Halstead Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Carl & Beth Shillingford operate out of these converted former stables nowadays (having moved from art venue, The Quay in Sudbury, a few years ago). Food is served from breakfast and then deli-style throughout the day. On certain weekend evenings they bring back the full ‘Shillingford’s’ experience – providing a seasonal menu with many foraged ingredients. Limited but upbeat feedback – “a rustic-feeling place with good, rustic food”.

2024 Review: “An unexpected delight in Sudbury” – a “lovely old house” with beams plays host to Stéphane Chapotot and Alain Jacq’s “excellent French eatery”, long a local light (and veggie-friendly too); post-pandemic, it has fused with the formerly separate café, and now serves “very well-sourced and presented” breakfasts and lunches, plus more gastronomic dinners on Fri/Sat.

Village pub near Sudbury relaunched in 2023 after an arty makeover of the interior, with “excellent, unusual burgers” – “some of the best around” – from a trio of friends who developed their ‘Divine’ burger menu at The Vine in Great Bardfield, Essex. They also serve a Yorkshire pudding ‘wrap’ filled with roast beef and pickles.

“A smartly refurbished inn with dependable, if pricey food and delightful, welcoming staff” – a representative review of this updated pub-with-rooms on the village green: part of the East Anglia-based Chestnut Group.

This “very popular gastropub/hotel in a pretty village” was taken over and lavishly revamped by new owners a few years ago, and “the conversion of an old building is very well done (down to the super WCs!)”, making it a most “attractive” spot for a meal. Chef Matthew Hurry oversees the French-ish cooking, which ranges from fish Fridays to “outstanding” desserts. Reflecting comments in previous surveys, there was praise this year for the “very reasonably priced set menu – £26 for two courses, £34 for three – considering the quality”.

2023 Review: In the heart of Constable Country, this gastropub with rooms is “a busy venue with a good atmosphere and friendly service”. Foodwise, it’s praised for cooking that’s “outstanding” at the “very reasonable price”; and wine lovers are well-catered for too, with 250 bins (they also run their own merchants).

2024 Review: You “can’t go wrong” at this stalwart off the A12, where a rendered timbered façade gives way to a conservatory and covered patio. For over two decades it has been turning out traditional and consistent cuisine and, as ever, “the Beef Wellington is the pick of the menu”.

“This beautifully-converted pub” (“miles from anywhere in the Essex countryside, but easy to reach”) is “part of the wider Galvin Bros empire” and offers guests “a choice between the best versions of pub classics or excellent fine dining”, to be consumed “in the bar or restaurant” – “the weekly changing Bib Gourmand menu is excellent value”, while “very welcoming service encourages return visits”. Top Menu Tip – “the duo of fillet steak and slow-cooked beef is very good”.

A “beautiful setting” on the banks of the River Stour in the unspoilt heart of Constable Country is the making of this well-known half-timbered venue – these days a spa hotel and restaurant owned by East Anglia’s Milsom Hotels group. As is so often the case here, opinion divides sharply on the merits of its cuisine, with some diners enjoying an “excellent meal” with “noteworthy service”, while others complain of “very average and expensive food” and “service which doesn’t live up to its former excellence”. Local superstar Ed Sheeran made a surprise appearance last summer, singing a three-song acoustic set in a marquee on the lawn at the launch of the Lentonbrook Foundation, a new charity to help children and families in Suffolk.

2024 Review: In a village a short drive outside Chelmsford, this converted sixteenth-century pub has fine countryside views and provides a traditionally comfortable destination, complete with linen tablecloths, candles and cut glass. It wins good all-round feedback (if not a huge volume of reviews) and its modern brasserie fare (with steak, beef Wellington and cote de boeuf to share a highlight) helps it regularly feature in Essex food awards. (Owners Brendan Curran & Justin Mullender are also known for the quality of their put-downs on Tripadvisor!)

2024 Review: This attractive hotel in Constable Country is “a very pleasant place to eat”, owing to its terraced gardens and “good basic bistro food” (“plus it’s always open”, which doesn’t hurt). Service is not always a highpoint though, and can be “slow”.

Surprise! Paul Wendholt announced the closure of his tiny operation ‘in the heart of Colchester town centre in the shadow of a multi storey car park’, only in August to dub 2025 ‘The Year of the U-Turn’ with reopening announced in September. The format is little-changed: there’s a full seven-course tasting menu for £90 per person, with a short one for £65 available all week except Saturday evenings. Our diners will be pleased: they say, “this restaurant has had a consistently high standard since it first opened in 2016 as Grain. Their tasting menu is delicious from course to course with lovely combinations of flavours. Service is friendly and knowledgeable”.