fine dining in England

We love a bit of fine dining – the attention to detail that you find is second to none and almost always leads to a great experience. I would really like to explore more fine dining overseas (we have in Thailand and it was remarkable) – this will hopefully come in time. There are a myriad of options for fine dining in England and exploring some of them is a good excuse for a weekend in a different place every so often.

Gill is more the list person than me but I do get very excited when a new Restaurant of the Year list is released. The 2024 release of the National Restaurant Awards Top 100 was a nice prompt to take a look back over some of the amazing meals in the brilliant restaurants that we’ve enjoyed over the past few years – here are some of my brief thoughts on them.

November 2021 – Muse by Tom Aikens, Belgravia

our first ever taster menu
The taster menu here felt like a journey through the chef’s life – every dish was brilliantly put together and told his story. Tom’s version of KFC chicken was such a clever dish! We sat at the chefs’ counter so were able to see the workings of the kitchen from up close.
Watching the action in the kitchen was fascinating; it was like art was being assembled on the plates in front of our eyes. Everyone played their part, and knew it perfectly, which resulted in beautifully formed, identical dishes being painstakingly crafted. We had all the extras on offer and felt very giddy after completing our first wine pairing!

November 2022 – Rogan and Co, Cartmel

a fine dining experience with Amy
Great food and great service. We really enjoyed eating here. This was an a la carte menu rather than a taster menu, so we mixed and matched in order to try as much as possible between us. The extras were a nice touch – the snacks before the meal set the tone for how good the food would be and the pre desert worked perfectly.

March 2023 – Lazy Lobster, Chew Magna

when passing through
I’d eat here again in a heartbeat! This ended up a bit like tapas because we ordered as close to one of everything as possible. Each dish was tasty, fresh and full of flavour. The service was amazing and all of the seafood was great. It was a relaxed setting, with a fun vibe and we spoke for ages with the owner, who wondered if we were restaurant inspectors (which maybe should have been a prompt to get on a diet!)

April 2023 – etch by Steven Edwards, Brighton

the best way to tick off a fancy meal with a mate
Thinking about our meal here makes me smile. It was fab from start to finish, and the service was friendly and personable. The 9 course taster menu was brilliant and we actually met Steven who is there a lot of the time. He signed a menu for us (our first signed menu) which Gill now won’t let out of her sight. Dippy Egg’ is etched (sorry!) in my memory as one of the best dishes I have ever had.

May 2023 – Seasonality, Maidenhead

creative, fresh and personal
The food here was great, as was the service. We visited with a friend of Gill’s who’s a vegan and despite there not being a vegan menu, they spoke ahead of the meal and prepared suitable dishes for her especially. A lot of the food is cooked in an island in the dining area which was good to watch.

August 2023 – The Angel at Hetton, outside Skipton

Gill’s dad’s first taster menu experience
Everything about our time here was exceptional – the food and the service was amongst the best that we have experienced. During covid they introduced wine cards to reduce the amount of time spent talking around the table, and they have upheld this excellent idea. Gill’s dad enjoyed reading out the information on the cards and we were able to take them home with us too. One of the stand out dishes here was the bread course – it was so nicely done!

September 2023 – The Cross, Kenilworth

a fancy weekday lunch
A really smart taster menu for lunch – the crab bisque was such a good dish that I have tried to recreate it a couple of times at home. I wasn’t blown away by the service, but the food made up for it. The setting was very nice. The Cross is in a converted village inn, and the décor (as well as beer garden) were beautifully presented.

September 2023 – The Fat Duck, Bray

the experience
This was indeed an experience – one of the top restaurants in the world and an all-round ‘foodie’ stalwart! I’d wanted to eat here since seeing Heston on TV experimenting with food in the late 90’s and it lived up to the anticipation. The food was good, but the experience overall was phenomenal!

We have tried not to share too much about the Fat Duck in order not to ruin any surprises, but it’s safe to say that all of your senses are used during the course of the evening. One thing that we’d definitely recommend is the optional wine cellar experience. For this you go upstairs (I know – it’s a fully enclosed, climate controlled ‘cellar’) to sample a glass of wine each. The aim is to show you how the taste is affected by light and by noise so these are modified and you try it again…we found it definitely did make a difference.

October 2023 – The Hand and Flowers, Marlow

the one with the hangover
Brilliant food and great service. Despite having 2 Michelin stars it was unpretentious and felt like dining in your traditional local pub (with better food!). We felt instantly at home from the moment we were sat down. We had an excellent 3 course meal, with a pre-starter snack; really nice, rich, flavoursome food for a very different twist on a Sunday roast. The banana soufflé was one of the best deserts I’ve ever had. The portions are HUGE so don’t have a big breakfast before you go (or turn up hanging!).

November 2023 – Moor Hall, Aughton

simply put…WOW
This felt, and still feels like the pinnacle of fine dining. The evening started in the lounge for an aperitif and snacks, with the final snack being served in the kitchen by Mark, the chef patron. Once seated every dish was meticulously presented, both on the plate and by the knowledgeable and friendly staff. The food was stunning and the overall experience makes it easy to understand why Moor Hall has been consistently rated so highly in various ‘Restaurant of the Year’ awards.

For the first time we were able to split the wine pairing. Gill and Amy were happy with the standard wine pairing and I had the premium one. This worked very well and has been repeated since, giving us the best of both worlds when we (sometimes reluctantly) are able to share. Some restaurants aren’t initially keen on the idea but quickly become more understanding when we explain that ‘it was absolutely fine at Moor Hall’!

December 2023 – Purnells, Birmingham

Gill would eat here mid-week, every week
We really enjoyed eating here. The food was super cool, with a trendy atmosphere and the service was relaxed and friendly. One of the snacks was a savoury meringue dyed black with squid ink to make it look like a lump of charcoal…very different! Every course was brilliantly presented and the overall quality of the food was great.

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 – 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 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.