culinary influences, Fellinis is one of Cumbria's finest foodie destinations and a particular treat for vegetarians and vegans. Upstairs is a plush studio cinema screening art-house releases, while downstairs the restaurant rustles up sumptuous concoctions for a sophisticated crowd. The large, open dining room has soft seating, bold patterns, oversize lamp shades, and a chill, jazzy soundtrack. White tablecloths, contemporary art, and fresh flowers enhance the modern sensibility. Service is attentive without being fussy. Sister property Zeffirellis, a 5-minute walk away on Compston Street, also offers a fine-dining-and-cinema combination with a jazz bar to boot.

At this restaurant created by four friends who have returned home to the Lakes, the menu is designed as a celebration of Cumbria's ingredients and traditional recipes, albeit with a quirky twist and some global flavors, as in the pork belly ramen and falafel kofta. The space has both indoor and outdoor seating, plus a vintage Airstream trailer serving burritos and fries.

An artisan kitchen and coffeehouse that serves breakfast and lunch, the Find is one of the best places in Cheltenham for afternoon tea (best to prebook; £32). The drawing room is a serene spot, and the tea menu perfectly balances savory and sweet treats, incorporating British favorites, such as sausage rolls and coronation chicken sandwiches, with a contemporary twist. The fruit scones are fluffy, and you can add a glass or two of Champagne for the ultimate indulgence. 

High ceilings, shabby-chic chairs, and old-fashioned filament bulbs in jars set the scene for this handsome conversion of what was once a bank: the family-run bistro's name references the financially themed nursery rhyme. Although there is an à la carte menu, the set menu for lunch and weeknight dinners is a good value, offering updated, seasonally focused delights such as mackerel pâté and grilled Cumbrian pork with wild mushrooms.

Punchy black-and-white photos of legendary regulars like postwar painters Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud beam down at this disarmingly charming old-school hangout that was once the unofficial London HQ for the Free French in exile and Charles de Gaulle during World War II. Set on the first floor of the eponymous pub downstairs and run by an eccentric former cabaret artist, you can sip Ricard pastis or bargains from the all-French wine list before embracing superb French bistro classics like salt cod beignets, calves brain with brown butter, or braised navarin of lamb with cheesy aligot mashed potato.

The unassuming breakfast room at the Stafford London hotel transforms into the Game Bird restaurant after noon, offering all-day dining until 9 pm; come in the evening for a wonderful atmosphere, and let the sommelier choose the best wine to accompany dishes that use the finest British produce. The menu includes crowd-pleasers like oysters Rockefeller, Devon dressed crab, and Dover sole meunière. Try the steak and ale steamed suet pudding, cooked to exquisite perfection, for a real taste of modern British cuisine. Executive chef Jozef Rogulski has worked collaboratively with Lisa Goodwin-Allen, the Michelin-starred executive chef at Northcote, so it's no surprise that every mouthful delights. Leave room for the lemon meringue parfait with basil snow.

No seaside town would be complete without an ice-cream store, and the delicious, house-made, artisanal gelato here is a real treat. Everything is made fresh daily; try the cherry cheesecake flavor or maybe a scoop of the delicious chocolate and sea salt. There are also dairy-free options available, as well as a full menu of desserts, including the "gelato burger" (sandwiched between brioche with chocolate sauce) and the old-school British concoction known as the knickerbocker glory (a tall glass filled with a mixture of ice cream, whipped cream, fruit, and nuts). Alternatively, if you have high levels of self-control, you could just have coffee.

One of England's foremost country-house hotels occupies an enclave of landscaped gardens and streams, reached via a lengthy, winding country lane and private drive at the edge of Dartmoor. Its pricey contemporary restaurant, directed by chef Chris Eden, has been showered with culinary awards, including a Michelin star, and you'll see why when you dig into the steamed turbot served with squash, caviar, and seaweed or the aged fillet of beef cooked over coals, with smoked bone marrow, garlic, and spinach—two of the choices you might find on the three-course prix-fixe dinner menu (£135). There's also a "lounge menu," served in the lounges or on the terrace, which includes such starters as cheese soufflé and smoked salmon, and beef sirloin and gnocchi as main courses. The wine list is formidable, and the locally pumped spring water is like no other. If you're not up to a full meal, wholesome sandwiches are offered all day. You can also order a luxury picnic hamper (£125 for two) containing an array of cold meats, cheeses, bread, salad, sweet treats, and wine, which can be enjoyed at any time and anywhere in the house, within the grounds of Gidleigh Park, or farther afield. Inside the long, half-timber building, built in 1928 in Tudor style, you'll find antiques in the public rooms and in the 24 luxurious guest rooms. Note, however, that the hotel and restaurant are closed on Sunday and Monday (except on bank holidays).

You'll land some of the best fish-and-chips in town at this British chippy in a retro 1914 Art Deco café. Marylebone locals and satisfied tourists alike hunker down for the neatly prepared and decidedly nongreasy deep-fried or steamed battered cod, haddock, and plaice; the classic hand-cut Maris Piper chips; and the traditional mushy peas and homemade tartar sauce. Homemade cod fishcakes, skate wings, feta cheese fritters, and breaded scampi tails are on the menu, too.

This excellent "restaurant with rooms" on the medieval Market Square takes deeply traditional flavors of the British countryside and updates them with a slight French twist. Served in an elegant, whitewashed dining room, the five-course, fixed-price dinners might include breast of pigeon with caramelized endive or halibut with ginger foam and parsley sauce. The five spacious guest rooms have sloping floors, beamed ceilings, well-appointed bathrooms, and antique furnishings.

This all-day café provides breakfasts that run from tofu poke bowls to Eggs Royale and waffles and lunches that include Korean-style meatballs, healthy but ample salads, and a kimchi grilled cheese sandwich, plus monthly specials like beetroot risotto, cauliflower rarebit, and calves liver with mash. Cocktails, beer, and biodynamic wines are also available. It's usually packed with local families and their dogs. There's another branch on England's Lane in Belsize Park.