The Eat UK Restaurant Shortlist
This isn't a comprehensive directory. It's a curated, opinionated shortlist of restaurants across the UK that are genuinely worth travelling for. Places where the food is extraordinary, the experience is memorable, and you'll still be talking about it months later.
We add and remove restaurants based on current quality and consistency. Updated quarterly.
London
St. JOHN — Smithfield, EC1
Style: British nose-to-tail
Price: £50–£80pp
Book ahead: Yes, always
Fergus Henderson's Smithfield restaurant changed British cooking. The approach is simple: use every part of the animal, cook it with respect, and serve it without nonsense. Roast bone marrow with parsley salad is on the menu from day one and remains one of the great dishes in London. The wine list is exceptional.
Dishoom — Multiple Locations
Style: Bombay café
Price: £25–£40pp
Book ahead: Essential (especially King's Cross and Shoreditch)
Inspired by the Irani cafés of Bombay, Dishoom serves some of the most consistently excellent food in London. The bacon naan roll at breakfast is a modern classic. The black daal, cooked for 24 hours, is profoundly good. Every location captures the atmosphere beautifully.
Brat — Shoreditch, E1
Style: Basque-influenced British
Price: £60–£90pp
Book ahead: Well in advance
Whole turbot cooked over fire. That's the signature, and it's sensational. Everything at Brat is cooked over an open flame — on a grill designed by proprietor Tomos Parry. The simplicity is deceptive; the execution is extraordinary.
The River Café — Hammersmith, W6
Style: Italian
Price: £80–£120pp
Book ahead: Well in advance
One of the most influential restaurants in Britain. Italian cooking with British ingredients, and a commitment to seasonal simplicity that makes every plate look effortless. It isn't. Expensive, but the quality justifies it.
South West and South East
The Pig — Brockenhurst, Hampshire (and other locations)
Style: Kitchen garden British
Price: £40–£60pp
Book ahead: Yes, especially weekends
The menu is dictated by what's growing in the garden and what's been foraged within 25 miles. This is hyper-local British cooking at its most charming. The setting — a manor house in the New Forest — is lovely. Multiple locations across southern England.
The Seafood Restaurant — Padstow, Cornwall
Style: Seafood
Price: £50–£80pp
Book ahead: Essential in summer
Rick Stein's original restaurant, and still the standard for seafood in Cornwall. The catch changes daily. The fish and chips are among the best in the country. Padstow itself is worth the trip.
Magpie Café — Whitby, North Yorkshire
Style: Fish and chips
Price: £15–£25pp
Book ahead: Not possible — queue
The most famous fish and chip restaurant in Britain, and it earns every ounce of praise. Sit-down fish and chips overlooking Whitby harbour. The queue wraps around the building on summer weekends. Worth every minute of waiting.
The North
The Angel at Hetton — North Yorkshire
Style: Modern British
Price: £60–£90pp
Book ahead: Yes
Britain's first gastropub (established 1983). Now under chef Michael Wignall, it's evolved into something remarkable — a Michelin-starred restaurant in a Yorkshire Dales village pub. The tasting menu is ambitious and stunning. The setting is quintessentially English.
Hawksmoor — Manchester (and London locations)
Style: Steak
Price: £50–£80pp
Book ahead: Recommended
The best steak restaurant in Britain. The Manchester location, in a former Victorian courthouse, is the most atmospheric. Dry-aged British beef, cooked over charcoal, served with bones, chips, and excellent sides. The pre-theatre menu is remarkable value.
The Kitchin — Edinburgh
Style: Nature-to-plate
Price: £70–£100pp (tasting menu £95)
Book ahead: Essential
Tom Kitchin's philosophy — "from nature to plate" — drives a menu of seasonal Scottish ingredients treated with French technique. Langoustines from the Firth of Forth. Roe deer from the Highlands. Every dish is rooted in time and place.
OX — Belfast
Style: Modern Irish
Price: £50–£70pp
Book ahead: Strongly recommended
Overlooking the River Lagan, OX serves some of the most exciting food in Ireland. Local produce — Glenarm salmon, Fermanagh venison, Armagh Bramley apples — treated with precision and restraint. The wine list is thoughtfully assembled.
The Midlands
Simpsons — Edgbaston, Birmingham
Style: Fine dining
Price: £70–£100pp
Book ahead: Yes
Birmingham's leading fine dining restaurant, set in a beautiful Georgian villa. Chef Director Luke Tipping delivers modern British cooking with classical French technique. Elegant, precise, and consistently excellent.
Carters of Moseley — Birmingham
Style: Modern British
Price: £75–£95pp (tasting menu only)
Book ahead: Essential
Brad Carter's neighbourhood restaurant turns intensely local ingredients into unforgettable tasting menus. The menu changes completely with the seasons. One of the best restaurants in Britain that nobody outside Birmingham seems to know about.
Wales
The Walnut Tree — Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Style: Modern European
Price: £45–£65pp
Book ahead: Yes
Shaun Hill's unpretentious restaurant on the road outside Abergavenny has been a pilgrimage destination for food lovers for decades. The cooking is assured, simple, and lets superb Welsh ingredients speak for themselves. No dress code, no ceremony — just extraordinary food.
Ynyshir — Eglwys Fach, Powys
Style: Experimental Welsh-Japanese
Price: £300pp (tasting menu)
Book ahead: Months in advance
Gareth Ward's converted country house is one of the most talked-about restaurants in Britain. A multi-course tasting menu that blends Japanese technique with foraged Welsh ingredients, served with heavy metal on the stereo and no rules about convention. Not cheap. Not for everyone. Absolutely unforgettable.
Scotland
The Three Chimneys — Isle of Skye
Style: Scottish Highland
Price: £65–£90pp
Book ahead: Essential
On the shores of Loch Dunvegan, The Three Chimneys has been serving the finest Highland ingredients for over 35 years. Local shellfish, Skye venison, Scottish berries — cooked with respect and served in one of the most beautiful locations in Europe. Stay overnight at the House Over-By.
Restaurant Andrew Fairlie — Gleneagles, Perthshire
Style: French-Scottish fine dining
Price: £175pp (tasting menu)
Book ahead: Well in advance
The only restaurant in Scotland with two Michelin stars. Within the Gleneagles hotel, Andrew Fairlie's table delivers Scottish ingredients through a French lens. The smoked lobster is legendary.
How We Choose
- Food quality — this is non-negotiable. The cooking must be demonstrably excellent.
- Consistency — a great meal once isn't enough. We revisit, or rely on trusted sources who visit frequently.
- Worth the trip — every restaurant on this list justifies a special journey, not just a convenient lunch.
- Atmosphere — the room matters. The service matters. The experience matters.
We don't accept complimentary meals or payment for inclusion. This list exists because we believe these restaurants are genuinely brilliant.
Britain has never eaten better than it does right now. Go. Eat. Enjoy.