Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Bruton
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Bruton restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 17 restaurants in Bruton and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Bruton restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Bruton Restaurants
1. The Cross Keys Hotel
restaurant in Sherborne
88 Cheap Street - DT9
2023 Review: Well-located in the centre of the town on ‘The Parade’ – this old inn wins praise for “good pub food with some more adventurous items” and “community-minded owners who have become part of the town”. The latter are Mo Gherras and his family, who put their savings into the place in 2019, the pub having lain vacant for a number of years.
2. At the Chapel
British, Modern restaurant in Bruton
28 High St - BA10
This stunning converted chapel (with rooms, artisan bakery and wine shop) was long in the hands of Catherine Butler, but in summer 2022 slotted into the Stay Original Company’s roster of SW boutique hotels and pubs. “For a small town Bruton has plenty of places to enjoy good food” – and, albeit “less fancy than the others”, this remains a safe choice for “straightforward, well-cooked fare” (including “a lovely lunch after a walk round the wonderful Newt” country estate).
3. Osip
British, Modern restaurant in Bruton
1 High Street - BA10
“Worth the trip to the pretty, hip rural Somerset village of Bruton for an occasion” – Merlin Labron-Johnson’s “incredible” venue enjoys a massive following out of all proportions to its tiny size; and is one of the most commented-on destinations outside London in our annual diners’ poll this year. There’s no menu at this “very farm-to-table oriented place” – for £120 per person (with a cheaper, cut-down lunch alternative) you put yourself in his hands and the “expertly prepared” results are “exquisite… bursting with flavour”. “Service is light but gracious and the atmosphere, in the small but beautifully decorated room, is lovely if lacking a bit of life…” but all that’s about to change since, in autumn 2023 he successfully completed an oversubscribed £125,000 kickstarter campaign to create ‘Osip 2.0’ in a new space. Details to follow.
4. The Botanical Rooms at The Newt
British, Modern restaurant in Bruton
The Newt in Somerset - BA7
“A treat after viewing the interesting gardens” – this ‘Country House Reimagined’ is a handsome, limestone Georgian pile in lovely Somerset countryside and is the brainchild of billionaire Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos’s (ex-editor of Elle Decoration). Where eating is concerned, the main event is a “gorgeous” panelled traditional chamber (for more inexpensive meals, head for The Garden Café – “a beautifully designed glass box” overlooking the kitchen garden and orchards – ). “Good local produce, much from the grounds just outside” is presented alongside meat from heritage breeds on a three-course menu for £85 per person. One or two reports suggest “it’s good but doesn’t quite hit the heights it’s aiming for” but on most accounts it’s merely a “fantastic” experience – “love the range of Newt ciders” too.
5. The Queen’s Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Corton Denham
This “newly refurbished family-owned pub with rooms” – originally a mid-Victorian cider house – in a “lovely village” near Sherborne, makes for a “perfect stop-over en route to Devon or Cornwall”, with “agreeable service” and “reliable food including interesting fish dishes”. Co-owner Doune Mackenzie-Francis has a foodie background as a former marketing manager for Leith’s School of Food & WIne.
6. The Bath Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Horningsham
The Longleat Estate - BA12
In a picturesque location on the Longleat Estate, this old rural pub with rooms is consistently well-rated. Wine is sourced by a sister business – The Beckford Bottle Shop in nearby Bath (about 30 minutes’ drive) – while meat and game from the estate help supply the kitchen. In April 2023, The Telegraph’s William Sitwell pronounced himself a fan, and enjoyed “a faultless lunch of amped-up pub classics”.
7. Goodfellows
British, Modern restaurant in Wells
7b St Thomas Street - BA5
“This small family-run restaurant never fails to please” – Adam & Martine Fellows celebrate the 20th anniversary of their fish-focused, French-inspired bistro this year, having moved to a new townhouse address in 2022. Their dishes are always “beautifully cooked and presented” and there’s a “variety of menus to suit different budgets”. Top Menu Tip – “excellent scallops in a champagne sauce with samphire and asparagus”.
