18 of our favourite Good Food Guide perks for January 2025 | Where To Eat

MEMBER PERK

Acme Fire Cult

Dalston, London ££

Eco-conscious fire-fuelled eatery next to the 40FT Brewery

In a foodie courtyard behind Dalston Junction, the inviting smell of burning embers and charring now mingles with the aromas of hops and freshly baked loaves. Those embers are from Acme Fire Cult – a low-budget, eco-consciou… Read more

The Bootyard, Abbot Street, Dalston, London E8 3DP

MEMBER PERK

Cedar Tree by Hrishikesh Desai

Brampton , Cumbria ££££

* Desai is launching a 10-seater chef's table (aka Hrishi's Table), which will serve a 16-course taster utilising produce from Farlam Hall's kitchen garden alongside matching wines. * Built of Lakeland stone and with architectura… Read more

* Desai is launching a 10-seater chef's table (aka Hrishi's Table), which will serve a 16-course taster utilising produce from Farlam Hall's kitchen garden alongside matching wines. *

Built of Lakeland stone and with architectural roots dating back to the 15th century, Farlam Hall’s fortunes were once closely entwined with the Cumbrian coal-mining industry. It's a country house on the human scale, with gardens to wander in and bright interiors that owe nothing to sickly chintz, while the Cedar Tree restaurant puts Farlam in the first rank of regional cooking in the UK. Hrishikesh Desai, formerly at The Gilpin, Windermere, is an accomplished and energetically inventive chef brimming with smart ideas. Appetisers include fragile tartlets of peanut and coriander tartare with cauliflower and coconut foam – a whole world of flavours in a mouthful. Desai’s gastronomic signature is the artful incorporation of Indian nuances and seasonings into contemporary western cooking: a serving of red and golden beetroot fresh from the garden, for example, comes with thick, chilled beetroot rasam (a South Indian soup) as well as apple and ginger chutney and coconut bavarois. Dishes often match great flavour impact with astonishing delicacy of technique: a piece of salmon is very slowly poached, and then supported by salmon rillettes and a gently herbed and spiced garden gazpacho, while cured hake in a subliminally light batter comes with roasted pineapple topped with lemon mayo and caviar for a wondrous combination. That sense of travelling around the plate, encountering new surprises at every turn, also illuminates a main course of salt-aged Creedy Carver duck breast with a sweet-sharp blackcurrant sauce, the braised leg, pressed duck and hazelnut terrine and, on the side, a samosa containing layered shaved celeriac, topped with a little Parmesan and truffle. It takes formidable ingenuity and poise to bring so many elements together without creating a culinary brawl, but Desai is a skilled conductor. A délice of strong Valrhona chocolate with spiced orange panna cotta and milk sorbet, or perhaps a golden raspberry soufflé with matching coulis and toasted pistachio ice cream, are the kinds of desserts that hit the sweet spot for most of us. Despite the monotonous pop muzak piped provokingly into the dining room, which views over garden and lake do their best to nullify, it's a gorgeous experience. A varietally arranged wine list with garrulous tasting descriptions suits the country-house mood. Glasses (from £7.50) are a trifle dull, almost as though they are tiptoeing round the food rather than squaring up to meet it head-on. Braver selections would round out the offer.

Farlam Hall, Hallbankgate, Brampton , Cumbria CA8 2NG

MEMBER PERK

Corrigan's Mayfair

Mayfair, London ££££

Richard Corrigan's majestic Irish cooking and hospitality

There has always been something appealing about Richard Corrigan's mission to bring the spirit of his native, rural Irish cooking to the heart of London's West End. It survives its translation largely intact in the form of wild an… Read more

28 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London W1K 7EH

MEMBER PERK

Dilsk

Brighton, East Sussex £££

A class act and one of Brighton's top dining experiences

Located in the basement of Drakes Hotel, this neutrally attired dining room does the job without stirring high emotions – though the soundtrack might well push the limits of those not revived by memories of holidays in Ibiza… Read more

Drakes Hotel, 44 Marine Parade, Brighton, East Sussex BN2 1PE

Best Local Restaurant

MEMBER PERK

Edie's

St Austell , Cornwall ££

Likeable neighbourhood spot with bags of sympathetic charm

Above Carlyon Bay, at one end of a parade of shops and cafés behind an area of off-road parking, there is more culinary glamour to Edie's than might first appear. Co-owner and chef Nigel Brown has done stints at Le Man… Read more

