A cut above: 29 of the best restaurants, pubs and steakhouses for Great British Beef Week
Published 27 April 2026

It may be fronted by a cocktail bar but there is nothing fancy about this cramped, barebones space. However, you really won’t care as all eyes are on the kitchen – Stow is all about open-fire cooking, delivered in a rush of heat and flames. We recommend booking a seat at the chef’s table if it's offered, the better to immerse yourself in the whole spectacle of big cuts of meat and fish being licked by fire.

The short, regularly changing menu covers a lot of ground. Sharing plates of ‘overnight-coal’ beets with ricotta and smoked honey (a dish full of compelling, smoky flavours) or celeriac pappardelle dotted with black garlic in a punchy, golden anchovy sauce benefit from some soft, fluffy milk bread with burnt-onion butter to mop up the juices. After that, a whole monkfish tail perfectly timed and served in a delicious trout roe and dill beurre blanc should suffice; alternatively, opt for an ex-dairy ribeye and team with garlicky ratte potatoes liberally showered with finely grated Corra Linn cheese.

If you’re sweet of tooth, the smoked cream tart with forced rhubarb is a must. Don’t flinch when it arrives with its top blackened to a crisp – it's an unusual flavour combination reminiscent of cinder toffee and dulce de leche. Otherwise, play it safe with a white chocolate crémeux and pistachio. Service is friendly and engaged. To drink, there are excellent cocktails and beers on draught, or you can settle for a bottle from the all-French wine list.

It feels only right that the Blacklock group's first port of call as it heads into regional orbit should be Manchester, where thoroughbred meat cookery has become a speciality. Housed in the cavernous basement of a former textile mill on Peter Street, the ambience calls up the city's industrial past, but with candle-flames, soft leather seating and smiling staff to give the exposed brickwork and cast-iron pillars a gentler feel.

Followers of the London venues will find a comfortingly familiar ring to the menus, which open with protein snacks such as potted meats with kimchi to prime the appetite. A fully loaded steak sarnie makes a more satisfying lunch than a supermarket sub, as does a whopping double cheeseburger, its onions caramelised in vermouth. Blackboard menus give notice of the cuts of the day, and you can see them being crossed off as they are snapped up. Vintage Blacklock irons grill the chops to blushing pink for skinny cuts of pork rib and lamb T-bone, while the fat-marbled steaks are fully matured for 55 days.

The ‘all in’ sharing deal is a mound of chops, piled on chargrilled flatbreads, but leave room for beef-dripping chips and perhaps a superfood side-order of broccoli and walnut salad. Sauces, charged extra, run the gamut from chilli hollandaise to the richly nutritious house gravy. The undoubted appetite challenge of it all extends to a ‘say-when’ dessert of white chocolate cheesecake, served straight into bowls at the table.

Blacklock is also famed for its nostalgic Sunday lunch. Whole joints are roasted the old-fashioned way and the revelling continues through the day – be warned, bookings are at a premium. If you're in a group, order the ‘all in’ offer of three different meats with sides, veg and limitless gravy. Wines on tap include the big reds that this food will mostly need.

Here we have a little haven of French provincial cooking amid the bustle of Borough Market, a neat, simply dressed bistro with candles on the tables and a menu featuring pâté en croûte, grilled ox heart with Café de Paris butter, and a daily line-up of blackboard specials. Clare Lattin and Tom Hill cut their teeth at London’s Ducksoup, then moved on to osteria Emilia in Devon, so they have serious chops when it comes to running restaurants. There’s nothing quite like the buzz in here when the place is full, with upbeat service adding to the all-round joie de vivre.

The kitchen is run by Elliot Hashtroudi, who takes due account of seasonal British produce for a series of delicious French vignettes where each plate is allowed to shine in its own right. We kicked off with a snack of smoked eel served atop curried devilled eggs, before tackling a starter of white crabmeat perfectly matched with a barattiere melon and cucumber emulsion, heritage tomatoes and a melon granita. For the main course, the richness of a superb Welsh pork schnitzel (crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside) was offset by a salad of greengage and crispy pig's ear – although a combo of octopus, pig's trotter and bacon looked equally intriguing. 

To finish, we were taken by the peach tart and the canelé with lemon curd, but finally settled for a rich dark chocolate marquise topped with Chantilly cream and beef-fat salted caramel. A dozen low-intervention wines from small French and Italian producers start at £35, with by-the-glass selections changing each day.

Back in the day, Darleys was a destination address for those looking for a ‘posh option’ when celebrating significant birthdays, anniversaries or graduations. But the current owners, who took over in 2019, have refurbished the old cotton mill overlooking a fast-flowing section of the Derwent and brought in a new team of chefs with strong local backgrounds to make the place more accessible to all. Although the fine-dining aspect has been retained (various tasting menus), you can now drop in for breakfast, work your way through the good-value bistro menu or the carte, and tuck into a traditional Sunday lunch. Expect a repertoire that pushes all the modern dining buttons, with a heavy reliance on seasonal produce and competitive pricing. Venison with Wye Valley asparagus, fermented plum and wild garlic has been justly applauded, likewise the smoked haddock risotto, and a Derbyshire rib of beef with braised beef cheek, lovage and onion. Breads also receive plenty of praise, alongside their accompanying pumpkin butter (‘the best thing I’ve tasted in a long time’), while desserts could include strawberry cannelloni with pistachio or a chocolate and mango délice with passion fruit and salted caramel. It’s all served by staff who ‘go above and beyond, and are obviously well trained’. Cocktails are worth exploring and there's a list of mainly European wines to match the food – although the bottles from Halfpenny Green Wine Estate in nearby Staffordshire are also worth a punt.

