Funtington Restaurant Guide

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’.

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.

“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.

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.

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).

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?