10 Beach Road, Carlyon Bay , St Austell , Cornwall PL25 3PH

MEMBER PERK

Edinbane Lodge

Isle of Skye, Highlands & Islands ££££

Veer off the Portree to Dunvegan road in northern Skye to find the leafy little hamlet of Edinbane and what was, until 2017, a derelict 16th-century hunting lodge on a shaded riverbank. Converted into a restaurant with rooms by a … Read more

Veer off the Portree to Dunvegan road in northern Skye to find the leafy little hamlet of Edinbane and what was, until 2017, a derelict 16th-century hunting lodge on a shaded riverbank. Converted into a restaurant with rooms by a young local chef, it is now one of the most talked-about kitchens on the island. The decor is traditional, cosy but understated design-wise, ranging from low-beamed ceilings, dark wood panelling and teal paintwork to tartan carpeting in muted hues and chocolate-brown leather chairs. The background music steers a similarly safe course, a medley for the middle-aged. The interiors might not make your pulse race, but the menu will. Immediately attention-grabbing is Calum Montgomery's focus on provenance. A separate sheet accompanying the 10-course taster lists the fishermen, foragers and crofters by name, many of whom are friends and family: Calum’s uncle Alasdair caught the hake and monkfish, while his cousin Peter MacAskill harvested the rope-grown mussels (served barbecued and topped with a silky potato mousse). The distance from producer to plate is noted too, with the wagyu beef from Perthshire the biggest schlep (198 miles). At our test meal, this arrived with truffle and red wine jus, plus a solitary chip-shaped, satisfyingly crunchy roast potato and carrot (puréed and pickled). Equally impressive was a giant scallop, hand-dived and plucked from the waters off the small island of Rona, meaty and tender, served on a smoky seaweed butter sauce laced with diced cucumber. An unexpected highlight was the bread course. The warm, steamed brioche with its sprinkling of crispy ham and chives was soft and moreish, smeared with an unctuous wild black-garlic butter, the herb gleaned from the lodge's grounds. Another wild picking, meadowsweet, features in the pre-dessert ice cream and is also one of the botanicals in the house gin, made by a local distillery. Even the 'handcrafted' tonic water, (from Walter Gregor in Aberdeenshire) has well-documented provenance. There's a wine flight matched to the tasting menu, of course, while the carefully curated list focuses on the Old World with nine by the glass – although the signature cocktails and local beers (try the Cuillin Brewery's Seaweed IPA) are every bit as noteworthy.

Old Dunvegan Road, Edinbane, Isle of Skye, Highlands & Islands IV51 9PW

Best Local Restaurant

MEMBER PERK

Inn at the Sticks

Llansteffan , Carmarthenshire ££

Welsh sharing plates served with warmth and verve

Llansteffan sits on the blue-green Tywi estuary, its ascending streets of pretty houses topped by a magnificent castle. Set at the upper end of the village, close to the church, the Inn at the Sticks covers many bases: bedrooms an… Read more

High Street , Llansteffan , Carmarthenshire SA33 5JG

MEMBER PERK

L'Enclume

Cartmel, Cumbria ££££

Simon Rogan was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List at the end of 2023, which is some measure of the influence he has had on contemporary British dining. The nerve centre of the whole operation is still here, in a stone-bu… Read more

Simon Rogan was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List at the end of 2023, which is some measure of the influence he has had on contemporary British dining. The nerve centre of the whole operation is still here, in a stone-built former smithy on a Cartmel road-bend, not far from its sibling Rogan & Co. The ambience has lost none of its rusticity, from the roughcast whitewashed walls and raftered ceilings to the anvil after which the place is named. The light, airy conservatory makes a fine spot for lunch. Smartly clad staff oversee a welcoming – and supremely professional – approach to hospitality, and the food does the rest. The kitchen mobilises a battalion of unexpected ingredients in surprising – even stunning – combinations, with textural notes to the fore as well as a clear focus on sustainability and regionalism. Among the appetisers is a fritter of Duroc pork and smoked eel on lovage emulsion with sweetcorn purée, an unimaginably delicious composition of flavours. There is also a pudding of Berkswell cheese coated in caramelised birch sap, tapped from a tree just a couple of miles away. A succession of plated dishes might include tiny pink fir potatoes cooked in chicken fat with pickled walnuts and an oil of burnt onion ash, while one of L'Enclume's signatures is the seaweed custard in beef broth and bone marrow, garnished with a house blend of caviar and Maldon oyster. Various vegetable-based specialties are always part of the menu, their seasonal freshness offset with powerful herbs and seasonings. As for animal protein, a pairing of John Dory and cuttlefish in pork fat with shrimp sauce, spinach and verbena might precede an outstanding dish of dry-aged Middle White pork in mead sauce with black garlic purée and pickled allium seeds, plus a pork-fat crumpet sitting on a hot stone to keep it warm. Textures go haywire in a serving of frozen Tunworth cheese topped with puffed buckwheat, lemon thyme crystals and gel, on a compôte of Champagne rhubarb. After strawberries and sweet cicely cream served in a ceramic pouch, followed by a miso-caramel mousse with apple (another L’Enclume signature), we concluded with an array of superlative petits fours – including a cornet of peach-stone ice cream with elderflower and white-chocolate ganache, and a tiny caramelised pear tart with a spot of herb oil. Wines by the glass are presented on an iPad, which you may want to keep by you as the menu progresses, but it's best to let the wine flights themselves take wing on a cosmopolitan journey around the globe.