Part of Yew Tree Barn (a locally renowned antiques and reclamation centre), this café has been beautifully designed with vintage furniture, woodburners and lots of clever detailing. You need to book for sell-out family-style Sunday lunches, when everyone sits down together and eats from a two-course set menu – perhaps thick slices of local beef sirloin (cooked pink) followed by salted caramel tart. At other times, simply turn up on spec for breakfast/brunch dishes and lunches with an international flavour – think Korean fried buttermilk chicken, venison chilli nachos or halloumi noodle salad. To drink, there are reasonably priced wines as well as beers from Cumbrian breweries. A cosy vibe prevails, helped along by ‘fantastically friendly staff’.

The beefy Hawksmoor steakhouse group picked a peach of a site when they were looking for an Edinburgh outpost – namely, the old National Bank of Scotland, once the tallest building overlooking St Andrew Square. Its current incarnation pays due reference to the past with limestone surfaces, a lofty coffered ceiling, imperious columns, parquet floors, etched windows and reclaimed materials, although nothing can detract from the venue's gastronomic USP.

Visitors come here in their droves for joyously flavoursome cuts of dry-aged native beef sourced from both sides of the border, priced per 100g, chargrilled to order, and served with the now-familiar Hawksmoor sauces and sides – although the bone-marrow skirlie is unique to this branch. Regional ingredients crop up regularly on the menu, from Eyemouth crab on toast or grilled native lobsters with garlic butter to occasional supplies of heather-nourished Hebridean lamb. The sourdough bread is from Edinburgh, and so is the butter, while the famed Ambassador chocolate bar and a wicked sticky toffee sundae top the list of indulgent desserts.

A daytime ‘express’ menu pulls in punters on tighter budgets, while on Sundays a whole rump of 35-day, dry-aged beef is slow-cooked over charcoal then finished in the oven – ‘the quality of the meat is unrivalled,’ notes one fan. Otherwise, the drinks list is everything you would expect from Hawksmoor: craft beers and nifty cocktails plus big-ticket red wines bold enough to match all that fleshy sanguineous protein.

A block or two from Piccadilly Gardens, Higher Ground is run by a triumvirate who met while working at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills in New York State. They have now rocked up at the corner of an office building in, naturally, New York Street, to bring up-to-the-minute bistro food to a vanguard gastronomic city. Much of what comes into the kitchen is supplied by their own farm Cinderwood, a market garden smallholding in Cheshire, and its vivid intensities of flavour inspire chefs and diners alike. Eaten in a bright, spacious airport-style space, with counter seating as well as tables, the result is dishes that you will want to share, rather than merely being told that you have to. Green pea and spring garlic fritters enriched with Isle of Mull Cheddar won't touch the sides, and there are pedigree cured meats such as 12-month air-dried culatello or the cannily sourced salami taormina from Curing Rebels of Brighton. Fish cookery is of the first water: Scottish turbot with grilled lettuce, spring onions and basil is perfect with a side order of waxy Marfona potatoes dressed in roasted yeast and smoked butter. Desserts are, surprisingly, of a more delicate persuasion than puds and cheesecake. Try house-cultured yoghurt with preserved gooseberry and bay leaf, or milk ice cream given a little fairground pizzazz with chocolate malt fudge. Speciality bottled ales from the English regions are a plus point, and wine-drinkers can be sure their tipple will have been left to its own devices as far as possible, turning burnt orange for Ardèche Marsanne or abashed pink for Sicilian rosato. House fizz is a Crémant de Limoux.

'Special without being pretentious' is one verdict on this admirable farm-to-fork operation, which the citizens of Great Malvern have taken to their hearts since it opened in 2024. With windows overlooking the greenery of Malvern Priory’s graveyard, and a spacious modern interior incorporating a bar/dining counter as well as an open kitchen, it’s a good-looking, lively spot regularly filled with a hubbub of locals.

The prime attraction is prime meat, reared and butchered on the Madresfield Estate just two miles away. A popular choice is the daily changing ‘butcher’s board’ for two, which might comprise beef short-rib tacos, lamb koftas, rack of lamb and a Barnsley chop, served with little pots of sauces (gravy, chimichurri, peppercorn). To kick things off, try the glazed short-rib – a modest, highly savoury portion of pulled beef served with a blob of spinach and watercress sauce and a smear of sweet rhubarb jam. 

Our latest visit continued with barbecued lamb rump – succulent medium-rare slices matched with a large braised carrot, timidly flavoured courgette and wild garlic purée, plus pleasingly viscous gravy. Less gratifying was a very large side dish of butter beans, made overwhelmingly sweet with truffle honey. Still, a dessert of almond cake and thick crème diplomat surrounded by strawberry coulis with crunchy blanched almonds provided a comforting finale. 

The restaurant's offer also includes a fairly priced set lunch and pre-theatre menu, while the wine list features a batch of desirable vintages as well as a selection of everyday drinking. Service from the young team is vivacious and charming – all that's needed is a little fine-tuning to the dishes supporting the first-rate meat.

