445 Best Restaurants in England

A Soho dining institution since 1926, and once home to Karl Marx in the 1850s, here revered British chef Jeremy Lee MBE creates classic dishes like smoked eel sandwiches with horseradish and long-lost rarities such as Scottish Cullen skink smoked haddock and potato soup. Also look out for traditional meat pies of the day and stupendous terrines, as well as towering pavlovas and tasty sticky toffee puddings. 

Owned by three brothers who grew up on a farm (which supplies the restaurant with its produce and livestock), Rabbit introduces a note of rusticity to one of London's glitziest areas. The emphasis is on locality, sustainability, and nose-to-tail eating, and the menu changes daily depending on what's in season and available. Plates are tapas-style and designed for sharing, but dishes like celeriac confit with caramelized red onion and red kale or wild fallow deer in a tarragon crust with hen of the wood mushrooms and walnut ketchup are hearty enough to be quite filling. The eight-course tasting menu (£48) or weekday set lunch (£25 for three courses) is a bargain.

This glamorous spot serves eclectic global food amidst the original features of a stunning Victorian Gothic building that's been given new life as the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel. Expect dishes such as halibut ceviche with red onion, lemon crème fraïche, almond, and sumac or lamb shawarma with roasted garlic, toum, zhug, slaw, green chili, onions, and lahuhua. The bar is a beauty, too (the restaurateurs are former DJs, so think hip).

The dark-wood paneling, antique furniture, thick curtains, and intimate lighting of this 16th-century hall make this a distinctive dining spot for Modern British cuisine. Chef Adrian Badland and his partner Miriam Lawley (the keen eye behind the exquisite and tasteful makeover) offer a cracking roast dinner and other hearty but elevated dishes featuring local Shropshire produce. It has some charming, luxe guest rooms, too, that are very well priced.

White tiles, bare metal tables, and sparkling chandeliers set the tone as soon as you walk through the door of this casually elegant restaurant. The house specialty is oysters, fresh and sustainably sourced, served with or without a foaming tankard of black velvet (champagne and Guinness) on the side. Other options include squid and shellfish risotto and Sri Lankan monkfish and prawn curry. The restaurant doesn't take reservations, so come early or be prepared to wait. However, you can reserve a table at their sister restaurant, Riddle & Finns The Beach, which overlooks the sea and has the same menu.

Co-owner Missy Flynn and chef Gabe Pryce bring a playful spirit to Modern American dining at this indie spot on Soho's gastro-central Lexington Street. Sit at cute raised tables or red-leather booths and enjoy densely flavored Americana like hearty baby shrimp boil, fried chicken with buttermilk waffles, or corn-crusted turbot with macha pico salsa. The wines are all organic, low intervention, or biodynamic, and you can't go wrong by kicking off dinner with a signature gilda martini. 

London's most opulent dining salon here at The Ritz would impress even Marie Antoinette with its sumptuous Gilded Age rococo revival trompe-l'oeil frescoes, tasseled silk drapery, and towering marble columns. Sit at the late Margaret Thatcher's favorite seat overlooking Green Park (Table 1) and luxuriate in unreconstructed British haute cuisine, such as langoustine à la nage or beef Wellington, carved table-side. Don't miss the crêpes suzette, which are flambéed table-side by the maître d'. The chef's five- and seven-course set menus are also a delight.

Occupying a former police station, this modern, clean-lined restaurant affords serene views over the passing swans and boats. Upstairs, the more formal restaurant serves delicately cooked dishes like Brixham plaice with 'nduja butter, clams, and samphire, or local asparagus, pea, and fava risotto, while the lip-smacking desserts include passion fruit syllabub with marshmallow and macerated strawberries or ricotta mousse cheesecake with almonds. On the river level, the Pontoon Bar has a more rough-and-ready menu that includes mussels, pan-fried peppers, and burgers, and with its terrace seating, it also makes a great spot for a weekend brunch, afternoon coffee, or evening drinks.

Opened by Thomas Rule in 1798, London's oldest restaurant is still perhaps its most beautiful. The epitome of High Victorian design, overflowing with antique portraits, prints, cartoons, busts, and taxidermy, here you can indulge in traditional British fare like jugged hare, steak and kidney pie, or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. For a taste of the 18th century, choose game from the restaurant's High Pennines estate, including roast grouse, mallard, or pheasant. Snag a table in one of the skylit rooms or the spot where the  Victorian-era Prince of Wales had trysts with the famed beauty and actress Lillie Langtry. 