Cavendish Street, Cartmel, Cumbria LA11 6QA

Best Local Restaurant

MEMBER PERK

Med

Brighton, East Sussex ££

Big-hitting local eatery famed for its thrilling, globally inspired food

Hold on to your palate, it's in for quite a ride. An eclectic menu of small plates might not sound like the most original idea for a modern casual restaurant (especially one in Brighton, where the formula has spread like wildfire)… Read more

2-3 Little East Street, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1HT

Mount St. Restaurant

Mayfair, London £££

Any restaurant located on Mayfair's Mount Street must bring expectations of high prices and a certain well-groomed charm. Mount St doesn't disappoint on either count. There’s a classy subtlety to this dining room located abo… Read more

First Floor, 41-43 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1K 2RX

Best Local Restaurant

MEMBER PERK

Origin Social

Northallerton, North Yorkshire ££

Imaginative small-plate dining in a Yorkshire country town

One could easily walk past Origin Social thinking it was just another café/bar on an anonymous strip with views of passing traffic and a Kwik Fit garage – in fact it is rather exceptional. With its long bar, substanti… Read more

2 Friarage Street, Northallerton, North Yorkshire DL6 1DP

Best Sunday Roast

MEMBER PERK

Porter & Rye

Glasgow, Strathclyde £££

Unashamedly carnivorous venue with a laid-back vibe

With its altar-like, meat-ageing cabinet and a blackboard listing premium cuts, Porter & Rye reveres the ‘cow as king’ and customers duly pay homage. Inside, it's small with mezzanines maximising the tables, a… Read more

1131 Argyle Street, Finnieston, Glasgow, Strathclyde G3 8ND

Best Local Restaurant

MEMBER PERK

Provender

Melrose, Borders ££

‘Precise, interesting French-accented cooking’ combined with genial service and a chilled vibe is the winning formula at this spirited neighbourhood eatery in the heart of increasingly foodie Melrose. Inside, it feels … Read more

West End House, High Street, Melrose, Borders TD6 9RU

MEMBER PERK

Restaurant Interlude

Lower Beeding, West Sussex ££££

Sussex meets South Africa in a bravura fine-dining experience

Dating from the 19th-century and surrounded by 240 acres of Sussex gardens and woodlands, Italianate Grade II-listed Leonardslee House is now home to a distinctive and elegant fine-dining restaurant with rooms. Here, Jean Del… Read more

Dating from the 19th-century and surrounded by 240 acres of Sussex gardens and woodlands, Italianate Grade II-listed Leonardslee House is now home to a distinctive and elegant fine-dining restaurant with rooms. Here, Jean Delport and his team forage for ingredients, though the chef also looks to his South African culinary heritage, which lends a very distinctive flavour to his 16-course ‘Estate Experience’. Slices of biltong formed part of our array of canapés served in the bar, alongside breadsticks glazed with homemade ‘Marmite’ and topped with a refined version of slaphakskeentjies (a South African onion salad with a cooked egg and mustard dressing).

A first course of lobster with cauliflower and kombu-washed Exmoor caviar, served with a glass of excellent Blanc de Blancs from Leonardslee’s own vineyard, was almost upstaged by the accompanying vertoek – an ethereally light, savoury doughnut finished with lardo and crispy pork skin. The mosbolletjies bread course was a highlight. Made with wine must from the vineyard, the traditional anise-flavoured brioche-like loaf was served in a mini cast iron casserole with home-churned butter ceremoniously melted tableside in a pan into which biltong spices, mushroom garum, red-wine onions and herbs from the estate were added.

