Evesham, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “unpretentious but good restaurant” serves “outstanding food for the price – much cheaper than establishments where the food is nowhere near as good”; “service is very friendly and correct”, too – which indicates that a change of ownership a couple of years back has failed to dent a consistent performance stretching back over two decades. The premises was originally the workshop of furniture designer George Russell, remembered in the name. Top Tip – “great fish ’n’ chips are found at the rear of the main restaurant” (under the same ownership).

“Delicious, innovative food served in an intimate setting” has been the draw at chef Gus Ashenford and his wife Kate’s former Cotswold village tearoom for 22 years. The cooking is rooted in the classical French cuisine of Gus’s mentor, the late Michel Roux senior, but the ratings were dragged down this year by a reporter who felt “the food is interesting and individual, but not as exceptional as my last visit some years ago”.

“Good food and beer in an excellent, welcoming atmosphere – what more can an Englishman/woman want?” ask admirers of this classic village inn on the northern fringes of the Cotswolds. “An overnight stay with excellent dinner and breakfast to be recommended – but it needs booking in advance”.

“Only the view can recommend it” – is the charge rather too frequently laid against what should be the ideal pre-theatre refuelling spot for visitors to the RSC. “It has stunning views over the river and park, so what’s not to like? Almost everything in fact!” according to its detractors – “we’ve been frequent visitors over the years and every time we go we hope it has improved, but sadly it never does” – “the food is average, the staff ill-informed about the menu”. Fans are a bit more optimistic: “a lovely setting for food that’s fine, if a little unexciting”.

Wild food chef and hunter-gatherer Mike Robinson is behind this “regular favourite” in a Grade II-listed building dating back to 1500 (and now host to the Indigo hotel chain). Reporters “love the excellent offering of game – particularly venison” (they manage their own deer herds and have a deer larder in the Cotswolds) and “everything is delicious” (“there’s an à la carte, thank god”) and given that they’re “cooking with flame” there’s also “plenty to watch”.

John & Helen Howe’s “small dining room” just “gets better and better” and is nowadays the most highly rated restaurant in the area in our annual diners’ poll. “Inspired cooking with accuracy and precision, and with an ability to produce some unlikely but amazing combinations” with “intense individual flavours” characterises the glowing feedback we receive on the “sublime, seasonal tasting menus showcasing many of their home-grown vegetables and herbs plus wine flights and a well chosen wine list”. (“A great feature is the tablet on each table which allows diners to gain further information about the various courses”). “The atmosphere is calm, friendly and welcoming” and “the small team provides a warm welcome”. It accounts for many of our reporters’ best meal of the year, and though pricey, no-one begrudges the cost: “just wish we lived closer as visits involve an overnight stay in Cheltenham… but it’s most definitely worth it”.

Just off the high street, this “understated” indie from Gareth Fulford pairs sustainably caught seafood with top Cotswolds produce. In addition to their excellent-value set lunches, tasting menus and bi-monthly-changing à la carte, they’ve “just started doing a once-a-month small- plates evening” showcasing British seafood, and the results are “very tasty and enjoyable”.

This “beautiful” honey-coloured Cotswolds country hotel with grand gardens dates back to 1649 and is a regular fixture on round-ups of romantic UK getaways. On the food front, there are two options: fine-diner Atrium, offering a “flawless” tasting menu (one sitting only at 18.45), and more casual spot The Dining Room, where reporters “could not fault the quality of the food” (and where, profiting from the hotel’s canine-friendly ethos, you can “eat with our dog at dinner and breakfast”).

“Champignon never fails to deliver outstanding cooking and amazingly good value” and “it is remarkable how such high standards have been maintained over such a long time” – that’s the unanimous verdict this year in the good number of reports on this famous foodie Mecca: a traditional temple of gastronomy run by David & Helen Everitt-Matthias since 1987, which famously closes whenever David cannot be at the stoves. The cooking continues to be truly accomplished and shouts out the personality of the chef: qualities which remain exactly the same as those which guests have experienced for decades. Each year, reporters say that “this remains the standard to which I compare other places” – the cooking is “always original, seasonal, well judged, and carefully presented (whilst avoiding the irritating Instagrammability sometimes found elsewhere)”. “Service is both friendly and professional, and Helen presides over the room and the wine with grace”. There is a notably strong wine list and also an “amazing cheese selection”. Even fans note that “some might find the room sedate”, while adding: “I’d prefer to say serene; tables are well-spaced and the atmosphere is calm and good-humoured. If there is a better place to enjoy terrific cooking whilst having a good conversation, I’d like to know about it!”

“The cooking is really excellent here” – “the best I have ever had in a pub” – says a Putney-based fan of this Cotswolds inn from former Simpsons head chef Nathan Eades and Liam Goff. “The decor could do with a bit of money, but at least the focus is on good food and pleasant local service” – “and it isn’t yet full of Londoners like us, despite Giles Coren’s efforts!” Top Menu Tips – “the amazing celeriac pie” and the “ham hock for two”.