An attractive, modern-looking spot in a parade of shops in the heart of Rhiwbina (a suburb of Cardiff), Mesen offers a relaxed take on contemporary small-plate dining. On the day we visited, it was gloriously sunny and the whole frontage had been opened up to create an alfresco feel, with chairs and tables laid out on the street. Inside, there’s plenty of wood, leather and modern art, with a view into the kitchen at the rear.

The cooking is charcoal-fired, pairing chargrilled meat and fish with fresh, zesty flavours. The juicy, crunchy-skinned charcoal chicken, perfectly matched with ripe peach, cucumber and a fruity dressing, is a case in point, but it's easy to forgo meat altogether with the likes of plump, cheese-filled gnocchi, lightly charred and dressed in a lively walnut pesto. Geographically, the reach is broad, from various rösti and tostadas – perfectly soft and crisp, topped with tender pork belly and a fruity salsa – to rib of beef with Café de Paris butter or native lobster with confit garlic and finger lime.

The charcoal fire also services desserts such as grilled pineapple with grapefruit sorbet, and the whole offering sits comfortably alongside a thoughtful selection of European wines. In addition, there’s a real feeling of team spirit about the place – expect efficiency, friendliness and attention to detail throughout.

Joshua and Victoria Overington opened Mýse (pronounced 'meez') in the summer of 2023. It's a converted inn snuggled in a sleepy North Yorkshire village, but with ideas that lift it way out of the country-pub norm. The name is the Anglo-Saxon word that denoted ceremonial dining at table, though that shouldn't lead you to expect a mýse-hrægel (tablecloth). Formerly head chef at Le Cochon Aveugle in York, Joshua leads a team that is single-mindedly dedicated to the principles of modern sustainable cooking, with foraging, fermenting, pickling and infusing high on everybody's skill-set.

Nibbles set the tone: Ripon roe deer in fermented plum sauce topped with smoked Exmoor caviar in a little charcoal tartlet; a hay-vinegared quail's egg on mushroom parfait; a twig brochette of ox cheek braised in ale, then deep-fried in Yorkshire-pudding batter – layers of flavour and stunning richness rolling out even before you have reached the dining room. An Orkney scallop is very lightly poached in sea-urchin butter and served in the shell on a bed of seaweed. The thrift principle extends to turning last year's squash seeds into a 'miso' which is used to garnish a soup of this year's squash, its texture firmed up with a little pumpkin-seed granola.

A crown of duck is introduced by being carried regally about the room, and now begins its culinary act. After a presentation of duck charcuterie with a crumpet of liver mousse, plus a richly spicy broth flavoured with walnut and orange, comes a thick slice of the breast served with game sausage, confit beetroot and black-walnut relish. A pair of desserts is interspersed with the petits fours, which makes them less of an afterthought than usual – the finale being a flourless fig tart with an ice cream of fig leaves from the garden. Overington himself comes to the table and fires up the dish with flaming Yorkshire rum, harking us back to the dear old flambé days of our gilded youth.

The food is matched by an excellent drinks list, which takes in inspired non-alcoholic sodas and kombuchas, imaginative cocktails and a decent selection of wines in small glasses, from a mere £5 for a quality Vinho Verde. Bottle prices ascend rapidly, but the choices are exceptionally good, through to a Georgian Saperavi and Peloponnese Agiorgitiko.

A self-styled ‘progressive working-class caterer’ back in Victorian times, the Quality Chop House is still providing a great service under its current custodians, and its spirit is buoyant. QCH is moving with the times too – although the Grade II-listing ensures its heritage will always be faithfully preserved. In the main dining room, a central walkway with chequerboard flooring is flanked by oak benches and narrow tables with cast-iron legs, while an arched doorway offers a glimpse of the kitchen. The walls are partially panelled, with mirrors and chalkboards above. We thought the food was excellent, well-considered and ‘unapologetic in its excess’, with a few defiantly British faithfuls such as game and hazelnut terrine or Yorkshire mallard with January king cabbage rubbing shoulders with Euro-accented ideas including Suffolk lamb osso buco or Brixham pollack with brown shrimp grenobloise and celeriac. True to form, steaks and chops are the headliners: the fat cap on our mangalitza bacon chop was three-quarters of an inch thick and effortlessly melted in the mouth with an intense savouriness, while the lengthy wait for a slab of Hereford sirloin was justified by the appearance of the steak alone. Served sliced off the bone on antique crockery, the deep-brown crust lightly glistened in its own juices, while the flesh was deep-pink and cooked evenly throughout. To accompany, the much-imitated confit potatoes were wonderfully crisp, and Brussels tops made a welcome appearance gilded with Parmesan. If you still have room, desserts offer high-calorie comfort in the shape of, say, treacle tart with clotted cream or Pump Street chocolate mousse with Seville orange. Service is warm and attentive, with everything running seamlessly; staff are also spot-on when it comes to recommendations from the wide-ranging wine list. Quality Wines next door is also worth checking out.

With forested hills sloping onto fields of grazing sheep and the Gothic remains of Byland Abbey towering over the entrance, this pub with rooms is a dream ticket – no wonder it was snapped up by chef Tommy Banks (the Black Swan at Oldstead is nearby). Inside, there’s a little bar with a snug for those wanting a drink, but the main action takes place in the three dining rooms, one of which is the former piggery – an expansive room with beams, giant flagstones and a double-facing log-burning stove, all illuminated by a conservatory-style skylight. The mood is relaxed and staff stay on top of their tasks, while cute details in the handsome finishes speak of Tommy Banks’ pedigree.

