Bracknell, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Steve Smith hits all the right notes” in this opulent dining room: “a real treat that’s expensive but worth it”. “While the hotel may feel a bit big and corporate, The Latymer just feels special. From the moment you walk in, to the time you leave. Each course is craft-fully mapped out with little cards explaining what it is and where it originated from”. On all accounts this year, its six-course menu – for which you should allow three hours – delivers an “outstanding” experience for £175 per person.

The “elevated food” served at Dominic Chapman’s smart village-green venue is “certainly worthy of its top cooking grade”, and “takes Home Counties pub fare up a level – the amuse-bouches and petits-fours make a pub lunch here a real occasion”. “We hope to return when there’s cricket on the adjacent field”.

This smart boozer is a “great all-rounder with reliable gastropub fare and a fine garden with covered seating”. It’s the flagship of Brucan Pubs, a small group of ambition founded by a pair with strong credentials, ex-Savoy, Ivy and Groucho club chef Jamie Dobbin and James Lyon-Shaw , formerly operations manager at the ETM group.

“An amazing new dining room! The experience from start to finish is personal, thought provoking and the cooking is inspired. a true destination!” – so say fans of the revamp of the “well appointed” flagship dining room at this Dorchester Collection property, where a new contemporary look has brought the decor much more into line with the quality of chef Adam Smith’s cuisine. Reports acclaim both its “exceptional food and dining experience on a consistent basis”. You choose from a five-course menu for £145 per person.

“Not only did it live up to the hype and our expectations… it exceeded them!” “The theatre of a meal at the Fat Duck is like nowhere else” and for many reporters the “absolute culinary sorcery” and showmanship at Heston Blumenthal’s converted pub in bijoux Bray make for a “once-in-a-lifetime culinary blow out”, with a dazzling array of dishes that are “either divine or merely mind boggling”. All that conjuring can fall flat though (“the science lab style, and focus on sounds and lighting actually detracted from what was probably exquisite food”); or equally it may not stand up to a repeat visit (“maybe I have been too often but the experience is becoming repetitive – we need some renewal!”). And then there’s the fact that for about one in three of our reporters, more prosaic matters of value for money intrude on their consciousness, and their main takeaway is: “how expensive was that!?” “Some courses were fantastic, others not so good, but to be honest I’ve had better food at other restaurants that didn’t charge us £1,200 for two people”.

2021 Review: “Upmarket pub” with a dozen bedrooms, handy for Ascot Racecourse, which was taken over by new owners (Barons Pub Company) in late 2018. Not all reporters are happy with the new ownership, but upbeat feedback praises its “well-rounded menu, relaxed style and pleasant service”. Reflecting the up-and-down reports, we’ve left a rating till the next Diners Poll.

Ex-Core chef Steven Ellis & pastry-chef wife Ami’s “temple-of-gastronomy-wolf in a comfy-pub-sheep’s clothing” launched two years back and it has a particular focus on local game. The “highly distinctive and skilfully crafted cuisine” (with “venison to the fore”) plus “attentive and courteous service” place it “at the top gastropub level”. NB – while “parking is potentially tricky, one could enjoy a delightful walk in Windsor Great Park before or after a meal here”.

“A stunning tasting menu where every course offers a unique experience” wins nothing but praise this year for Adam Handling’s out-of-town operation, in a “charming converted pub in Old Windsor”, acclaimed for the “same high-quality, creative cuisine as his other ‘Frog’ restaurants” (“my favourite was brill with hispi cabbage and lobster bisque emulsion!”). There are a number of menus including an à la carte selection and one dedicated to Sunday lunch; and “at £65 per head for six courses it’s tasting menu is great value” too. In September 2023, it was crowned ‘Dining Pub of the Year’ in the Great British Pub Awards.

2023 Review: In June 202, Dom Chapman took on this well-known Thames-valley pub (he also owns The Beehive in White Waltham, see also), which had been run by the Bonwick family for the previous nine years. It opened too late for feedback in our annual diners’ poll, but an early report from fooderati insider, Andy Hayler, suggested that Champan will be continuing the high quality of The Beehive and also the Bonwicks’ former regime here: “service… was excellent. Overall, this was a very enjoyable evening, The Crown offering a very appealing menu and generally well-made food. … this is already shaping up to be a charming restaurant, and based on the chef’s track record I expect the food to progress further from this solid start”.

This “stylish restaurant” near the bridge to Windsor has been run for almost 50 years by co-founder Lin Gilbey, who is responsible for its interior design. Her husband and business partner Bill (scion of the Gilbey’s Gin dynasty) sadly passed away in 2022, but Lin has pressed ahead with improvements, acquiring the premises next door to offer corporate entertainment and private dining facilities. Modern British cooking is generally felt to be “solid”.

The intimate, seven-table dining room at this grand manor-house hotel features a tapestried wall and spectacular Tudor fireplace, making it an ideal showcase for ambitious and refined classical meals from chef Alex Payne, who grew up a mile away in Egham and trained under Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay. The hotel also serves smart afternoon teas in the Anne Boleyn drawing room and relaxed meals in the Estate Grill, with an impressive vaulted ceiling.

2021 Review: FKA ‘The Manor at Foxhills’: this “beautiful” dining room of a top golf course – set in an impressive Victorian manor house – “has been refurbished, with no carpets or window furnishings so it’s noisier than it used to be”. Too little feedback as yet from which to rate this new, more modern guise, but prices are not punishing and there is a menu for ‘Young Adults’. A traditional afternoon tea in the adjoining plush lounge is still an option.

2022 Review: “Reliable cooking with a buzzy atmosphere” makes this 20-year-old city-centre outfit a useful option; it also gives vegans a decent choice of dishes.

2023 Review: “Good food at a fair price” was reported again this year at this well-regarded pub: part of a local group with siblings in Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield. In good weather you can eat on the terrace, or book an ‘Oak Pod’ which seats up to 6 people, and incorporate a heater.

Aussie chef Skye Gyngell’s “ambitious establishment” – a Georgian country house dining room in a “beautiful location” overlooking a lake and parkland. They are “very conscious of their environmental responsibility”, with “almost all ingredients locally grown or reared” and served in pared-back style. But while it received strong ratings all-round for its luxury hotel setting, a couple of reports did note “a feeling one has to be on one’s best behaviour!”