Buckinghamshire Restaurant Guide

2019 Review: Run by the National Trust, this Aylesbury gastroboozer occupies a gem of a Tudor building, with an oak-panelled dining room spearheaded by the Chiltern Brewery since 2005. Given its ties, the beers are a highlight, though it also wins praise for the “best duck” (living up to the town’s mallard associations).

“Old-school service and food” are cornerstones of this Jacobean/Georgian stately home spa hotel with grounds by Capability Brown, owned by the National Trust. “Afternoon tea in one of the ante-rooms whilst sat on a sofa is a delight” and it’s a “lovely place for a few days’ stay, too!”.

“Fabulous food” (including “outstanding vegetarian options”) brings people together at chef Scott Barnard’s sociable chef’s table. “Think of sitting round a table with your friends cooking in front of you, chatting and explaining what they’re doing. When you’ve finished your 6 or 12 courses, you will have spoken to most of the guests at the same sitting as you (15 maximum)”. There’s a separate cellar bar and dining room. The spin-off restaurant-with-rooms in Henley closed down just as we went to press.

“A joy to eat there and service is lovely!” – Frederic Desmette’s cosy, beamed house on the village green only attracts a small volume of feedback this year, but it remains positive for his Belgian cuisine and well-kept cellar.

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.

“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.

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”.

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.

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.

An “absolute favourite pub” – this “lovely spot” in a wooded valley just north of London is a “good local standby” that “is very popular at weekends, when booking is advisable”. “We would go back, less for the food perhaps, but certainly for the location and ambience”.

“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.

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”.

“Really good Thai cooking” inspires high ratings and positive feedback for this simple local fixture. “It’s a bit cramped when it’s full, but the take-home is good”.

A fixture of Old Amersham for more than 30 years, this bistro from Michael Gilbey of the gin dynasty is a “fab example of old-school dining” – quite literally, given that the seventeenth-century premises were originally part of Dr Challoner’s Grammar School. Even long-time fans, though, have begun to grumble that “having been a favourite for years, it has become more ordinary – not bad but no longer worth a journey”. There’s a sister branch in Eton.

2022 Review: The Grocer at 91 pivoted to being a food shop during the pandemic and all the eating now happens at this intimate sibling café, whose 24 covers are expanded by three tables outside, and where the mostly vegan menu spans satisfying, well-priced salads, toasties and locally made cakes. Their Gerrards Cross branch is now under new management, operating as Huddle.