Where to eat in Somerset: restaurants, pubs, bistros and bakeries to bookmark
Published 01 October 2025

Hallelujah for this ingeniously modernised 18th--century chapel, now a well-established bakery, wine shop and restaurant with rooms. Open for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea seven days a week, the menu is built around excellent wood-fired sourdough pizzas, which you can also order to take away on Fridays and Saturdays. With its unusual and stunning decor, the brilliant-white dining room, flooded with light from the two-storey chapel windows overlooking the pretty Somerset countryside, is worth a visit alone. Luckily the food can hold its own, with even simple starters (a tomato, Parmesan and basil flatbread, for example) packing a mighty flavour punch. Elsewhere, salads such as a bowl piled high with orange, fennel, radicchio and buffalo mozzarella provide a fresh, zesty counterfoil to the charred sourdough crust of a pizza topped with, say, wild mushrooms, goat’s cheese and pungent truffle oil. Many of the puddings served in the restaurant (a rich, tangy rhubarb and almond tart, for instance) are available by the slice from the bakery. If you don’t fancy a glass of wine, there is a wide selection of freshly squeezed juices and smoothies, while cocktails are dispensed from the bar at the altar. Booking is recommended as this is a popular spot, and rightly so.

Taunton veterans Cedric Chirossel and chef Richard Guest continue to keep things strictly local at this agreeable, laid-back restaurant nestled in a quiet courtyard not far from the town’s landmark Castle Hotel. Ingredients are often collected on foot from nearby butchers, bakers and fishmongers, while Somerset’s orchards and smallholdings provide a seasonal harvest. The result is a calendar-driven repertoire that mixes British and European influences with a few Asian forays. Many dishes have been mentioned in dispatches, from an autumnal vegetable tart with the lightest of pastry to cheese soufflé with a ‘marvellous salad’. Duck cassoulet is properly Gallic and properly rustic, while other highlights might include seared Brixham scallops with curry cream, raisins and pommes gaufrettes, seafood stew or aubergine teriyaki with plancha-style Asian vegetables and sesame. You can even drop by for a plate of sirloin steak, cauliflower cheese and French fries if you’re in the mood for something old school, with tarte tatin or Bakewell tart and custard for afters. Otherwise, home in on the cheeses paraded around the relaxed but animated dining room on a perambulating butcher’s block. ‘Pleasant, efficient service’ gets a nod of approval, while the workmanlike, fairly priced international wine list (including a trio from West Country vineyards) offers plenty of decent options by the glass and carafe.

Coffee and croissants for breakfast; croques, galettes, tartiflette and crêpes for lunch; baked Camembert, boeuf bourguignon and confit duck leg for supper – yes, this old-school bistro is Gallic to the core, a ‘real blast from the past'. Visitors also praise the moules frites, confit chicken terrine, garlicky king prawns and various classic bourgeois desserts ranging from cherry clafoutis to dark chocolate mousse with Chantilly cream. Friendly, welcoming staff add to the lively vibe, which is helped along with dinky carafes of Old World wine and bottles of Wignac ‘cidre rosé’.  There's an inviting boutique guesthouse next door, if you fancy lingering in Frome.

Now filling the space left by Merlin Labron-Johnson's original iteration of Osip, Briar's sharing-plates format signals less formality and encourages regular return visits. The dining room will seem familiar to previous visitors, though the walls are now done out in various warming shades of buttermilk and brown. Bare wood tables and a high shelf stacked with plants add to the relaxed vibe.

Head chef Sam Lomas, formerly of Glebe House in Devon, offers a short menu of daily changing small plates and snacks, showcasing seasonal and local produce. Vegetables come from local growers and the restaurant’s own allotment, with meat and fish used sparingly. Dishes are beautifully balanced and cooked with an impressive lightness of touch, as shown by a rich, foamy roasted mushroom cream with pickled girolles and crispy kale or four bite-size gougères filled with Westcombe Cheddar custard and topped with wild garlic 'capers'. We also enjoyed a plate of grilled lamb skewers with Roscoff onions, sumac, mint and yoghurt.

These dainty dishes are surprisingly filling, so make sure you leave room for dessert – perhaps a richly indulgent chocolate mousse with preserved damsons and oat biscuits or a traditional Somerset apple cake with butterscotch and clotted cream. All wines on the short list are given helpful descriptions, with a useful selection by the glass. Service is a delight, pleasingly warm and friendly. A worthy successor to Osip? Definitely, in our opinion. 

