Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Aylesbury
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Aylesbury restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 26 restaurants in Aylesbury and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Aylesbury restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Aylesbury Restaurants
1. Artichoke
French restaurant in Amersham
9 Market Sq - HP7
“Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant.....and tucked away in sleepy Amersham”; Laurie Gear’s “classy” venue is celebrating over 20 years in its sixteenth-century grade II listed site in Old Amersham (although it took Michelin until 2019 to cotton on and give it a star). It is one of the most commented-on venues in our annual diners’ poll on the fringes of the capital. “Stunning”, relatively traditional cuisine is “served by people who actually understand the job of hospitality”, in a Scandi-influenced interior.
2. Hawkyns by Atul Kochhar
Indian restaurant in Amersham
16 High Street - HP7
A surprise find in an ancient sixteenth-century pub on the high street – Atul Kochhar’s “superb upmarket Indian” is a “delight”, where the set menus are “outstanding value” (“would happily have paid more”, says a fan) and service “very attentive from the outset”. The ambience is sometimes rated no better than “OK” – for some tastes it’s not as immensely characterful as one might think given the venue’s cameo in ‘Four Weddings’, as the backdrop to Hugh and Andie’s romance.
3. The Sir Charles Napier
British, Modern restaurant in Chinnor
Spriggs Alley - OX39
“Delightfully out of the way” with a “tremendous location” in the leafy Chilterns: Julie Griffiths’ hidden-away restaurant (too posh really to be called a pub as it originally was) is “worth the trip out of London” or makes a “perfect lunch stop off the M40”. Its impressive standards over the years make it one of the top 100 most commented-on destinations outside of the capital in our annual diners’ poll and it provides “flavoursome” (if not especially foodie) traditional fare backed up by a “serious wine list”. “Julie always maintains the highest standard” (as she has done for over 50 years at the helm now) and it is particularly “a perfect location on a fine summer day”.
4. The Lamb Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Little Milton
High Street - OX44
Situated in the village of Little Milton outside of Oxford, this charming 16th Century thatched public house has been serving elevated British pub food since its reopening under new ownership from 2022.The kitchen, run by Michelin trained Head Chef Nat Berney, provides ...
5. Paris House
British, Modern restaurant in Woburn
Woburn Park - MK17
“Of course it has a wonderful location… but the food more than surpassed this”. “In a wonderful parkland setting” (22 acres of the Duke of Bedford’s Woburn Estate), this striking mock-Tudor timber building (originally built in France in 1878) is nowadays the stage for chef/patron Phil Fanning’s highly ambitious cuisine. The main event is a “memorable six-course tasting menu” for £99 per person, which on practically all accounts delivers a “thoroughly professional and delightful” experience: “each course is exceptional, with complex assemblies of often more than 10 components, but all complementing each other”. “It is fortunate you can have a two-hour walk amongst the deer after your meal!”
6. The Chequers Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Weston Turville
35 Church Lane - HP22
Chef-owner Dritan and maître d’ Ranka (husband and wife) took over this country pub in the Bucks countryside in 2010. It inspired limited feedback this year, but all upbeat regarding its fairly traditional fare whose high level of aspiration makes this more a ‘restaurant in a pub’ than a gastropub.
7. Hartwell House
British, Traditional restaurant in Aylesbury
Oxford Road - HP17
“Splendid surroundings for a plentiful and tasty afternoon tea” are again noted as a highpoint at this Jacobean/Georgian stately home spa hotel, with grounds laid out originally by Capability Brown and nowadays owned by the National Trust. Top Tip – “they are happy to give you a box for anything you can’t finish!”
8. La Chouette
Belgian restaurant in Dinton
Westlington Grn - HP17
Frederic Desmette’s cosy old sixteenth century cottage on the village green is a “real family-run restaurant” that’s “not influenced by current fashion”, but instead turns out a “fairly static” but “excellent quality” Belgian menu all “served up by Freddie with great aplomb!”
9. The Five Arrows
British, Modern restaurant in Waddesdon
High St - HP18
2022 Review: You can eat like a Rothschild at this gastropub on the Waddeston estate, dining on meat from the estate’s farms and vegetables from Baron Rothschild’s walled garden at Eythrope. The pub serves “really excellent food” and is set in “pleasant countryside”, with profits going to support the historic Waddesdon Manor, now owned by the National Trust while the Baron retains the estate. There is also afternoon ‘teapas’ – a selection of savoury small plates and more traditional scones and cakes.
