3 Best Restaurants in Kendal, The Lake District

This coaching inn and dining room is in Sedbergh, a pretty town 9 miles to the east of Kendal. The husband-and-wife team prepares food with influences from the Lake District, Germany, and Japan, and source many of their ingredients from within 20 miles of the restaurant.

Chocolate rules at this old spot serving 16 chocolate drinks; you can choose among 300 kinds of chocolates in the shop, too. Aztec Experience hot chocolate blends five spices; the milk-chocolate truffle cake is scrumptious. Servers in period costumes also deliver traditional English fare such as potted shrimps.

Small but sleek, this restaurant with an open fire and artfully battered floorboards has won a good local reputation for high-quality dishes. The vegetarian selections are always worthwhile, and chefs Gaetano Zito and Antonio Giordano work hard to bring a Mediterranean flourish, including homemade pastas, to the Lakes. The Express Lunch is an especially good value.