Gothelney Farm is a beacon of regionally powered regenerative agriculture and when it comes to picking up a loaf, it doesn’t get more local than on-site Field Bakery, where Rosy Benson oversees the stone mill and shows the care that goes into nurturing the soil. The results speak for themselves: extraordinarily good loaves, cinnamon buns and kimchi sausage rolls (made from the farm's own pasture-reared pigs) are the top picks – note that bakery hours are limited to Fridays (and occasional Saturdays), but coffee and locally produced provisions make the trip worthwhile, and a pre-order system is in place to avoid missing out. For the real bread heads, there’s also a regular roster of field-to-loaf workshops and baking classes. 

*Higher Farm is closed for the winter season and will reopen for service on 30th April*

When the sun is shining, this simple but artfully decorated barn on a working regenerative farm feels a bit like heaven. The small dining room is flooded with light from a large picture window, while stone walls and a rough concrete floor are given character by earthenware jugs of dried flowers, blackboards listing the month’s harvest, and shelving made out of wine crates. It feels a bit like a pop-up, and the staff greet you like an old friend.

A regularly changing menus showcase the farm’s produce alongside the best of what’s grown or foraged in this particularly bountiful corner of Somerset. Meat and fish in the form of, say, a glistening hunk of ham with smooth buttery mash and a vibrant parsley sauce or trout fillets on a neat plinth of potato salad, share equal billing with vegetable dishes – maybe leeks smothered in a rich rarebit topping and dressed with shards of pickled onion and rye croûtons. You would be a fool to leave without ordering a side of ‘chips’, fat bricks of compressed potato slices, slow-cooked in butter overnight and then deep-fried to crunchy perfection. To conclude, perhaps opt for a light dessert – a quenelle of refreshing rhubarb sorbet, say, or some homemade Neapolitan ice cream. 

The short drinks menu highlights Somerset ciders and English wine alongside inventive cocktails, while a longer list of low-intervention Italian wines chosen by the farm’s owners Matteo and Giacomo Grasso is also worth considering – although by-the-glass options are thin on the ground. 

Working directly with Somerset farmers through the South West Grain network, James Cartwright and Frederica Bullough have been serving up the model of an accessible, sustainable food system alongside their delicious bakes since 2022. Their Wiveliscombe bakery has won over locals with its full-flavoured porridge tin loaves, and rye/spelt malt loaves, while the line-up of seasonal sweets might include rhubarb and custard pies, roast apricot bostock and cream buns with strawberries macerated in Somerset cider brandy. As a small operation, hours are limited to Friday collections with orders to be made by 2pm on Wednesday. Plans are afoot to start up pizza nights, join the farmers' market circuit and offer baking classes.

A long-standing and much-loved local institution, readers describe this quirky, theatrical space as ‘intimate and great fun’ with its aquamarine and gold decor and assorted objets d'art. Self-taught Matt Watson offers a monthly changing set menu on Friday and Saturday nights only, with everything prepared and served in his home (who doesn’t want to squeeze 22 covers into their living room?).  Bring your own drinks to accompany dishes such as tuna ceviche, coq au vin and ginger semifreddo with passion-fruit coulis, delivered with enthusiasm by charismatic Matt and his staff. Bookings must be made in advance by email or phone – although you should be prepared to wait. A one-off experience. 

Now boasting a countryside setting to match the ‘wow’ factor of his cooking, Merlin Labron-Johnson’s second iteration of his wildly successful Bruton restaurant is already a proper destination. With four letting rooms now available, plus kitchen-garden tours and a purpose-built tea house in the pipeline, the ever-ambitious chef now affords guests the chance to immerse themselves in the wellspring of his farm-to-table philosophy: the British countryside and its abundant produce.

Looming stark and white in the green Somserset countryside, the new premises occupy a former country pub that has been both stripped back and dramatically extended. The plain walls and bare flagstone floor of the reception lounge, where aperitifs and the first amuse-bouche are served, give no clue to the architectural drama beyond. An almost theatrical space, the main dining area opens directly into the kitchen, housed in a giant glass box looking out across fields at the back. Ask to be seated here so that you can watch Labron-Johnson and his team calmly weaving their magic.