10. Crocker’s Table
British, Modern restaurant in Tring
74 High Street - HP23
It’s “a fun experience to celebrate a special occasion” at Scott Barnard’s chef’s table-oriented venture seating just 16 people – particularly if you sit upstairs, where chefs plate up the “excellent” eight-course tasting menus before your eyes (ranging from £95 per person for weekday dinner to £120 per person at weekends); downstairs offers a more relaxed sample of the same menu without the drama, and there’s also a glamorous cellar bar if you want to get a head start on the fun.
11. The Hundred of Ashendon
British, Modern restaurant in Ashendon
Lower End - HP18
2023 Review: “The team is small but work incredibly hard to create beautifully presented dishes that always hit the spot” at this “lovely pub” between the Chilterns and the Cotswolds, where Matt Gill’s cuisine provides “excellent food” from an à la carte menu that, while “rustic”, bears no relation to pub grub.
12. The Angel
Fish & seafood restaurant in Long Crendon
47 Bicester Rd - HP18
2021 Review: “Delicious fresh fish” is the star of the “always reliable” menu at this attractive sixteenth-century coaching inn on the Oxon-Bucks border. “Strong wine list”, too.
13. The Pointer
British, Modern restaurant in Brill
27 Church St - HP18
2022 Review: This rural pub (complete with beams and roaring fire, and also accommodation) in a lovely Buckinghamshire village still achieves solid ratings, and – notwithstanding gripes from the occasional reporter about its takeover by Oakman Inns in late 2019 – most feedback rates the food as “very good”.
14. Mash Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Radnage
Horseshoe Rd, Bennett End - HP14
2023 Review: “Foraged food prepared over a fire: unbeatable?” – Nick Mash’s higgledy-piggledy village inn is “an absolute treasure of a place”, with “really interesting, special cooking” on a purpose-built wood-fired grill that helps achieve outstanding results. It’s “well worth the trip” to the Chilterns, “(and the beautiful rooms mean it’s worth the stay, too)”. We’ve rated it in the hope that it can maintain the high standards set by former chef Jon Parry, who departed in mid-2022 after five years at the helm.
15. Zaza
Italian restaurant in Berkhamsted
21-23 Lower Kings Road - HP4
2022 Review: Set in a “lovely building” with tables under a 200-year-old olive tree, this restaurant – one of eight in a local chain – is frequently packed with regulars, who come back for its “good honest Italian fare at a reasonable price”. There’s “something for everyone on the menu”.
16. The Gatsby
British, Modern restaurant in Berkhamsted
97 High St - HP4
2021 Review: “Well cooked and presented meals” – and “good value”, too – are served at this unusual venue in the foyer of the beautifully preserved 1930s Rex cinema. There’s also a cocktail bar with live pianist – and a particularly strong lunch and pre-film menu.
17. The Alford Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Frithsden
This “great country pub” in a Chilterns village makes a handy “all year round” escape from the big city, and has a cleverly constructed menu that changes every week and majors on local produce.
18. Tom Yum
Thai restaurant in Amersham
101 Sycamore Road - HP6
“Super Thai food” makes this “rather cramped” but otherwise “lovely” local fixture “really worth a visit” according to fans (albeit one that’s also popular for takeaway) and it’s great value for money too; from Tuesday to Saturday they do a lunchtime noodle bar.
19. Gilbey’s
British, Modern restaurant in Amersham
1 Market Sq - HP7
“Tasty bistro food” is enjoyed in the “lovely setting” of a seventeenth-century former school in Old Amersham, a “cosy” local spot opened by the Gilbey’s gin dynasty 35 years ago. Founder Michael Gilbey passed away in summer 2022, and his widow, Lin, has put the site up for sale. (She also runs its sister restaurant in Eton.)
20. The Grocer at 15
British, Modern restaurant in Amersham
15 The Broadway - HP7
This “great local” has had an up-and-down time of it of late, with the Gerrards Cross branch under new management, and The Grocer at 91, which had pivoted to being a food shop in the pandemic, now closed. On the plus side, this “very busy” outpost is still going strong with its “reliable” (if pricey) sandwiches, salads and toasties, and they also recently opened a new Amersham venue, The Grocer at 2 (Whielden St), spanning a grocery store and café.
View full listings of 26 Aylesbury Restaurants
Popular Aylesbury Restaurant Searches
Aylesbury Restaurant News