fine dining in England 2024

We had a great second half of 2023 for fine dining and it was fun to try and up our game for 2024.

Including our trip to Thailand, we managed 13 Michelin Guide restaurants together and managed to visit some with friends and family too.

We often talk about our top three together but it seems that these change every time. Hopefully the following short descriptions of the variety of food we have eaten will show why it is so subjective to try to order these (mainly) amazing restaurants.

January 2024 – Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton, Oxford

the garden tour is a MUST
Le Manoir is the OG of fine dining. We went for a dinner, bed and breakfast package, and it was remarkable. Every member of staff was polite, helpful & knowledgeable, the cocktails were awesome and the food was out of this world. We were made to feel at home from the moment we parked in the wrong place (right outside the front door, instead of in the actual car park!)

The rooms were all individually and exquisitely designed. It sounds as though Raymond Blanc is a bit of a task master and wanted everything to be “just so”. All of the staff seemed to have been fully accustomed to his ways. One funny snippet was a story about artificial grass to surround an oak tree. Raymond wouldn’t just settle for any artificial grass so invited Arsene Wenger along with a selection of samples so he could decide which one would suit personally! Comparable levels of attention to detail were evident in every part of our experience . If money wasn’t an object I’d be tempted to move here!

March 2024 – Outlaw’s New Road, Port Isaac

we thought we may be the only diners
We visited out of season and had the place to ourselves for a while. This restaurant was in a lovely setting, up high, looking at the sea over the Southwest Coastal Path. It’s the perfect place to enjoy seafood. The food was deliciously simple and the service was great. Apart from the bread course and pudding there were hardly any carbs which meant the meal was all about the fresh seafood flavours. A wonderful meal all round.

March 2024 – Paul Ainsworth At No6, Padstow

we got our own soundtrack from the evening, and a personalised menu
This was recommended by a friend and I’m really glad it was. The food and service was excellent. The use of a homemade scone twice in the taster menu was a brilliant twist – the second one being called ‘Yesterday’s Scone’ was very punny! This taster menu had two choices in a couple of places so Gill and I picked the opposite to each other so we could try everything between us.

April 2024 – The Waterside Inn, Bray

a stunning riverside location
This is 100% my opinion – Gill liked the place. This is one of the highest rated restaurants in the world and somewhere that I had long wanted to eat. Unfortunately I found both the food and service to be well short of the mark. The main highlight of eating here was the company and the views of the river – everything else was pretty disappointing.

May 2024 – The Fuzzy Duck, Armscote, Stratford on Avon

they even have a cupboard full of Baylis and Harding
A dog friendly gastropub. The food was very nice and the staff were too. Lewis loved the place and got plenty of fuss. The scotch egg with chorizo ketchup was really tasty! The owners also own Baylis and Harding which meant Gill was able to come away with a (paid for!) bag full of nice smelling toiletries too!!

May 2024 – Bulrush, Bristol

this one was lush
We visited here as a cheeky midweek getaway due to Gill being on a training course in the Southwest. The food was beautifully presented and tasted delicious; the kuri squash and goat curd tartlet was a real highlight. The service was good and included members of the kitchen staff explaining the dishes. This was really useful for us to nose at techniques for future reference.

June 2024 – Sapori, Anstey, Leicester

incredible Italian food and wine
The food here was great, as was the service. The wine was the real eye opener, the pairing toured Italy and each glass was really nice. We started with a vermouth and ended with the sweetest of desert wines. All the food looked and tasted amazing. Need a special mention of the desert, which may well be the best we’ve had, and the caramelised tomatoes which were so good.

July 2024 – Latymer at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot

a delightful dinner, bed and breakfast

From driving down the impressive tree lined avenue to walking down the amazingly pretty tree filled covered walkway, this was an experience. The venue was intimate and the decor was great. The food worked perfectly with the wine pairings, even when they were adventurous. The optional cheese course was well worth adding, and it was nice to be able to choose a suitable wine from the wine list to accompany it.

July 2024 – John’s House, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire

Stunning venue and great food – what more do you need?

We had wanted to eat here for such a long time with it being the only Michelin starred restaurant in Leicestershire. Funnily enough it wasn’t until we moved to neighbouring Warwickshire that we managed to find an available time that fitted in with us. John’s House is extremely popular!

We ate the lunchtime taster menu and each course was deliciously fresh. John’s pride themselves on being farm to table and this ethos was demonstrated in everything we ate. There were bursts of flavour in every mouthful and the food was beautifully presented.

September 2024 – Opheem, Birmingham

a taster through India

I’ve mentioned my/our excitement before at meeting the main chef at a restaurant. There is something special about them not just being a name above the door but being hands on and slaving away over a hot stove. We visited Opheem on a Wednesday night so it felt like even more of a treat to have the main man casting his eyes over every dish that left the kitchen, coaching and assisting his team, presenting his dishes and even posing for a pic with us in the kitchen.

The experience started and ended in the lounge with snacks and cocktails and continued in the restaurant itself with the open kitchen the star of the show. Each dish was amazing – none were too spicy but all had a superb depth of flavour. The main was guinea fowl which was cooked in different ways with the offal used in rice to create a dish similar to keema rice while using as much of the bird as possible.

October 2024 – Adam’s, Birmingham

Front row seats at the chef’s table

I visited Adam’s with one of my oldest friends and booked the chef’s table to really immerse him in the world of fine dining – it didn’t disappoint! Adam’s was a brilliant experience. Each of the dishes were perfectly presented and tasted amazing, and the wine pairing complimented each dish.

The quail with smoked cashew was a brilliant course, as was the venison! Birmingham is only a 30 minute taxi ride from home now so I’ll definitely take Gill to try Adam’s soon.

November 2024 – Northcote, Langho, Blackburn

Nice room, shame about the food

Most of the restaurants that we have visited haven’t put a foot wrong. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case at Northcote. Of the 5 course menu, we were served 2 courses of tough, gristly meat and the cod course was one of the most unpleasant and bizarre combinations of food I’ve been served anywhere.

I’m really struggling for a positive – the cheese course and accompanying port flight were good.

December 2024 – Simon Rogan at Home

Something different – fine dining without having to leave the house

Gill got me the Simon Rogan advent calendar in 2023 and we finally got round to using the included voucher for a 3 course meal at home a year later. It was worth the wait! I have wanted to eat at Simon’s restaurant L’Enclume for ages so having a box of his food delivered was a great way to tide me over until that happens.

The food was delicious, and the cooking instructions were easy to follow. Both Gill and I particularly enjoyed the onion soup with blue cheese. There was a great selection of food and this is definitely something that I’d like to try again.

December 2024 – The Duncombe Arms, Ellastone, Staffordshire

Amazing pub grub and a roaring fire – just what you need

I visited the Duncombe Arms with my mum because I otherwise wouldn’t have seen her over the Christmas/new year period . Gill missed out (again), this time because she was at work.

The food here was really good, the cheese souffle to start was incredible, a side of pigs in blankets accompanied my steak perfectly (that was me getting festive!) and the cranberry and clementine trifle was super. The portion sizes were great for a ‘growing lad’ like me too. I think they were comparable with the Hand and Flowers but I will have to visit with Gill to confirm.

The Duncombe Arms has been awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand and it certainly seems justified. The food was great quality and it was less expensive than you’d expect from a meal at a ‘normal’ pub.

Our 2025 fine dining adventures are available to read about here.