Gloucestershire Restaurant Guide

“On our foodie tour of the area’s culinary heavy hitters (four in four nights) Lumière was by far the best in every way! – the food itself, the artistry and invention of the cooking, the front of house…!” Jon & Helen Howe’s small (just 24 covers) venture “benefits from a feeling of intimacy and calm” and scored the top ratings in town last year. Jon Howe’s food is “out of this world” with “some very good flavour combinations, some very clever and precise cooking” – all “without pretentious twiddles”. Dishes are delivered by the “serene and endlessly helpful Helen in charge of a small team” and “you are made to feel your dining experience is uppermost in their minds rather than your visit being an opportunity for them to ‘showcase’”. “We liked it so much that we went back to Cheltenham just to eat there again!”

2018 Review: “Romantically located behind the main road” down an alleyway, this cosy town-centre bistro is “part of the adjacent family butchers” – “meat dishes are king” but all the locally sourced fare here is consistently highly rated.

A “charming, lovely and well-run village pub” that “has had its ups and downs, but seems to be on an ‘up’ at the moment”; and serving an “interesting but not over-ambitious menu”.

2018 Review: Fine old Cotswolds coaching inn with attractive courtyard in the heart of this chocolate box town; it doesn’t aim for culinary fireworks but serves “good, solid pub grub” in its restaurant and ‘Snug Bar’.

“Never fails to impress with its superb cuisine and overall experience” say fans of this well-known, picture-book Cotswolds mansion (under the same owners as The Feathers in Woodstock), where reports last year were more consistently upbeat than in recent times. In April 2019 (rather late-in-the-day for survey feedback), the hotel changed its offer – simplifying the menu in the long-established main dining room – and launching a new dining space, ‘Atrium’, with a £95, eight-course tasting menu from chef Charles Smith. In the circumstances, it seems best to suspend a full rating till next year.

“Clever, well-imagined” and “delicately spiced food, unlike any normal Indian restaurant” distinguishes this “superb” venue, named after the Skanskrit for ‘Mother Earth’. Opened in 2012, it has now moved house into a “much more elegant setting” opposite Pittville Park. Top Tip: “a relative bargain for lunch”.

2017 Review: In an attractive Cotswold stone building, this “stylish” hilltop venue – a gastroboozer with “very comfortable” rooms – makes a “great place for a romantic meal or night out” thanks to its “consistently good food”.