Billericay Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Darren Bennett’s stalwart, serving up creative modern British cooking (including a well-regarded afternoon tea) “continues to be reliable in all respects”, whether you stop to take advantage of the set menus or its popular side act as a wedding and events venue.

“In the heart of Essex, this fabulous fish restaurant” (est. 2010, and revolving around the “plush conversion of an old pub”) “offers amazing dishes and attentive service in a truly beautiful setting”. “It can be fun watching the TOWIE types amongst fellow diners”, but if that loses its appeal, divert your eyes to the “pleasant views from the terrace on a sunny day”.

2023 Review: “A good-to-find culinary outpost in an area with few interesting eating spots” – this “welcoming” gastropub is well worth remembering: “a steady hand in the kitchen meets good ingredients, and if food and wine both tread a relatively safe path, it’s no less enjoyable for that”.

In a village a short drive outside Chelmsford, this converted sixteenth-century pub has fine countryside views and provides a traditionally comfortable destination, complete with linen tablecloths, candles and cut glass. It wins good all-round feedback (if not a huge volume of reviews) and its modern brasserie fare (with steak, beef Wellington and cote de boeuf to share a highlight) helps it regularly feature in Essex food awards. (Owners Brendan Curran & Justin Mullender are also known for the quality of their put-downs on Tripadvisor!)

2021 Review: “A short drive from Chelmsford” in “the heart of Essex” – this “highly recommended” inn is large enough to host weddings and conferences, with a spacious Victorian-style conservatory for dining that has a “real vibrant buzz”, along with “decent good-value food and very friendly service”.

2022 Review: A “really quirky, excellent local restaurant serving food that is designed for the health- conscious… it’s a bit of a shock not having everything slathered in butter and salt, but it’s inventive and delicious” nonetheless – and the result of something of a conversion for chef John Lawson, who was riding high as a Ramsay ally when he was diagnosed with cancer. His “delicious” and “extraordinary value” tasting menus (four courses £52 on Friday, six courses £68 on Saturday) make for a “quite exceptional gastronomic experience” by all accounts.

“The Galvins’ rural outpost” – on home turf for the Essex-born-and-bred chef brothers – is much commented-on: a “great gastropub deep in the countryside”, where it’s “an oasis in an area with very little in the way of good eating”. The “smartly decorated” fourteenth-century venue is “well worth the trip” for its “consistently excellent food”, “special atmosphere” and “lovely views over an extensive garden”.

You “can’t go wrong” at this stalwart off the A12, where a rendered timbered façade gives way to a conservatory and covered patio. For over two decades it has been turning out traditional and consistent cuisine and, as ever, “the Beef Wellington is the pick of the menu”.

Sawdust floors and shelves of wine for sale add to the atmosphere of this ‘Wine Merchant & Dining Rooms’ – a Dickensian-style space that’s been a linchpin of the town’s eateries since 1976. It continues to win consistent support for its traditional fare, and is well-suited to business lunches.

2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.

This “lovely old Essex pub” with a white wooden facade serves food that is “well above average for pub grub” – and its popularity means it “gets overcrowded and noisy” at times. Originally three weavers’ cottages from 1460, the building was converted two centuries later using beams salvaged from naval vessels docked at Tilbury. Top Menu Tip – “the skate wing is delicious”.

Press the green light for service, and then “eat until you can eat no more” – the “simple but effective” formula at this bottomless Neapolitan pizza joint, also with a Colchester spin-off; the “deliciously thin” pies support “fantastic food combinations” (but perhaps best to “go for lunch so that you have the rest of the day to digest all of the offerings!”).

2023 Review: “Off-the-chart pub food” – ranging from standard classics and “excellent roasts” to “fantastic, restaurant-style” European dishes – makes this 500-year-old Essex village boozer an appealing option for both locals and visitors.