The food also makes a connection to the Banks family farm (without labouring the point), and chef Charlie Smith serves up a procession of seriously appealing, modern pub-style dishes – an incredibly original Dexter steak tartare, perhaps, cut into uniform nuggets resembling translucent rubies decorated with grated wild horseradish, fermented peppers and smoked bone marrow. Elsewhere, there might be a light, elegant plate of smoked Pablo beetroot with ewe’s curd, preserved Yorkshire rhubarb and linseed crackers for texture. Some of the meaty main courses such as a pork rib chop with fermented mushroom béarnaise could do with a little finessing, although fish dishes hit the spot – judging by a pitch-perfect serving of cod with a splendid mussel cream sauce and purple-red potatoes on the side.

Everything is executed with flair, professionalism and a deep respect for local ingredients – and that extends to the dazzling roasts served for Sunday lunch (check out the rare-breed Berkshire pork and Herdwick lamb from the family farm, just two miles away). If you're looking for real value, however, order the mighty Dexter cheeseburger with fries, plus a pint of Yorkshire-brewed ale and a shared dessert – say a soft-serve sundae topped with Douglas fir, blackcurrant and white chocolate. Aside from real ale, drinks include seasonal cocktails, homemade libations and a short but decent selection of wines with plenty by the glass.

From the lowlands of west Lancashire, it’s a pleasure to drive into the immaculate grounds of Mark Birchall's Moor Hall. The Barn itself is a first-floor restaurant that runs the length of a beautifully restored outbuilding, with an open kitchen occupying the far end. Wooden beams criss-cross the airy pointed roof and the red-brick walls exude a warmth enhanced by the friendly but properly courteous welcome.The short seasonal menu is (thankfully) constructed in traditional three-course fashion; prime ingredients are supplemented by Moor Hall’s own produce – including their excellent in-house charcuterie (perfect with a delightful non-alcoholic libation). There are intriguing elements such as smoked marrow and sea buckthorn sauces, but dishes sound comfortably contemporary rather than riskily experimental, and they are well-served by a suitably sophisticated wine list with a broad global spread. Even on a mid-winter visit, the cooking felt fresh and light. A fragile Pablo beetroot tartlet presented like a bishop’s mitre held spiced pieces of the vegetable, a luscious slice of smoked duck ham, blackberries and red radicchio leaves. Equally elegant and restrained in appearance was lightly seared, cured Cornish mackerel draped with translucent ribbons of earthy-sweet salt-baked white beetroot, buttermilk and dill. An impeccable dish of Saint-Sever guinea hen yielded tender white breast moistened with jus alongside a nugget of stronger-tasting leg meat encased in crispy skin as well as a piece of rolled leek stuffed with offal forcemeat – the whole thing pulled together with a bowl of super-creamy, fluffy potato purée. However, Belted Galloway short rib glazed with black garlic, shallot, charred baby gem and smoked marrow sauce was less successful and lacked the coherence notable in other dishes.The kitchen’s patisserie skills are showcased in desserts such as apple millefeuille with buttermilk custard and cider caramel served with vivid apple and vanilla sorbets – although the unexpected star turn was a squash custard tart with clementine and crème fraîche sorbets. The perfect custard, with deep, intense toffee notes, was finished off with the smoky, mineral notes of drizzled birch sap. Petits fours included gorgeous fudge coated in fiery Ormskirk gingerbread crumbs (they should sell this delicacy in boxes to take home).

If it's worth finding a perfectly pristine English village – and it always is – it's also worth hoping that the local pub will be a forward-thinking ancient inn serving adventurous modern British food. Welcome to the Barrington Boar, located somewhere between Taunton and Yeovil. A slate-floored bar opens onto a crimson-walled dining room with a stone-built fireplace, and there's a clutch of guest rooms where the old skittle alley once was.

Alasdair Clifford and Victoria Collins have made the place a haven of West Country hospitality, with Alasdair's kitchen as its nerve centre and a culinary repertoire built around supremely confident, exquisitely presented regional cooking. 'Real innovation without silliness,' is how one reader summarised the style, having in mind such dishes as a starter of barbecued lamb shoulder glazed in rose harissa with smoked aubergine and pistachio dukkah – or, perhaps, a Japanese-inspired tartare of kelp-cured trout with soy and rhubarb ponzu, adorned with shiso and winter radish.

Wye Valley asparagus in season forms the centrepiece of a veggie main with confit new potatoes, baby turnips and sprouting broccoli in herb vinaigrette, while fish could be roast cod with smoked cod croquettes and spring cabbage in a creamy white wine velouté. Gold-standard meats take in everything from 50-day aged Devon Red sirloin, its accoutrements including a mushroom stuffed with bone marrow and parsley butter, to local lamb rump with its caramelised sweetbreads.

Finish with Yorkshire rhubarb cheesecake and matching sorbet, or a picture-perfect pear frangipane tart with clotted cream. A luscious cocktail offering includes a 'Dam-Good Negroni' made with damson gin (our arm is duly twisted), while the expertly curated wine list opens with a comprehensive suite of selections in two glass sizes and half-litre carafes.