‘Rabbit eats carrot’ showcased another estate ingredient in an impressively elaborate signature dish of many parts: a terrine of rabbit, duck liver, pork and rabbit jelly sandwiched between wafers of 'feuilles de brick' pastry, paired with carrot mayonnaise; buttermilk- and vodka-marinated deep-fried rabbit leg, presented in a smoke-filled cloche; pastry boats of confit rabbit and chilli jam, topped with rabbit mousse, cured egg yolk and marinated carrots. The dish was completed with crisp carrot 'leather' tartlets filled with rabbit offal and presented on a moss-topped log from the garden – a bravura exhibition of culinary technique and nose-to-tail cooking that was a delight to eat.

There were a few hiccups during the three-and-a-half-hour marathon, but despite the extended duration, the pace of the meal never flagged and the service remained engaged and genuinely friendly throughout. Each course was accompanied by an information card, a clever way to avoid overly long dish descriptions at the table. Wines from Leonardslee and sister South African winery Benguela Cove offer particular value on a varied and interesting list where two-thirds of the bottles are priced at less than three figures – a pleasant surprise given the ambition of the restaurant.

Leonardslee Gardens, Brighton Road, Lower Beeding, West Sussex RH13 6PP

MEMBER PERK

Sonny Stores

Bristol ££

A ray of Italian sunshine in Southville

You wouldn’t guess it from the name, but Sonny Stores is a charming neighbourhood Italian, set in a former corner shop amid the terraces and bay windows of Southville. Out front, a blackboard advertises takeaway pizzas, but … Read more

47 Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol BS3 1QS

Best Sunday Roast

MEMBER PERK

The Millbrook Inn

South Pool, Devon £££

Impressively refurbished village inn with high culinary aspirations

In 2021, new owners gave the Millbrook Inn a much-needed makeover, but thankfully the refit has been done with restrained taste and the place still retains its identity as a local pub in a pretty south Devon village. There's … Read more

In 2021, new owners gave the Millbrook Inn a much-needed makeover, but thankfully the refit has been done with restrained taste and the place still retains its identity as a local pub in a pretty south Devon village. There's a spruced up outdoor terrace with parasols, a pair of new holiday cottages across the road for tranquil getaways, and an extra dining space on the upper floor, where spindly old rafters and a paper globe lantern set the tone.

Better still, the menu is now buttressed with organically produced rare-breed meats from the family farmstead (Fowlescombe) and the cooking is now in the experienced hands of Tom Westerland (ex-Gilpin Hotel in Cumbria), who is nudging the Millbrook in the direction of destination dining. Look at the precision and quality in a starter of pickled and salted farm cucumber with miniature cucamelon, sheep's curd and mint, or the savoury indulgence of beef carpaccio adorned with truffled horseradish cream and crispy capers.

Dressed Salcombe crab is every bit as fresh and toothsome as is proper, although it could do with a little more of the gribiche and farm herbs that partner it, while the Manx Loaghton hogget (cut into thick chops) is sensational, its fatty fringe blistered, the interior rosy-pink, sauced with its own jus at the table and accompanied by surprisingly delicate charred spring onion and courgettes. The day's fish is done in the charcoal oven and presented with smoked potatoes and samphire in caper-strewn brown butter.

Afters might offer bitter chocolate tart with raspberry sorbet or buttermilk panna cotta with strawberries and elderflower, but the sticky toffee crowd isn't ignored. Fans also say that Tom Westerland's Sunday lunch is ‘absolute perfection’, with superb meat, copious quantities of veg and other traditional accompaniments. In the drinking stakes, South Devon beers and ciders are given a spotlight of their own, while the adventurous wine list reaches for the stars, with glasses starting at £6.80 for a light Lisboa red.

South Pool, Devon TQ7 2RW

Best Sunday Roast

MEMBER PERK

The Social Distortion

Hull, East Yorkshire ££

Noisy but cool Asian-inspired eatery

You may think that an ear-splittingly noisy restaurant, painted black, run by a team of tattooed chefs and named after a US punk band of the 70s, is not for you. Think again. This place is a terrific find. Mark Hill heads the kitc… Read more

25 Humber Street, Hull, East Yorkshire HU1 1TU

MEMBER PERK

Twenty Seven Harbour Street

Broadstairs, Kent ££

Seaside spot known for its reasonably priced small plates cooked over fire

A reworking of Wyatt & Jones, in that it has the same owners and the same location (under York Gate on the steep incline as Harbour Street runs down to the sea), but the newly minted Twenty Seven Harbour Street offers a short … Read more

27 Harbour Street, Broadstairs, Kent CT10 1EU

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