Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
Stratford has many reasonably priced bistros and unpretentious eateries offering a broad choice of international fare; Warwick and Kenilworth both have good restaurant options. Birmingham has good international restaurants but is probably most famous for its Indian and Pakistani "curry houses"; you'll find good choices both in the city center and out of town. The city hosts the annual Taste of Birmingham Festival in July. In the rest of the Midlands, casual spots dominate, although Ludlow has some exceptionally good restaurants.
Within one of Chester’s most resplendent hotels, this sophisticated restaurant with its curved booths and tables draped in white linens is a real splurge but completely worth it. Seasonal tasting menus (no à la carte optons) featuring delicious British ingredients such as native lobster with Isle of Wight tomatoes or Scottish mussels will delight and surprise.
Business moguls and sophisticated foodies alike can be found sampling an aperitif in a comfy armchair before moving to the sleek contemporary, slate-floor dining room at this Michelin-starred establishment. Located in a Victorian terra-cotta and redbrick building, this is where chef Glyn Purnell creates his adventurous Modern British fare. In addition to a reasonable set menu, theràe is a bigger and more adventurous tasting menu that might haddock and eggs served with cornflakes, alongside monkfish masala. Chef Purnell is also turning his hand to vegan cooking. Price quoted is for three courses.
Once a fire station, this bustling bistro is now unashamedly French and rustic, with red-and-white-check tablecloths and a menu chalked up on the blackboard. Start with some moules marinières (mussels cooked in a white-wine-and-onion sauce) or French onion soup and move on to grilled sea bass or a classic rib-eye steak with Café du Paris butter. The two-course, prix-fixe menu is a great value.
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.
Run by chef couple Ben Hall and Carla Ernst, the Walrus creates culinary excitement in this sleek modern space through its ever-changing menu, which is genuinely committed to using local and seasonal produce. All the vegetables come from the restaurant's walled garden in nearby Ford, and the resulting dishes are beautifully presented and impressive. The tasting menu is available at all times, though diners can order from the à la carte menu on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday lunchtime. For something more spontaneous, food and drinks (including delicious cocktails) are now served in the bar, for which no booking is required.