An oasis of contemporary urban sophistication just round the corner from Hereford's historic cathedral, this bustling ‘brunch and dinner joint’ is hip but welcoming too. Exposed brickwork, a poured concrete floor and countertop tables give way to a large open kitchen and closely packed wooden tables at the back. Disembodied book pages flutter decoratively overhead in homage to the venue’s former use. Readers heap praise on the ‘really lovely and helpful’ staff. With brunch extending until 3pm, daytime dining involves all manner of egg and sourdough combinations – or you can push the breakfast boundaries with, say, truffled mac ‘n’ cheese toast with sriracha or smoked haddock and ‘nduja croquettes.

Evenings are centred around Herefordshire beef, aged in a Himalayan salt chamber and served as burgers and steaks – or, perhaps, slow-cooked with a herb and marrowbone crumb and mash. Other local and seasonal produce gets more than a look-in, from Severn & Wye smoked haddock rarebit with pickled celeriac and a caper and parsley salad to roast hazelnut and Ragstone gnocchi with spring onion and sunflower-seed pesto.

Excellent desserts – many of which can be sampled with coffee during the day – could include a moreish and very grown-up dark chocolate and salted caramel tart with fruit-and-nut ice cream. Sunday afternoons are given over to deservedly popular roasts with all the trimmings, and the short wine list is supplemented by cocktails featuring gin and whisky from Ludlow, plus local ales and ciders.

*Sally Abé left the Bull on 7 January 2026 to pursue a new project.*

The Public House Group (the Pelican, the Hero, the Hart et al) is fast becoming the last word in pared-back cool contemporary British pubs and this Cotswold outpost is a model of its kind. Owners Phil Winser and James Gummer grew up around these parts and cut their drinking teeth in the Bull (which has stood on the corner of Sheep Street since Henry VIII was taking wives). Together with Olivier van Themsche, they've retained an atmospheric air, with low raftered ceilings, welcoming fires and the flicker of pillar candles throughout the flagstoned bar and dining rooms.

With Sally Abé in post to lead the kitchen, there’s just the right dose of finesse cutting through the line-up of contemporary pub dishes. Start with some warm soda bread to bolster the lightness of ‘mackerel, tomato and lovage’ or mushroom and chestnut soup; otherwise, head straight to a heartier Bull pie or pork chop charred on the grill. On one recent visit, a dish billed simply as ‘farm salad’ proved a flavour-flaunting textural medley of green beans, courgette, fresh peas, and crushed and whole-roasted hazelnuts. Delicious simplicity continues right through to desserts such as pitch-perfect chocolate mousse and apricot frangipane tart.

Wednesdays might bring steak night and the otherwise absent chips to the table, while the beautiful garden plays host to summer BBQs. An enterprising list of cask ales and speciality ciders competes with the adventurous wine selection (fleshed out with a weekly changing list of single bottles).

Only a few miles from Hay-on-Wye, this former drovers’ inn close to the Welsh border is so peaceful and secluded that it's no surprise many visitors remark on the ‘spectacular setting’. Sympathetically renovated and reopened in 2021 by local regenerative food and farming company Wild by Nature, the pub has a timeless charm. Inside, the split-level dining rooms have thick stone walls, wonky-beamed ceilings, slate floors and a large open fireplace. Outside, a large, pretty garden offers tables with stunning views under the watchful presence of Herefordshire’s imposing Black Hill.

A strong connection to the land and a deep respect for ingredients shine through the seasonally changing menu. Dining here is farm-to-table and nose-to-tail, with ingredients grown or reared at a nearby farm owned by the restaurant group. Almost everything, from the charcuterie to the cheese biscuits, is made in-house. Whether this is a wild garlic soup with a fried hen’s egg and prosciutto, Black Mountain hogget and merguez with white beans and green sauce, or a buttermilk pudding with rhubarb jelly, hyper–local ingredients are treated with a respect and care that enables their flavours to sing. 

Everyone has a good word to say about the friendly and attentive staff, while drinks feature local beers and ciders as well as a short list of minimal intervention wines, which offers a better choice by the bottle than the glass. Accommodation is in four bespoke 'wild cabins' in the grounds of the pub.

In secluded countryside and surrounded by orchards, this is a 'lovely traditional pub with an immaculately kept garden,’ noted one visitor. Inside, the bar with its open fires and dried hops entwined across low-beamed ceilings doubles as the restaurant, creating a cosy atmosphere. The menu of ‘good, simple, seasonal dishes’ offers excellent value for accomplished homely cooking. At inspection that included a ’very fresh and summery’ squid salad with shavings of raw fennel, and a dish of thick, creamy and 'not overly smoked' cod’s roe with seaweed crackers, a soft-boiled egg and fresh radish. Cornish cod was ‘perfectly cooked’ and accompanied by fresh broad beans, basil pesto and Jerey Royals, while a special of 'lobster frites' came dressed with garlic and parsley butter. ‘Perfect’ desserts included strawberry shortbread with fresh raspberries, crème patissière and coulis, and a chocolate crémeux with homemade honeycomb and lusciously boozy cherries. Staff are ‘super chatty, friendly and very efficient’. If the line-up of cask ales and ciders doesn't tempt you, there's also a short, reasonably priced wine list with bottles from £25. A gem of a place.

In 2022, Sam Pullan and his partner Nicole Deighton took over a long-deceased caff in a tucked-away corner off Briggate, turning it into an original and innovative restaurant. The revived Empire feels young and exciting although it's tiny, with room at street level for a smart little bar, where cocktails are shaken and they serve ‘the perfect Guinness’ against a backdrop of sparkling bottles and glassware, high stools and banquettes. You can eat here or in the windowless basement dining room, which may sound bleak but isn't: lamps on each table and Egon Schiele prints on the dark walls give it a cosy, welcoming vibe.