No menus are offered until the meal is finished, but your trust will be repaid by a series of snacks, palate cleansers, pre-courses and specialities that wring extraordinary flavour from the humblest of ingredients – just consider a limpid tomato tea with droplets of grass-green fig-leaf oil, or a clutch of French beans on a pillow of almond cream, accompanying lamb served three ways, each detonating like a flavour bomb in your mouth. Later courses might include a quenelle of melon sorbet in a delightfully refreshing pool of cucumber and shiso water with spruce oil, or churros with meadowsweet ice cream, blackberry compôte and surprisingly pungent marigold leaves. Optional supplements are also available, say a cheese course of Baron Bigod melted over fruit bread, topped with black truffle and drizzled at the table with honey from the restaurant’s own hives.

Excellent service comes courtesy of a small army of cheerfully enthusiastic and highly capable young staff who are happy to chat about suppliers they have visited or what’s growing on the restaurant's two organic smallholdings. The wine list has been greatly expanded, though it still focuses on low-intervention bottles from small producers. Wine pairings remain a good-value choice and are carefully explained by the charming sommelier. We suggest allowing several hours to enjoy the full experience, rounding off with a lazy coffee and digestif.

Expect vibrant colours, vivid flavours, seductive aromas and inspired creativity by the bucketload at this vegetable-led, sharing- plates restaurant – part of Josh and Holly Eggleton’s Pony Restaurant Group. Chef Rob Howell (who opened the original Root in Bristol’s Wapping Wharf) masterfully incorporates influences from India, South East Asia, South America, Italy, France and Spain into a regularly changing seasonal menu.

A spring meal saw plump butter beans served in a verdant, concentrated broth of wild garlic and cavolo nero, further enlivened by dots of fresh, brightly flavoured ewe’s curd. Beautifully cooked Wye Valley asparagus was paired with an aerated, citrussy Alicante sauce and a crispy-coated runny egg that added extra richness and texture. Snacks, including ethereal cheese choux puffs (a signature of the restaurant) and crisp cauliflower bhajis with a tangy tamarind sauce delivered as much flavour and enjoyment as the larger dishes. To conclude, Basque cheesecake might be paired with milk jam, while rub baba could be enlivened with apricot and fennel cream.

An open kitchen adds some theatre to the elegant and comfortable dining room, where service couldn’t be more enthusiastic and welcoming. The short list of mostly European wines features organic, biodynamic and low-intervention bottles, with most priced at under £50 and great value across the board.

Forming part of a business collective comprising an art gallery and wine bar with live music at the weekends, Owen Postgate’s bakery-café takes up most of the space at this hugely popular warehouse conversion. It’s all about quality, with provenance to the fore – everything is sourced as locally as possible, from fruit and vegetables to the grain used in the baking. Everyone praises the ‘divine’ pastries: the cardamom buns are a daily sell-out and there are ‘absolutely delicious’ seasonal Danishes (we enjoyed an orange crème version). On the savoury side, don’t miss the homemade pickles, ferments and salads or the Neapolitan-style fior di latte, pesto and pepperoni pizza from the huge pizza oven. There's an offshoot café on Whittox Lane. 

They’ve earned a glowing reputation for their pub, the Barrington Boar, now Alasdair Clifford and Victoria Collins have opened their own bakery in a converted cider barn next door. When the Two Bakers Farm property became available, it was a chance to realise a dream – something that is much appreciated by villagers and visitors to nearby Barrington Court (NT).  For takeaway only, the signature sourdough loaves and croissants are superb (they use regenerative flour from Wildfarmed), and there are hefty sandwiches such as ham, cheese and dijonnaise, plus constantly changing savoury bakes – we enjoyed an asparagus lattice. On the sweet side, our favourites were an orange polenta cake and a cinnamon swirl. There’s good coffee to go, too.

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.

With its creeper-covered frontage, enchanting terraces and beautiful village setting on the Longleat Estate, this handsome and substantial inn with rooms (circa 1736) is a dream ticket – especially when the sun is shining. Whatever the season, everyone feels right at home in the tasteful shabby-chic country house interiors – thanks to soft, warm lighting (candles, lamps), winter fires, vintage finds and walls layered with old prints and paintings. A public bar caters for drinkers, while those who’ve bagged a polished wood table in one of the small dining rooms can indulge in a fulsome line-up of pub classics and more creative ideas based on carefully sourced produce.

