Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Cambridgeshire
Hardens guides have spent 29 years compiling reviews of the best Cambridgeshire restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 142 restaurants in Cambridgeshire and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Cambridgeshire restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Cambridgeshire Restaurants
1. Restaurant Twenty Two
British, Modern restaurant in Cambridge
22 Chesterton Road - CB4
A “top foodie spot in Cambridge” that’s going places – in early 2018, Gordon Ramsay protégé Sam Carter and his wife Alexandra (FOH) took over this long-established Victorian townhouse restaurant on the fringes of the town centre, and the “new chef has revitalised the site” to the extent one or two local foodies prefer it to nearby Midsummer House. Even those who poke fun at its “modish rough, scratchy, plates” say its “fabulous and imaginative, local and seasonal set menu” (from three to seven courses as well as the à la carte) is “excellent and comes at a good price”.
2. Pint Shop
British, Modern restaurant in Cambridge
10 Peas Hill - CB2
“Tasty, simple, British bistro fare” washed down by a “great selection of craft beers” plus a “brilliant range of gins” is the formula at this “great traditional pub with a twist”, launched five years ago. There’s a second branch in Birmingham, but a spinoff in Oxford closed down.
3. House of Feasts
International restaurant in Eye Green
41 Crowland Road - PE6
“A very decent addition to the scene in Peterborough” – Damian Wawrzyniak’s two-year-old venture in a village a short drive outside the city specialises in modern Polish cuisine, which you can enjoy either via the à la crate menu or a ten-course tasting menu.
4. The Three Hills, Bartlow
British, Modern restaurant in Barlow
Dean Road - CB21
“Smart gastropub” – twenty minutes drive from Cambridge – a seventeenth century building extensively refurbished in late 2017 and with six bedrooms: “good food, with nice combinations and they do a great – and I mean great! – Sunday lunch” (“the black treacle roasted beef is an especially delicious option”). A gripe? – “staff are pleasant and friendly” but a couple of reports suggest that “more training is needed”.
5. The Rupert Brooke
British, Modern restaurant in Grantchester
2 Broadway - CB3
Historic Grantchester on the edge of Cambridge meets modern and relaxed brasserie-style dining here at The Rupert Brooke. Focusing on the best seasonal, regional produce, we offer lunch, afternoon tea and dinner throughout the week, topped off with our famed Sunday roasts. Sel...
6. Vanderlyle
restaurant in Cambridge
38 Mill Road - CB1
In April 2019, former MasterChef finalist Alex Rushmer, who closed his Cambridge restaurant Hole in the Wall in 2017, took over a former Subway shop a little outside the city centre, with his former sous chef, Lawrence Butler. Focusing on local, ethical food, it offers a fixed five-course vegetarian menu which changes daily and features a chef’s table where diners sit at a countertop pass for four with views over the open kitchen. Its fanclub is still small as things stand but couldn’t rate it more highly, saying its “very inventive non-meat cuisine” is “well-sourced and just perfect”. Don’t plan on dropping in though: bookings are released on the first Thursday of the month, two months in advance!
7. Midsummer House
British, Modern restaurant in Cambridge
Midsummer Common - CB4
“Amazing… every time” is still the most typical assessment of this acclaimed Victorian villa – one of the UK’s most renowned eateries – which is very picturesquely situated across the Cam from the Varsity’s boat houses and bordering Midsummer Common. Daniel Clifford and his team deliver “a superb overall dining experience: the number and quality of amuse-bouches, the sourdough bread, each individual course… the service… all of the highest order”. Even many fans feel that the “exuberant bill is hard to justify”, however, and to its critics the “staggering costs” are plain OTT, with toppish wine prices a particular gripe (“some more reasonable ‘house’ options would be welcome”).
8. Old Fire Engine House
British, Traditional restaurant in Ely
25 St Mary’s St - CB7
“Beautiful home-cooked food” has been on the menu of this real “long-time favourite” since 1968, when owner Ann Jarman opened an “informal” restaurant and art gallery with two friends in this Georgian house with a large walled garden near the cathedral. (“A diner at a table nearby had ham, jacket potato and salad. The ham looked to be real ham, and he was offered more meat if he wanted it. My husband had an amazing bakewell tart, with very light pastry and a lovely almond flavour”).
9. Old Bridge Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Huntingdon
1 High St - PE29
“The food is fine, though perhaps not exceptional”, at this “very professional hotel restaurant”, but “the wine list is incredible” – “selected by proprietor John Hoskins, Master of Wine”, who also runs the in-house vintner’s: there are “some real gems at very fair prices”, along with “a remarkable number of lovely and interesting wines by the glass”.
10. White Pheasant
British, Traditional restaurant in Fordham
21 Market St - CB7
“Modern cuisine using local seasonal produce” wins plaudits for chef-owner Calvin Holland at this upscale village pub. “Surprising and innovative” dishes from the tasting menu sit alongside “simple steak and fish dishes for more traditional diners”. “A recent refurb has created a relaxed seating area where you can enjoy a drink before and after eating”.
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Top Cambridgeshire Restaurants
These are the top restaurants in Cambridgeshire based on reviews by Hardens users.
Vanderlyle
Restaurant Twenty Two
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Old Fire Engine House
Old Bridge Hotel
White Pheasant
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