Serving the best of British seafood, as well as an extensive choice of champagne and sparkling wines, this intimate little restaurant has bar seating set around an open kitchen, so you can watch (and chat with) the chef preparing your food. But don't let the relaxed, friendly, and unstuffy atmosphere fool you; this is exceptional quality, fresh seafood cooked to perfection (or not cooked at all, in the case of the delicious oysters). Order from the catch-of-the-day specials pinned up above the bar, from the à la carte menu, or from the special oyster menu: it's two-for-one oysters every Friday between 4 and 5 pm.

Just steps from where boats unload their daily catches, Rick Stein's modern, airy flagship restaurant has built its reputation on the freshest fish and the highest culinary artistry in town, with everything from grilled Padstow lobster with herbs and stir-fried Singapore chili crab to meat and vegetarian dishes. Choose between sitting either formally at a table or on a stool at the Seafood Bar. In low season, you can order a three-course set-price lunch menu for £30. Guests at one of Stein's hotels can also book a table on the panoramic rooftop terrace—and a stay in one of the sunny, individually designed guest rooms overlooking the harbor is an enticing option if you don't feel like moving very far after your meal.

Befitting its waterside location in a harbor village just outside Ryde, this hotel has two restaurants with a strong maritime flavor. The fine-dining Aquitania sources much of its produce from the Seaview's own farm and features dishes such as herb-crusted cod loin with an heirloom tomato salad, whereas the less-formal Pump Bar serves battered fish-and-chips and traditional Sunday roasts. There are also gluten-free and vegan options, daytime light bites, and sandwiches. Luxurious fabrics characterize the chic guest rooms in the adjoining hotel.

Bright and modern, this restaurant with rooms housed in a gleaming Georgian villa is known for its French-influenced cuisine with resolutely British ingredients. The assured and welcoming service makes it easy to savor specialties such as Aberdeenshire beef bavette and cheek or quail with elderberries and parsley, which have helped secure it a Michelin star since 1999. A mile south of the city center, it's an excellent dining choice that has also won accolates for its plant-based approach to cooking. 

The ultimate neighborhood restaurant in west London's wealthy Holland Park section draws diners with its brilliant-but-understated French and Mediterranean classics, relaxed service, and interesting, mainly French wines. Treat yourself to grilled dover sole with beurre noisette and capers, or King oyster mushrooms with sorrel risotto. With only 36 seats and a teeny bar, this is an intimate affair, which is highlighted by the white paper tablecloths and bentwood chairs. Service is friendly but not overly familiar, while wines are grower, boutique, or biodynamic. Traditional roasts served on Sunday.

Trailblazing Australian chef Skye Gyngell worships the seasons at her pastel-hued dining destination in majestic Somerset House off the Strand. Housed in the building's 1865 Neoclassical New Wing, Spring offers exquisite root-to-stem, produce-driven Italian dishes in an airy light-drenched dining salon. Expect everything from a tousled heap of biodynamic Fern Verrow Farm salad leaves to egg yolk–rich crab tagliolini. Free of single-use plastic, you'll find all the bread, butter, ice cream, cordials, vermouth, and tonics are made on-site. Also look for Spring's brilliant zero waste £30 "Scratch" menus, available in the early evening Tuesday through Saturday.

Global foodie fanatics join Clerkenwell locals for the pioneering nose-to-tail cuisine at this high-ceilinged, converted smokehouse near Smithfield Market. Here the chef uses all scraps of a carcass—from tongue and cheeks to tail and trotters—so brace for radically stark signatures like bone-marrow-and-parsley salad. One stand-out main is grilled ox's heart with chard and mustard while elsewhere on the menu you'll find crispy pig skin, lamb's liver, deviled tripe, and a pig's head and potato pie. Plunder the outstanding wine list (mainly French and Italian) and finish with traditional Eccles cakes with Lancashire cheese or half a dozen golden madeleines.

This charming restaurant with its riverside terrace serves top-notch Modern British food. The tasting menus (with or without a paired wine flight) take regional flavors and infuse them with contemporary flair.

Perfect butter-basted rotisserie chicken from Baserri Aldabia served with French fries and house salad epitomizes the understated Parisian-style bistrot elegance of this showstopper from chef Tom Seller. A short menu of a few quirks like snail Bolognese with wild garlic butter on toast or comforting faves like roast whole Dover sole is complemented by an electrifying wine list.

Located near the castle in Herstmonceux and set within a 17th-century brick farmhouse with wood-beamed ceilings, this charming, family-run restaurant features imaginative French fare based on classical and modern approaches. There's an à la carte menu, but you might opt for the pricier eight-course Menu Dégustation; it changes with the seasons but may include pan-fried king scallops with pine nuts and tarragon, venison medallion with black peppercorn and juniper cream sauce, and crêpe Suzette.