The constantly changing menu is made up of two halves (small or large plates) – perhaps a choux pastry éclair stuffed with duck liver parfait and finished with a sticky blood-orange glaze or pork pluma, cooked over charcoal and paired with a crunchy Lincolnshire Poacher cheese croquette and a lemon and treacle sauce. And whoever added tomato and crab ragù to a simple fried duck egg is onto something.

Roast chicken is the star of the show, turned on a giant rotisserie (billed as the ‘wall of flame’), with the fat and juices dripping down to ‘schmaltz’ the potatoes beneath. Choose whole or half, then pick your 'rub' and your ‘lather’ – perhaps smoked garlic and honey, or yuzu and ginger, or garlic, lemon and tarragon.

Pastel de nata has become an Empire signature, too. Freshly baked pastry cases filled with sweet custard are typically traditional, but they are lifted by the addition of Reblochon cheese plus a spoonful of roast chestnut purée on the side. Service is full of enthusiasm, and staff are great at talking everyone through the menu. 'A breath of fresh air for Leeds.'

Almost lost amid the tangle of east Devon villages, Darts Farm is rather more of a hive of activity than the nearby Exeter airport. It's a family-run enterprise (and then some), with a wellness spa, extensive farm shop, butcher and deli counters, vineyard, farm walk and bird hide, among other amenities. Alongside a maze of other eating possibilities, serving food in the very precincts where much of it is grown, there is also now the Farm Table for ‘agricultural fine dining’ – a very 21st-century style.

You might feel you are eating in a large hangar, but the quality of what the kitchen puts out tends to encourage people to get a little glammed-up for the occasion. The rattle call of ice-cubes being shaken is a sure lure to the bar, and a dedicated pizza chef always raises expectations, amply fulfilled with the arrival of grilled flatbread topped with pancetta, hot honey and garlic butter.

Nibbles are full of allure: burnt broad-bean pods sprinkled with chilli salt or crispy brawn bites with rhubarb and apple sauce might kick things off, ahead of a simple salad of sweetly delicious picked-this-morning beetroot, chicory and truffled Graceburn cheese – an array of incomparable ingredients. Fish dishes are forthrightly but sensitively handled, as when a hulking fillet of a sea bream is teamed with pickled cockles, tomatoes and jalapeños, all sauced  with a thick ajo blanco.

Gold-standard meats range from a starter portion of grilled pigeon breast with lentils and redcurrants to Ruby Red steaks and Creedy Carver duck, the latter with grilled radicchio and pickled cherries in red wine. Portions tend to the hearty, meaning that two might easily share a whopping rhubarb sponge pudding topped with a gigantic clod of clotted cream, but if you are feeling a little delicate by now, consider gin and strawberry parfait with pink-peppercorn meringue. Special-occasion menus add to the offer, and there is an excellent range of drinking to contemplate, from fruity cocktails to a well-chosen list of wines at manageable prices (from £6 a glass).

It may date from the mid-17th century, but nowadays the Farmers Arms is every inch the 21st-century village pub. It was the initial inspiration for a far more substantial project that has become 'The Collective of Woolsery' from San Francisco-based tech entrepreneurs Michael and Xochi Birch.

The couple now own the local convenience store and post office, the fish and chip shop, and various rooms and cottages around Woolfardisworthy (to give the place its full name) – including the Grade II-listed Wulfheard Manor (opening as a hotel in 2025). In addition, their 150-acre farm provides the pub with rare-breed and heritage meats as well as just-harvested fruit and vegetables – hyper-seasonal produce that is beautifully realised in the hands of Ian Webber (Michael Caines’ former head chef at Gidleigh Park).

The bijou ‘farm menu’ could bring a moreish Curworthy Haytor cheese puff dotted with oxeye daisy petals and deep-red globules of sour cherry gel, ahead of Birch Farm pork fillet perched on a generous chunk of coppa bacon and offset by the earthiness of fermented grains, paprika, red cabbage and finely sliced pickled fennel.

Alternatively, you could look to the more traditional 'pub menu' for the likes of Honey Wood Haze cider-battered haddock, chips and minted peas, or an elevated monkfish and scallop fishcake with buttered leeks, poached Birch Farm egg and chips. Visually stunning desserts include a warm lemon geranium cake topped with raspberry jam and pistachio ice cream, served with a citrussy lemon verbena curd.

There’s also a terrace with a covered seating area and heated stone benches for all-weather dining. To drink, take your pick from locally brewed ales and seasonal cocktails, or select a bottle from the well-chosen wine list. 

What started out as a communal dining experience in the old milking byre of this family farm has morphed into something more flexible, with a seasonal carte now providing plenty of choice. Seating is still at rustic trestle tables peppered with plant pots, but you can now swing by for Sunday lunch as well as dinner. It is considered a 'magical set-up'. On the menu, you’ll find the farm’s produce in all its glory: the owners rear and butcher heritage Dexter cross cattle, Shetland sheep and mangalitza pigs, as well as growing organic fruit and vegetables. They also love their smoker – even the sourdough bread is tossed in to create a cindery hard crust, before being served with whipped butter zig-zagged with sticky honey. 