Everyone enjoys the cider-battered fish and chips, and the 'Beck burger' (dry-aged smashed patties in a glazed sesame bun), but those with more inquisitive palates home in on exemplary starters such as Wye Valley asparagus served with chilli and lime butter, heritage tomatoes and smoked salt with wild garlic emulsion – a dish that opened our late-May dinner. To follow, roasted Brixham monkfish was teamed with Jersey Royals, a crispy courgette flower and a dill, orange and caviar dressing, while a botanical Eton mess with violet cream, rose meringue, lemon and elderflower cake, lavender gel and raspberry sorbet provided the ideal finale.

Friendly, professional staff are perfectly on point, and the decently priced, wide-ranging wine list (arranged by style) offers plenty of interesting options by the glass and carafe. In addition, there are 16 individually designed bedrooms in the main house and stable block.

Found down narrow lanes a few miles from Chard, this remote but civilised hostelry of some character encapsulates many people’s idea of what a rural inn should be like. The Englishness of the setting – quietly hugging a gentle, verdant slope at the foot of the Blackdown Hills – combined with wood-burners, a medley of old wooden tables and chairs, local ales, beer garden and all, create a feel of well-ordered rusticity.

Maddie Beaumont and Ben Porter run their business very personally, the relaxed atmosphere and easy-going service working well with the comfortable, simple interior and stunning location. Apart from the views and the glorious summer dining terrace, people come here for the sourdough pizzas and for the Cotley Estate Ruby Red burger (with Monterey Jack, spiced beef brisket, roasted garlic aïoli, chilli relish, house slaw and chunky chips) that was proving so popular on our visit.

Indeed, the seasonal menu reflects a strong relationship with local suppliers, the dishes a familiar combination of quality ingredients along the lines of grilled Cornish monkfish tail with braised baby gem, marie rose sauce, king prawns and violet artichokes, plus a warm tomato salad on the side. There are steaks too, popular Sunday roasts, a British cheese slate and generous desserts that play the comfort card. The wine list is very reasonably priced (from £28), and mainly European, with a handful from the New World. Comfortable bedrooms are in the former stables,

The St Catherine's Quarter is an Insta-pretty part of town, above which sits this 'fantastically popular' tapas joint specialising in the Moorish side of the Spanish culinary heritage. Colourful tiles and carpets give the dining room a 'great feel', but head for the garden tables on balmy evenings, where Frome might just morph into a suitably sherry-enhanced vision of Andalusia. Appetising cold offerings include muhammara (a spicy red pepper and walnut dip that's perfect when dredged with flatbread), as well as boquerones in Moscatel vinegar, sprinkled with thyme and orange zest. The meatier hot dishes are also a treat, especially pig's cheeks with celeriac purée and parsnip crisps or Persian-style joojeh-spiced chicken dressed in yoghurt and saffron. Scents of the charcoal grill will prove hard to resist, even if it's simply for a vegetable side of sprouting broccoli in romesco. Finish with pistachio tart flavoured with orange and cardamom or a plate of Spanish cheeses. The wine list offers an encouraging picture of modern-day vinous developments in Spain, but it's the sherries – in all styles, from peanutty manzanilla to treacle-dark oloroso –  that invite the most thorough exploration. Takeaway menu available Thu-Sat. 

Surrounded by a well-tended and very pretty kitchen garden with plenty of seating for summer visits, this handsome ‘contemporary British inn’ (the owners' words) promises ‘affordable luxury’ and, as far as the food is concerned, delivers in spades. The tastefully decorated dining room is spacious, comfortable and inviting (cream walls, exposed stonework, flagstones, bare wood tables), while a central woodburner creates a cosy vibe. Staff make you feel ‘like one of the family’ as soon as you walk in, and the service (led by co-owner Caroline Gardiner) is quietly friendly, professional and full of enthusiasm.

In the kitchen, charismatic Alan Lucas creates sophisticated and technically accomplished modern British dishes inspired by bountiful supplies of Somerset produce and pickings from the kitchen garden – and he is rightly proud of his efforts. Our seasonally apposite dinner was bookended by courgette carpaccio with roast garden tomatoes and pesto, and a pear crumble with custard made with fruit from the Holcombe's own trees. The endearingly enthusiastic chef often brings dishes to the table himself – perhaps confit duck leg with homemade redcurrant sauce or an 8oz Somerset sirloin accompanied by wild garlic pesto, onion tempura, pickled onion and fries. Accompanying vegetables, fresh from the garden, are beautifully presented and packed with flavour.

