5 Best Restaurants in Winchester, The South

With a vaulted glass roof on steel supports, this self-service cafeteria in a walled garden across from the cathedral combines contemporary style with locally sourced, freshly prepared dishes to create a refreshing stop for lunch or afternoon tea. Food is served daily until 4:30 or 5, and there are tables outside on a slate terrace for fair-weather eating.

The timbered and gabled building may be venerable—it dates back to the mid-15th century—but the cuisine is Modern British, using locally sourced ingredients. The small but well-executed menu is particularly strong on game dishes, like roast wood pigeon with white onion purée, butternut squash, and puy lentils or guinea fowl with a cabbage and mushroom fricassée and truffle cappuccino. Service and the heritage charm of the surroundings enhance the quality of the food. There's also a good-value set lunch (£21.95 for two courses, £26.95 for three).

This unfussy but elegant café-restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea offers freshly made soups, sandwiches, hot dishes, and cakes made with locally sourced ingredients. Favorites include beer-battered cod with fries, fried mushrooms on sourdough toast with creamed spinach and a poached egg, and a miso glazed chicken salad. There are no reservations and it's very popular, so a wait may be involved at busy times.

Reasonably priced and healthy comfort food is served cafeteria-style at this established, family-run favorite, including dishes like a vegan cheeseburger, a quinoa salad with grilled tofu, and torched mackerel on toast. Serving breakfast (including a great full English) and lunch, the place transforms into a busy cocktail bar in the evening.

Renowned as one of Britain's finest seafood chefs, Rick Stein chose Winchester for his first venture away from the Cornish coast. The menu is largely focused on fish and crustaceans, but carnivores and vegetarians are catered for as well. The airy room embodies tasteful nautical chic, but the restaurant's popularity means it can be noisy when busy.