Best restaurants in Newcastle
Published 08 December 2023

Firmly bedded in at Foundry Lane Studios (a series of spaces for creatives and artists), chef and food writer Anna Hedworth’s Cook House continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Spread over two floors, the premises now includes a deli and dining terrace, plus a little garden which supplies herbs for their growing list of soft drinks; there are also plans to keep bees on the roof. It also ticks all the ‘community’ boxes when it comes to local support, education and events.

Anna has drafted in a team of chefs to run the kitchen (and the BBQ), while the expanded menu is a rolling roster of ‘outrageously good’ dishes inspired by British produce and the world larder. Any modern eatery worth its smoked salt must have kimchi on its menu (preferably made in-house) and this place is no exception. Otherwise, breakfast/brunch at the weekend means house granola, hash browns with hot aïoli, green harissa fried eggs on toast and other trendy nibbles, while lunch and dinner could usher a roster of creative ideas ranging from parsnip mousse with curried granola, pickled parsnip and some crispy chicken skin for texture to whole smoked mackerel with smoked salsify, lime yoghurt and orange hot sauce.

There are also sticky, treacly slow-roast short ribs with cheesy polenta and plum ketchup for sharing, plus some tempting desserts including dark chocolate mousse with blackberries and honeycomb or toasted barley ice cream with miso caramel. World beers, kombucha and spritzes suit the on-trend minimalist setting, and there are plenty of intriguing, fashionable wines too.

‘We have been regular customers for a while, and it seems to be getting better each time,’ noted a reader who plunged into the ‘exceptional’ seven-course tasting menu at this grown-up metropolitan brasserie close to Newcastle’s Quayside. The gastronomic star turn on that occasion was a dish of crispy oyster with apple and dill purée (served with a beetroot ‘jammy dodger’), but bigger plates were also perfectly executed (think lightly roasted halibut teamed up with fried chicken and mushroom ketchup). Others have also lapped up equally enjoyable, ‘thoughtfully decorated’ dishes from the more modest set menu – perhaps rare-breed pork with carrots, carrot-top pesto and fried sourdough crumb followed by dark chocolate and orange pavé with chocolate aero and orange sorbet. Named after the two Victorian architects who designed the building, this is a spacious, good-looking venue with some of its original rough brick walls intact, plus white tiling, low-hanging lights and partitioned banquette seating. Service gets a resounding thumbs-up (‘knowledgeable, friendly and the right sort of attentive’), and the carefully chosen, global wine list promises sound drinking from £24. ‘Go there – you won't be disappointed.’

Hugely popular, not least for its 'super-fair' pricing and vibrant, inclusive atmosphere, this South Indian favourite takes a masterly approach to carbs. Dosas, which can be roasted with homemade ghee or stuffed with the house potato masala, are big, crisp and shiny, while the parathas are gloriously ragged and the pooris puffy. Eat them with veggie and vegan curries such as tempting tamarind chickpeas, though there are homespun takes on chicken and lamb classics too. Everything comes together on Sundays for 'particularly good' sapaad feasts, popular across the generations. A new outdoor space is getting noticed.

Opened in 2014, House of Tides is the original flagship of Kenny Atkinson (of Great British Menu and Saturday Kitchen fame). It's a capacious venue occupying a 16th-century former merchant’s house by the Tyne and incorporates an atmospheric ground-floor bar and anteroom with a flagstone floor, plus a first-floor dining room more comfortably furnished with wooden flooring and modern art on white walls. The tasting menu can be modified for various diets (and vegetarians have their own list), but otherwise there’s no choice. To start, a tempting gougère with warming baba ganoush and harissa filling (served downstairs) indicated the delicacy this kitchen can achieve. Many dishes contain a multitude of ingredients, several unmentioned on the terse menu, but it's questionable whether every component deserves its place. Did the sharp, pickled vegetable topping simply overwhelm a lovely creamy tasting of celeriac velouté? Was the tiny cube of smoked eel needed on the meltingly satisfying rissole of pulled pork matched with tart apple? And wouldn’t salt crystals have been preferable to caviar, topping a tender roundel of venison tartare (cleverly combined with crunchy smoked beetroot and tiny pickled shimeji mushrooms)? The jury is out. In contrast, praise is unalloyed for the sourdough bread and cultured butter (both are bought in), and at inspection, the fish and meat ‘main courses’ showed flashes of brilliance and a mastery of technique. ‘Stone bass, mussels, salsify and dill’ featured a sublime oblong of fish (seared skin, succulent flesh), with a crunchy roasted salsify log in a dill and fish sauce – creativity manifested in an eye-opening blob of intense (and disarmingly sweet) lemon verbena gel. Likewise, a pink, juicy helping of duck was complemented by squash (both puréed and roasted), resilient hen of the woods mushrooms and a piquant blob of black garlic. Puddings – as with every dish – are beautiful to behold: a luxurious cube of orange chocolate covered with melting roasted chestnut shavings (a nice wintry touch) and set off by tiny leaves of Thai basil; and a blackberry and fig tart topped with croissant ice cream, tangy apple caramel and candied pecans, made prettier still with marigold flowers. The wine list is extensive and service from a young team is eager (if uncertain). Yet with the sun shining brightly at Atkinson’s latest venture, Solstice, it seems that this one-time front-runner is starting to fade.