Expect small bites ranging from a garden 'scrumpet' with kimchi mayo or a no-nonsense hogget offal flatbread with charcoal mayo and Corra Linn (a strong local ewe's cheese) to coffee-roasted beetroot on a bed of creamy crowdie and skirlie. Main courses are farmyard-hearty: salty slabs of hake in a smoked mussel sauce; Shetland hogget loin with kale and a 'wee hogget pie'; hay-baked celeriac with fava beans and sunflower seeds. On Sundays, expect a mound of pink roast pork and potatoes in their skins, with plenty of gravy. 

To finish, there could be a blackcurrant-leaf custard tart with flowering currant topped with scorched meringue or a pale pistachio pumpkin-seed ice cream with porridge praline and tiny cubes of caramelised swede adding a toffee tinge. Staff are friendly, and the drinks list focuses on sustainable wines (including a hefty contingent of skin-contact varietals) alongside foraged cocktails and craft beers. They’ve also started making their own cider with donated apples.

The venerable Merry Harriers is to be found in the village of Hambledon (not the Hampshire one) near Godalming, a rural enclave set in a buffer of fields and woodland. It has been kitted out to suit the modern mood, with a soft green colour scheme and bentwood chairs at unclothed tables, plus candlelight in the evenings and fires in winter. A menu that exhaustively lists all the kitchen's and cellar's local suppliers inspires confidence, and the food is just what country-pub aficionados want to eat, with plenty of praise lavished on the Sunday lunch offer – a choice of ‘impeccably cooked’ roast platters, piled high and designed for two to share.

On the regular menu, lightly horseradished smoked mackerel pâté might compete with Trenchmore Farm beef tartare and plum ketchup, before mains take flight with some more adventurous ideas. Pork chop with sweetcorn, girolles and pickled walnuts delivered an impressive array of flavours when we visited, the superlative quality of the meat shining forth; a pheasant schnitzel with pickled red cabbage and pink firs was almost as good, although it needed a little more in the way of lubrication than an evanescent suggestion of beurre noisette. A fish option could be baked hake in bouillabaisse with saffron-scented fennel, while pumpkin and spelt risotto with hazelnuts, sage and chilli provides robust sustenance on the vegetable front. 

At the sticky end of things, everybody will feel spoilt by the likes of gingered-up sticky toffee pudding or a version of knickerbocker glory that finds room for chocolate mousse, candied orange and bits of homemade brownie. There's an impressive varietal spread on the carefully compiled wine list, ascending to the majesty of a mature classed-growth St-Émilion at a fraction of what you would pay in the not-too-distant capital.

Squeezed between a busy road and the Stourbridge Canal basin, this recently renovated industrial-era pub attracts fervent local support – especially for its Sunday roasts, where ‘perfectly pink’ beef, ‘amazing’ beetroot Wellington, and ‘phenomenal’ Yorkshires are singled out. The modern interior, with wooden flooring, sensitive lighting and a woodburning stove, has a homely, family feel in winter, while a tarmacked beer garden with views of the canal adds summertime appeal and is soon to be converted into a separate dining area.

Local suppliers are proudly name-checked on the main menu, which offers an appealing blend of modern pub food and Mediterranean-accented cooking. The kitchen is renowned for 'very generous portions’, and our visit began with an unnervingly huge ‘small plate’ of tender beef brisket surrounded by cheesy Parmesan polenta and topped with salsa verde. A request for horseradish brought a saucer of the freshly grated root in cream – the kitchen’s attention to detail is impressive. The ensuing ‘large plate’ was equally full flavoured and bountiful: a glisteningly white fillet of cod resting on a stew of beans, tomatoes and chorizo.

Puddings are also enticing – our tangy Bramley and cranberry crumble (paired with salted-caramel ice cream) came with unexpected squares of toasted gingerbread to boost its crunch. Staff receive universal praise; we found them polite, on-the-ball and exceedingly prompt. Breakfast (served Thursday to Sunday) includes the likes of kedgeree and shakshuka as well as the ‘Full Monty’. Wines are supplied by a local vintner, and the brief, good-value list is a cut above the norm; alternatively, enjoy a pint of real ale from a choice of four regularly rotated brews. This is, after all, a proper pub.

Hayfield in the Peak District was the birthplace of Arthur Lowe, Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring, and is a favoured rest-stop for those tramping the Derbyshire hills. At its heart, the stone-built Pack Horse aims to be more than just the standard village pub, with a conscientious ethos of sustainable supplies from local sources, ranging from meat butchered only four miles away to unimpeachable regional fresh produce.

Menus follow the rhythm of the seasons (as celebrated in the kitchen's own cookbook) and the food has the kind of contemporary appeal that makes the place a destination. Glazed High Peak lamb belly appears surprisingly in a starter with a leafy salad and yoghurt, while scallops in brown butter gain an edge from pickled apple and kohlrabi.

Fish is generally handled with assurance, producing a main course of charcoal-roasted halibut with mushroom and smoked bacon bourguignon and pommes Anna accompaniments, while similar inspiration from the French provincial cookbook informs a dish of pork belly with a cassoulet of trotter and beans plus a salsa verde dressing. The charcoal oven comes into its own on Wednesdays, when a special menu includes Barnsley chops and rump steak.

To finish, there might be blood-orange and olive-oil cake with whipped ricotta or salted-caramel custard tart and almond Chantilly. Quality growers abound on the inspiring wine list, which opens with small glasses at £5.70, before darting acquisitively around both hemispheres.

