Bath, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This weir-view five-year-old has built up a considerable local fanclub for its modern European cooking, showcased through keenly priced set menus (2 courses £22, 3 courses £26). Owners Chris Tabbitt and Sarah Olivier met while they were working at the Old Bridge hotel in Huntingdon – Chris as head chef and Sarah as reception manager, and named this restaurant after their son.

Taking afternoon tea in this “wonderful Georgian setting with a trio playing during the meal” – and the Roman baths next door – is to wallow in English history, with literary visitors from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens as your guides. The nibbles – “beetroot-cured smoked salmon with homemade blini”, perhaps – are a secondary consideration, “but well worth having!”.

Feedback is limited but remains enthusiastic for this “very welcoming” dining room – part of a relatively new townhouse hotel, in one of Bath’s cuter pedestrianised enclaves (and occupying a house dating back to the 1400s). “The menu is well thought out, changes often, is enjoyable, and caters well to veggies and non-veggies alike”.

This tightly packed city-centre restaurant celebrates its tenth anniversary this year (on a site some oldies still recall as ‘Hole in the Wall’). “Rob Clayton is a brilliant chef”, say fans (he came to Bath to head the kitchen at the luxury Bath Priory Hotel for seven successful years before launching under his own name). Ratings, though, are middling on account of those who rate the value equation here good rather than exceptional.

“The range of wine is astonishing, and the staff knowledgeable” at this congenial operation: “really more a wine bar with food, rather than a restaurant” but where “the simple fare tastes great”. You can also buy to take away at the adjoining wine shop. (There was a Walcot Road sibling, but this is no more).

“A good addition to the Bath food scene” – Mike Robinson’s 2020 opening is rated as one of the better performers in his growing partnership with the Indigo hotel chain. “Excellent game dishes and really top-notch cooking generally” are produced from a fairly traditional British menu overseen by chef Gavin Edney which puts a focus on fish as well as Mike’s trademark meaty fare. “Lovely surroundings” too in a stunning 166-bedroom property following a multi-million-pound renovation that combined multiple Grade I and Grade II listed townhouses.

A “lovely” three-year-old where you dine “surrounded by beautiful bottles of wine that the owners handpick to go with the small plates” of modern British food, cheese and charcuterie. “The wine list (250+ options) is amazing and the staff are clearly passionate about it”, with some “really unusual choices” on offer.

“An ever-dependable restaurant” amidst the sea of tourist traps blighting this genteel town, this “good-value” indie offers “first-class” modern European grub “with knowledgeable and attentive service to go with it”.

2021 Review: “Bath’s best-kept secret” – this gastropub-with-rooms (great value) and a sheltered garden wins consistently strong ratings for its hearty good food.

It's all about the “seven-course tasting menu (£70), not too heavy and a complete secret until they bring out the food and tell you about it” at chef Gordon Jones’s “friendly”, intimate venue, outside the town centre, and animated by “lots of cheerful banter” from the staff; “we have lived in Bath for 15 years, and are complete foodies, so why has it taken us so long to get here?!”.

2019 Review: “A busy and useful gastropub near the Lansdowne Park and Ride”, and bolstered by chic interiors as well as ten-mile views over the countryside (walks start right from the door); “great staff” and “amazing” locally sourced food courtesy of a new chef continue to cement its appeal.

Always a “lovely setting for a special meal”, this posh country-house hotel dining room is thriving under head chef Jauca Catalin, a former professional footballer in his native Romania who worked under the great Michael Caines at Bath Priory ten years ago and returned to the top post when Michael Nizzero left in 2020 – having “set a high bar to match”. Jauca has succeeded in spades, with “particularly good fish and meat offerings” – “even eating here four nights in a row with four lunches, we never got bored and enjoyed every dish”. The dining room is also “booked out for weeks on end” for its “magnificent” afternoon teas, whose “sandwiches and cakes served on cake stands look a picture and taste divine”.

Chef Rob Potter wins solid praise for the consistency of his cuisine at this plush Cotswolds five-star hotel with golf club. The style is “traditional rather than super-inventive” (“we didn’t experience stand-outs but good quality throughout”).

Limited but again highly impressed feedback on the dining possibilities at this Palladian mansion, complete with a mile-long tree-lined driveway and impressive grounds. Chef Hywel Jones presides over a range of tasting menus, with the main option incorporating seven courses for £110. There’s also the option of taking afternoon tea in the hotel or eating in the more affordable brasserie.

2019 Review: From “lovely staff”, to the “most amazing bread to start” and “super” mains (with ‘Field-, Farm- and Boat-to-Plate’ options), this glass-fronted restaurant remains a pleasing, less ruinous, alternative to the main event at this famous country house pile; watch out for the excellent lunch deals.

The “typical Pig vibe – shabby chic with classic grub” (“very good” by most accounts) reigns at this “happy” Grade II listed venture in the Chew Valley, south of Bristol, and benefitting from an “interesting, small, walled garden”. “Muzak can be a bit overwhelming, but they’ll adjust the volume if asked.”

If you want hip and artisanal, this summer 2021 opening above a popular bakery looks like the way to go (although it opened too late for survey feedback). It’s from a couple of refugees from The Smoke with good CVs (Jules Copperstone and Rob Sachdev) and the focus is on locally sourced Mediterranean-inspired cuisine.