‘Anchored in its local community and owned by someone who lives close by,’ Long Friday thrives on its vibe – a mix of ‘cool hospitality’ and a ‘really warm neighbourhood atmosphere’. Just add incredibly knowledgeable staff and a ’fantastic and ever-changing range of unusual, seasonal dishes’ prepared with a sophisticated eye for detail and a sense of fun. Snacks such as tom yum crab on a tapioca cracker prime you for a build-your-own-banquet of sophisticated and creative small plates, with local Northumbrian produce to the fore, but influences as far-reaching as Mexico, the Med and Japan. Meat and fish dishes (BBQ cod with braised butter beans and chorizo, for example), are matched by a hefty contingent of vegetable specialities such as roast cauliflower with smoked houmous and chermoula. Do save room for the likes of fried apple pie with Chantilly or tonka bean and lemon sundae with nettle jelly. Long Friday's mixologists also serve ‘the best spicy Margaritas in town,’ according to one, and the owners take wine very seriously too.

'Hospitality is done superbly well' at this ambitious but easy-going spot, incongruous on a student street in suburban Heaton. The biggest act of rebellion here is in making old-fashioned standards of service and technique feel so contemporary. That's helped along by the full complement of experimental pickles, British wines and edible flowers growing under lamps – as much a part of the calming aesthetic as the North Sea art, tree-trunk tables and sit-up kitchen counter. Tasting menus run to 10 courses as standard, with a shorter five-course option earlier in the week or at Saturday lunch. Dishes starring local produce are neatly seasonal and texturally effective, from the crackle 'n' crunch of a cod tartare and roe tart to a charred, meaty slice of hen of the woods mushroom in a creamy but bright mushroom broth. Often, the kitchen plays tricks with the familiar, as in a charred Jersey Royal with onion jam, whipped cod's roe and a generous blanket of pecorino, which is, in spirit, a single, magnificent cheese and onion crisp. Elsewhere, it nudges the boundaries – witness the stridently salty-hot wild garlic kimchi added to pork loin with charred hispi cabbage and parsley yoghurt. To finish, macerated rhubarb with sorrel sorbet is a gentler prospect. For those who've made Rebel their 'regular treat', a young team delivers every time. 'The vibes,' it is said, 'are exceptional.'

To ask for £175 per diner upfront sets the bar high for any restaurant, so it’s difficult to enter Kenny and Abbie Atkinson’s new Quayside venture without demanding (at least notionally) ‘prove yourself!’ Slowly, via up to 19 tasting dishes on a no-choice menu, Solstice does exactly that. Scott Hodgson is head chef, though Kenny Atkinson (who gained fame on the Great British Menu) was orchestrating proceedings in the kitchen when we visited, emerging to explain dishes to his customers. And what dishes they are! Guests are presented with a bare-bones menu on arrival: ‘caviar’, ‘cod roe’ and ‘mackerel’ being the first three items on our line-up (shortly before the winter solstice). Elaborate verbal descriptions are provided at table, and you’re given a detailed account on paper at the end. A meal here is characterised by beautifully presented, complex morsels of artistry, where contrasting textures and tiny bursts of concentrated flavour excite the taste buds. Highlights? Seafood is certainly a star: Lindisfarne oyster, poached in its shell then covered with an oyster and bonito beurre blanc, topped with oscietra caviar set off by drops of walnut oil (applied at the table); langoustine tail roasted in its oil yet still translucent, served with a citrus yuzu koshu butter sauce and fennel flower; steamed pollock, wrapped in nori and stuffed with a fish and mussel mousse, the masterstroke being its intense Craster kipper sauce. Shortfalls? Perhaps a sweet Parker House roll (itself perfect) wasn’t the ideal accompaniment to a main course of venison, which came with a glorious gravy of red verjus and smoked bone marrow. But that’s a minor gripe. Puddings? Northumberland heather honey parfait won the prize. Don’t be daunted by the number of dishes: portions are well-judged and the final four (including chocolate with sansho pepper ganache) are petits fours, served together. The setting for all of this is a split-level room (with limited kitchen views) seating only 14 diners; colours are subdued but note the sunburst wall lights replicating the restaurant’s logo. Staff are young but well-versed in the menu (and charming too). The suitably voluminous wine list is presented on an iPad; flights cost £95, though there’s ample choice by the glass, starting with a palatable Albariño. It’s clear Solstice is setting its sights at a level still higher than its older sibling House of Tides. If it succeeds, and on this evidence it will, it should become the brightest star in the Newcastle firmament.

Terry Laybourne's self-styled ‘proper pub’ stands not far from the north bank of the Tyne. It looks the part too, with a polished oak bar furnished with high stools, a plain wood floor and inviting banquettes. The dining goes on upstairs, in an equally convivial setting of sturdy wood tables, where cheery staff dispense the kind of food you thought city pubs didn't do any more. There are raised pork pies, Scotch eggs, potted shrimps – and not a leaf of amaranth to be seen.

A serving of Dorset crab with kohlrabi, celery and fennel is about as foofy as it gets. Otherwise, enjoy the sight of bubble and squeak with a fried egg and HP sauce, calf's liver and bacon with crispy onions or smoked haddock fishcakes with proper tartare sauce. As you would imagine, it's food to fortify yourself against the northern chill (whatever time of year) and it's probably best accompanied by one of the cannily chosen seasonal beers.

Sunday roasts are every bit as satisfying as you would expect, complete with mint sauce to daub on the shoulder of lamb, and there are sponge puddings of course – perhaps made with whisky marmalade and served with lashings of custard. Too full by now? Then take a lemon sorbet. Those who incline more to the grape than the grain will be grateful for a decent selection by the glass, starting with Castilian house wines.