This sophisticated restaurant serving excellent seasonal British fare is in a Tudor house beside the idyllic River Stour. Outside, there are lighted terraces, where food and drinks are served on warm evenings, while inside, original beams, leaded-glass windows, and a brick fireplace add to the sense of history. The menu at lunch and dinner may include thyme-roasted partridge with salsify and grapes, or John Dory with razor clam chowder. For dessert, try the fresh fruit pavlova. In summer, evening barbecues are occasionally held on the terrace.

Financed by onetime Barcelona soccer legend and Manchester City FC manager Pep Guardiola, this Catalonian restaurant pulls no punches when it comes to contemporary cooking, with dishes courtesy of two Michelin-star chef Paco Pérez. The unifying overall concept is "tastets"—small tastes of food with greater complexity than tapas, some cooked in a charcoal oven, including butifarra, a Catalan Duroc pork sausage. Highly theatrical, TAST is an ideal choice for very special occasions.

Once the home of Victorian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, this mid-17th-century tile-hung house is now an elegant restaurant known for creative French cuisine, with à la carte dishes like roast stone bass with artichoke sauce and confit pork belly with blue cheese ravioli. The fixed-price, seven-course Chef's Tasting Menu is another option.

This popular restaurant is set within a gorgeous space in the city center, with exposed brick walls and high ceilings. The à la carte menu features updated Mediterranean dishes including fried zucchini "cakes" with fresh Greek yogurt, veal cheeks with potato puree, and roasted octopus with caramelized onions. Save space for a traditional Greek dessert.

With a porch that appears in a Beatrix Potter story and a location just a rabbit's hop from the author's home, you might expect this pub to be something of a tourist trap, but luckily it's anything but. The upgraded pub fare is tasty and copious, making use of local ingredients. There's a slate floor, a crackling open fire, and a bar that stocks some of the best beers around. Four bedrooms are upstairs.

Theatergoers tucking into an early supper to the strains of the piano in the bar, grandmothers enjoying afternoon tea, and couples lingering over candlelit suppers can all happily be found at this restaurant with rooms. Chefs source the best ingredients locally where possible, including meat from Stratford's own Barry the Butcher, and serve up hearty dishes such as pork loin, rib-eye steak, or a signature fish stew.

The treetop location may sound gimmicky, but the effect at this extraordinary restaurant is quite magical and unexpectedly romantic, especially when the place is lit up at night. Here, an enormous complex of buildings spreads out over more than 5,900 square feet, with a roaring log fire at its center and furniture made from fallen branches; the kitchen serves excellent, good-value Modern British fare. You might find Craster kipper pate on toasted ciabatta on the menu, or North Shields mussels with pale ale and garlic cream. There's also the odd international influence, like the tofu katsu curry with Asian salad. The Potting Shed bar, part of the treehouse complex, is a great option for pre-dinner drinks. You don't need to purchase a ticket to Alnwick Garden to dine here. 

Locals congregate in a pair of low-ceiling rooms at this tiny 17th-century establishment by the gates of Windsor Great Park. Those under 18 aren't allowed inside the pub (although they can be served at a few outdoor tables), but adults will find a suitable collection of wine, espresso, and local beer, plus an excellent menu with dishes like roasted cod with butter sauce and samphire or steak frites with brandy and peppercorn. On Sunday, the pub serves a traditional, hearty lunchtime roast.

One of Rye's most popular restaurants, where most of the seafood served is freshly caught nearby, occupies a brick building that dates to 1907, but the interior has been redone in a sleek, modern style. Sample dishes like cuttlefish and noodle salad with fennel and orange or the pan-fried Rye Bay scallops with pancetta and chive vermouth sauce. 

Much-loved by food critics, this groundbreaking "New Northern" restaurant in a former coffee warehouse offers a no-choice tasting menu (£125) that depends on “the day’s catch, harvest, and slaughter.” Regular ingredients include Macclesfield trout, cured Middle White pork, and salt-baked beets in delicious combinations. Much of the produce comes from the restaurant's own farm.

A glitzy procession of famous faces, media moguls, and hedge-funders comes for the spectacle, swish service, and soaring elegance at this bustling Viennese-style grand café on Piccadilly. Located in a former Wolseley Motors luxury-car showroom, this brasserie begins its long decadent days with breakfast at 7 am (8 am on weekends) and serves Dual Monarchy delights until 11 pm (10 pm on Sunday). Don't be shy about popping by (they welcome walk-ins) for dishes like kedgeree, steak tartare, chicken soup with dumplings, or Wiener schnitzel. For dessert, go for an éclair, and don't forget to return to savor the classy afternoon tea.