8. The Newell
British, Modern restaurant in Sherborne
Greenhill - DT9
A “small restaurant in Sherborne, owned by an Australian couple”, and where the “good” and “unusual” food pays testament to chef Paul Merrony’s Gallic training with the likes of Albert Roux at Le Gavroche; there’s an “interesting list of well-chosen wines at reasonable prices to match the excellent food”.
9. The Green
British, Modern restaurant in Sherborne
3 The Green - DT9
“Great modern European food using locally sourced ingredients at very reasonable prices” again wins praise for this local fixture. Chef-patron Sasha Matkevich grew up in south Russia but has lived in England for 30 years.
10. Pythouse Kitchen Garden
British, Modern restaurant in West Hatch
“In a beautiful setting in the Wiltshire countryside”, Darren Brown’s “most wonderful” venture occupies an eighteenth-century walled garden and “makes full use of the produce grown” there in its “wholesome, creative fare”. “The fire pit conjures smoke, fire and primal appetites” which are ably slaked by the “superb” meats and “imaginatively done” vegetables – limited mostly to lunch, plus the odd Equinox-themed dinner. In summer they also run the ‘Slow Food Kitchen’ from Thursday to Sunday, while you can overnight year-round in their Shepherd’s Hut.
11. Briar
Game restaurant in Bruton
Number One Bruton, 1 High Street - BA10
A farm-to-table restaurant led by Chef Sam Lomas, on the former site of Osip which is moving to a new location. It features a daily changing menu of small plates, snacks, and sharing dishes that celebrate hyper-local produce and foraged ingredients. The collaboration with Claudia and Aled Rees aims to offer affordable and approachable Somerset fare, focusing on seasonal ingredients from local suppliers.
12. Da Costa
restaurant in Bruton
Dropping Lane - BA10
Opening in September at the Hauser + Wirth art dealership in Somerset, where it takes over the site of its former Roth Bar and Grill. Expect a stylish interior and Italian food using produce from Durslade Farm,
13. The Three Horseshoes
British, Modern restaurant in Batcombe
“Tom Parker Bowles was dining near us and William Sitwell apparently was in earlier in the week so we will be reading about it the the press!” – and indeed we have, regarding this bucolically located inn (with five bedrooms), which has been lovingly and stylishly restored. It has proved one of the most hotly anticipated openings of the year, due to owner Max Wigram’s long-trailed invitation to the stoves to star chef Margot Henderson OBE (of East London’s Rochelle Canteen) who he has known since her teens. It opened in the middle of our survey and generated too little feedback for a firm rating, although what we do have mentions of “admirable” service and some “very good lemon sole with exotic homemade tartare sauce and excellent tossed chicken”. Meanwhile the aforementioned press critics have fallen over themselves to swoon… although given Margot’s impeccable in-crowd credentials this was always likely.
14. The Bradley Hare
British, Modern restaurant in Maiden Bradley
Church Street - BA12
This Victorian boozer on the Duke of Somerset’s estate reopened in 2021 (with rooms) after a posh refit by Andrew Kelly and James Thurstan Waterworth (the ex-European design director at Soho House). Despite the rather rapid exit of initial chef Nye Smith – to Rochelle Canteen boss Margot Henderson’s new venture, ‘The Three Horseshoes’, in Batcombe – its local/seasonal menu gained solid marks this year.
16. The Clockspire
British, Modern restaurant in Milborne Port
Gainsborough - DT9
A “beautifully renovated building” – originally an 1860s school, with impressive vaulted ceilings and now a mezzanine bar – plays host to this exceptional outfit on the Dorset/Somerset border. Chef Luke Sutton (ex-the acclaimed L’Ortolan, in Berkshire) oversees the “varied” and “very interesting” British menu, which remains of note for its particularly “good-value” set menu.
17. The Plume of Feathers
restaurant in Sherborne
Half Moon Street - DT9
2023 Review: “It looks and sounds like a pub”, but this “lively and friendly” old inn opposite Sherborne Abbey “is actually an Italian restaurant providing small plates by the score”. The menu includes a “stupendous choice” (including pizzette and pasta) “using local and Italian ingredients” and it’s very easy to assemble an interesting and varied meal with “dishes to suit all tastes”. “The main difficulty is limiting yourself as there’s so much to tempt!". Top Tip – Rapido lunch for two at £14 per person, served weekdays.
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