In addition to the carte, the Holcombe offers a terrific Sunday lunch and a good-value ‘midweek supper’ menu, while the drinks list includes a decent selection of wines by the glass, local beers and premium ciders from the Newt (a nearby country estate not far from Castle Cary).

A plate of Westcombe saucisson, some Landrace sourdough bread and Somerset butter, crisp farm crudités with smoked cod’s roe swirled with excellent olive oil… the chalkboard menu at Merlin Labron-Johnson's laid-back wine bar on Bruton High Street reads like a sequence of tempting bar snacks with a predominantly Italian accent. It is just that. And the temptations continue: slices of silken pelatello di lonzardo (cured rare-breed pork) with honeyed slips of just-ripe melon; a bowl of caponata with satisfying layers of agrodolce flavour; delightfully crisp little panisses piped with peppery rocket aïoli topped with a fat, salty anchovy fillet. Dishes arrive as and when ready, so the table can fill up – but let it be, because this is a place for relaxed, tasty, wine-bar grazing. A larger dish of grilled octopus could have done with less ‘nduja, and the sweet of tooth may bemoan the absence of choice. There’s just one dessert on offer, though that’s barely a hardship – especially when it’s a luxurious chocolate mousse with Chantilly cream and cherries. Wines bang the drum loudly for the organic and the low-intervention brigade, from a skin-contact Catarratto from Sicily’s Barraco winery with its hints of salinity and smokiness to a zippy Zibibbo from the same maker.

If you’re after a stunning location and laid-back luxury, the Mendip branch of this upmarket hotel chain doesn’t disappoint. Whet your appetite with a pre-dinner stroll round the beautiful walled kitchen garden, whence the restaurant’s ‘25 mile menu’ draws much of its produce. (Perhaps avoid visiting the hotel’s deer park and piggery for the same reason, unless you’ve a heart of stone.)

The tastefully cluttered dining room with its mismatched fine bone china, artfully distressed furniture and abundant plants opens into a charming conservatory, where the best tables are found. The ultra-local menu (with a map of suppliers on the back) offers simply cooked and beautifully presented British food, with freshness its calling card. With such impeccable provenance, there should perhaps be a few more fireworks on the plate. Still, starters such as ‘kitchen garden on toast’ (finely shredded veg in a lemony dressing on a slab of toasted Bertinet bread slathered with creamed almonds) are like a mouthful of summer. To follow, a whole Newlyn plaice, topped with agretti and tiny edible blue flowers is as pretty as as picture, exquisitely cooked and easily enough for two.

If no-frills puddings such as ‘zero mile gooseberries’ with cream and meringue don’t excite, there’s a wickedly tempting cheese menu. Service from a coterie of uniformed young staff is attentive but not intrusive. The extensive wine list, which includes a large section devoted to English tipples, is a tad pricey but offers many interesting choices.

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.

Deep in the otherworldly landscape of the Avalon Marshes (not far from Glastonbury), this quirky pub with rooms (and regular music) defies expectations. In summer you can dine on the wooden terrace at the back and watch the abundant wildlife on the nearby river Sheppey. Otherwise, the barn-like dining room, somewhat scruffily converted from an old cider house, is decorated with exhibits by local artists. The regularly changing and boldly flavoured menu offers a raft of eclectic dishes ranging from hearty fish stew (smoked haddock, clams, cod and salmon with Parmesan, fennel and lemongrass romesco) served with a hunk of sourdough to spiced fried tofu with a summer salad, fennel, crispy noodles, chilli and ginger dressing. More conventional pub dishes – beer-battered fish and chips, panko chicken burgers – are well executed too. Pudding might be orange and ginger sticky toffee pudding or scoops of homemade sorbet and ice cream. Drinks include an excellent selection of Somerset ciders, real ales and lagers, as well as a short selection of mainly organic red, white and orange wines.

Pass through the stone arch, enter the well-worn cobbled courtyard and step into a warren of passageways leading to a locally popular beamed bar with fires lit in winter, and softly lit dining rooms with candles on old polished tables. The 15th-century Talbot puts on a convincing show. Staff are uniformly cheerful and accommodating, while the menu deals in superior pub grub – from snacks such as sausage rolls or monkfish scampi with lemon mayo to classics including cider-battered Brixham fish and chips, the Talbot burger, or honey-roasted ham, duck egg, and chips. In addition, there’s appreciation for the reasonably priced, European-leaning wine list (with decent by-the-glass choice). Visitors also praise the comfortable bedrooms, which offer good value for the area.