Veterans of Josh Eggleton's original Pony & Trap probably won’t recognise this massively extended and remodelled version of the old place, which now boasts an event space and cooking school plus beautifully landscaped grounds and a kitchen garden. It's a multi-faceted and inviting prospect, so ask for a table in the enormous high-ceilinged, glass-fronted garden room or the outdoor terrace if you want to get the full benefit of the fabulous views. 

Head chef Jim Day (formerly of Casamia) offers refined and precisely cooked dishes that pair the restaurant’s home-grown herbs and vegetables with the best of British produce from further afield. Come in early summer and you might be treated to, say, asparagus with wild garlic emulsion and crispy egg yolk followed by an opulent main course featuring whole wild sea bass (to share) partnered by sauce vierge, Jersey Royals and a Pony garden salad. To conclude, perhaps plump for the chocolate gâteau with coffee crème patisserie or the lemon set cream topped with burnt meringue and a jelly made from local Cheddar strawberries.

A short selection of ‘pub classics’ and several appetising bar snacks (local Westcombe charcuterie, Cantabrian anchovies et al) cater for more casual visitors, who are genuinely welcomed by the friendly staff. Midweek set menus and Sunday roasts are worth checking out too. Real ales, ciders, softs and artisan libations (all from local producers) figure prominently on the drinks list, which also features an inviting line-up of predominantly European wines at fair prices.

Liam Dillon, chef/patron of the fine-dining Boat near Lichfield, has taken a different tack for his second venture. His emphasis on local, seasonal and sustainable produce is unchanged, but the Two Pigs is a more casual, modern neighbourhood pub and bistro. The place is painted a smart but unobtrusive sage green, while food is served in the bar, the low-key dining room (note that tables for two are somewhat cramped) or the rear courtyard.

The welcome could not be friendlier nor the service more helpful – and you can bring your dog. Although the pub is named after Betty and Peggy (permanent piggy residents at the Boat), you need to drop any anthropomorphic sentimentality if you are to enjoy a gargantuan, juicy pork chop, complete with a thick ribbon of fat and crackling, plus burnt apple purée, pommes Anna and pickled mustard seeds. All-day bar snacks show touches of urban sophistication (perhaps Maldon rock oysters with pickled red-wine shallots and hot sauce or fish croquettes with romesco sauce), while starters on our short but well-structured autumn menu included Liam’s signature fried chicken pieces with sesame and spring onion, and a mushroom parfait with toasted brioche and damson chutney. 

Among the mains were herb-crusted lamb shank with creamed mash and braised carrot, and a roasted whole plaice to share with samphire and beurre blanc. Desserts stick to the tried-and-tested likes of tiramisu and sticky toffee pudding. As well as a good wine list, there’s a selection of beers that includes their own Two Pigs Ale. 

There’s a sense of true dedication about this family-run ‘bistro with beds’ found up an easy-to-miss track off the main road from Grasmere to Keswick. Noted for its ‘relaxed environment’, the ‘most incredible warm, friendly staff’ and ‘stunning food fully reflective of the Lake District’, it's a godsend for those looking for a simple bite, a hearty meal after a hike, or a special occasion.  

An industrious kitchen produces daily menus specialising in fiercely local produce, including a mighty ‘brekkie’ offered to all-comers in the morning, as well as ‘out of this world’ Sunday roasts. At dinner, local beef can appear in several guises, including slow-cooked brisket in a creamy hash, while Grasmere Herdwick lamb stars in the signature shepherd’s pie topped with cheesy mash. Elsewhere, Cumbrian pork belly, marinated in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and chilli, comes in a crispy baguette with pickled carrots, radish and cucumber, fresh coriander and soy mayo. There’s a good vegetarian choice, too – especially a platter (ideal for sharing) that could offer leek tarte tatin, a salad of roast beets, green beans, asparagus and toasted seeds, crispy sliced potatoes, caramelised fennel and a beetroot pesto.

With such hefty portions, you might want to skip a starter (say, salmon croquettes) or dessert (summer meringue with locally produced Three Hills raspberry and white chocolate gelato). As for drinks, there are non-alcoholic spritzes made with a changing roster of homemade fruit cordials, plus on-trend cocktails and a short list of global wines.

Despite its setting on the cusp of touristy Covent Garden, Stevie Parle's latest restaurant is one with serious intent. The first thing to note is the design, as shiny and seductive as the sports car in one of the glossy images on the wall: cream cord and chrome cantilever chairs, heavyweight granite ice buckets, curvy oxblood tiled columns and David Mellor cutlery evoke a retro 60s sort of chic – there’s a glamour that takes us back to the Wolseley in its heyday.

While the fun and buzzy dining room can be enjoyed on an entirely superficial level, executive chef Olly Pierrepont leads a sure-footed kitchen, with a menu driven by whole-carcass butchery and a raft of prime produce – some of it carted in from Kent by Parle himself. A strong snack game kicks off with potato sourdough which arrives with a pot of gravy – messy, slurpy, a bit bonkers but so satisfying. Butterflied day boat sea bass with an anchovy and rosemary sauce was simple but perfectly cooked main, while a curry of cod clams and mussels and gentle spices with ghee flatbread was thrilling. Morello cherry clafoutis makes for a satisfying ending.

Unstuffy service was and spot-on and we found the great-value ‘quick lunch’ (snacks plus two or three courses) is worth knowing about.. Martinis might best match the mood but there’s also an accessible line up of modern alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and a wine list that opens at £38 a bottle.