Emsworth Restaurant Guide

In 2019, locally born chef Gary Pearce and his wife Martyna took over this well-established restaurant-with-rooms right on Emsworth harbour from Ramon & Karen Farthing, who had developed it into one of the South Coast’s better-known dining options over two decades. Gary’s “complex and innovative cooking” – honed in top kitchens including Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham and Belgium’s De Wulf – scored consistently well this year, if on somewhat limited feedback.

“Satisfyingly simple and unpretentious” – the verdict on Lawrence & Julia Murphy’s long-running (est. 2000) and “rustic” venture in a cute, seventeenth-century fisherman’s cottage, on the road down to the quay; the “varied menu” features “plenty of fresh fish, beautifully prepared and served” and coming “at a reasonable price” to boot.

2022 Review: Sailor-turned-entrepreneur Ed Collison set up his popular venue at Emsworth yacht basin at the age of 21 in 2016, serving everything from £4.50 bacon breakfast rolls to a splash-out seafood platter for two at £120 a pop. During lockdown he launched a fleet of silver catering vans, and in November 2021 announced a new branch of the Deck, replacing the Boat House Café, at Gosport marina.

2023 Review: The view (towards Goodwood) from the window is said to have inspired William Blake’s anthem, Jerusalem, in 1803, but the current future is uncertain at this eighteenth-century coaching inn, which shut its doors in early October 2022. We await news of the new incarnation of this vantagepoint over ‘England’s green and pleasant land’.

This 200-year-old local pub at the foot of the South Downs is “well run and popular”, with a “well-executed and great-value menu” of superior gastropub fare.

2022 Review: Current owners The Epicurean Collection – behind a string of boutique pubs and inns – have a hit on their hands with this award-winning venture: a “worthy addition to an area generously supplied with high-quality country pubs”. The rolling South Downs beyond the windows inform much of the “imaginative menu”, with a particular accent on introducing non-shooting folk to game (the latter courtesy of the local Goodwood Estate).

2023 Review: Chef-patron Kevin Bingham has presented his “excellent” ‘global French’ cuisine at this consistent performer near the Southsea seafront for more than a decade – and at restaurant Montparnasse (RIP) before that. The tasting menu goes down well, “with a well-chosen wine flight to complement it”.

This “pleasant” and “airy” bistro on the seafront has shaken up its offering thanks to new head chef Adam Maker, who has introduced small plates and ambitious locally sourced cuisine alongside ongoing fixtures such as the “excellent fish ’n’ chips” and pizzas. Oenophiles are also well served as “in partnership with Camber Wines, there’s plenty of choice for all tastes and budgets” when it comes to the tipples.

2022 Review: “The food is excellent, and you’re made to feel welcome” at this showcase for the produce of the Goodwood Estate, an early convert to organic farming (although Lord March, the Duke of Richmond, is better known as a petrol-head). “They’ve turned the courtyard into a lovely space”, and the highlight of the menu is the ‘butcher’s board’ sharing selection of various meat cuts.

2021 Review: “A definite must-visit” – “an amazing small gastropub next to a beautiful pond”, on the Goodwood Estate, and with a line in “tasty and flavoursome” victuals (including game).

It’s “a little old-fashioned”, but that does little to dent the appeal of Viv Casson’s “lovely” restaurant, a short drive from the Goodwood Estate; the venue celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2023, and whether you go for the Sunday lunch or regular themed dinners, it “delivers on efficiency and solidly good food”.

2022 Review: “Have a lovely walk to work up an appetite” before visiting this laidback brick-walled boozer on the River Meon, handy for the South Downs Way, and with a “very nice little garden down by the brook”. To make sure of enjoying its “great” pubby staples “you need to book – even midweek – as it’s very popular”.

“Situated on the seafront at Bembridge”, on the eastern side of the isle, this early nineteenth century gastropub-with-rooms provides “a nice range of delicious seafood dishes”, including the trademark crab and lobster.

“What a lovely setting” – on a hilltop in the South Downs National Park – for a “very typical ‘Pig’”: Robin Hutson’s well-known litter of shabby-chic hotels (now sold to private equity). At almost two acres, the kitchen garden enables “a good exhibition of farm-to-fork”, although the most critical diners feel “the cooking is not particularly interesting or exciting (possibly because it has been replicated by so many)”. There’s a “great list of Sussex and Kent wines”, soon to be joined by bottles from the estate’s own vines – a ‘Pig’ first – and a herd of South Downs sheep.

Four miles from Chichester, and bordering the South Downs National Park, this 200-year-old pub-with-rooms is part proper boozer (upfront) and part tastefully arty restaurant offering ambitious gastrofare. Reporters this year praised the “warm ambience” and a “treat” of a menu that features some “standout courses” such as scallops and venison.

For “enjoyable gastro-fare in a funky gastro-atmosphere”, there’s plenty to recommend this very attractive and popular pub, whose “interesting” menu focuses on fish and shellfish; the “lovely creek-side setting” is best enjoyed on the terrace, but you can also enjoy the views of Dell Quay Marina from inside.

“In the heart of Chichester”, Nick Sutherland’s “consistently good” and “reasonably priced” restaurant “with conservatory and garden rooms” is “perfect for pre-theatre dining”. It has a “slightly old-fashioned ambience”, as the bow-fronted Georgian premises it occupies previously housed a well-known wine merchant of the same name.

Mayank Gupta (orthopaedic surgeon) and wife Nita (dentist) set up this red-brick venture as a bastion against the dodgy provenance of some UK curry houses – and the “very good” curries (marked by “delicious spicing” and reasonable pricing) have made it a hit. Mayank also runs importer Wines In India, so why not skip the Kingfisher for something more adventurous to wash the food down?

2023 Review: Chef-owner Charlie Bartlett’s “little gem serving lovely food cooked with imagination” is “well worth a trip” – and by some accounts offers “close to the best cooking on the Island”, although not everyone is convinced by “a mishmash of clashing influences in the dishes”.