Haywards Heath Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “High-quality ingredients are cooked well and provided by welcoming staff” at this West Sussex gastropub, run for six years by the family team of Mark Dennis, a food-loving former accountant, and his son Simon, a professional chef.

Chef Steve Crane’s “excellent food” has been a feature of this “delightful” Elizabethan country-house spa-hotel for 23 years. Some reporters see it as very much an “old school, ladies who lunch, white tablecloths” venue – “no fireworks, just a decent meal in a quiet, refined setting”.

In the “dream location” of this sleepy but charming West Sussex hamlet, Matt Gillan’s “romantic” restaurant-with-rooms “continues to be a strong all-rounder” offering a “very convivial and relaxing experience” (especially if you opt for the “brilliant tasting menus”). Add in “superbly decorated bedrooms” and “breakfast – the icing on the cake”.

2021 Review: This “delightful pub with an excellent garden” on the edge of Ashdown Forest wins solid ratings for an inviting menu of locally sourced dishes. A family-run freehouse, it also has a strong list of local beers, wines and ciders.

“Family friendly and lively” Sussex pub-with-rooms that was taken over by the national Young’s chain in 2022, after over four decades under the Pullan family. There is the odd grumble about the switch, but most reports remain positive and its “lovely terrace” in particular continues to win approval.

This “great country pub” – a free house dating from the sixteenth century – benefits from inglenook fireplaces and beams inside and an inviting garden in the summer, and offers some “delicious” grub. It makes an “excellent stop when touring the local gardens”.

“Truly beautiful and with superb food” – “the gracious room with stunning gardens beyond (including a unique walled kitchen garden) help make for a very special experience” at this “fabulous location” – an Elizabethan country house deep in the Sussex countryside (whose grounds were laid out in the 1880s by its then-owner, a famous landscape gardener). A hotel since 1958, it was relaunched in 2018 with a new “brilliantly architecturally conceived modern dining room” – a “light and airy space” whose “gorgeous views” mean “you actually feel it’s part of the outside”. And – having largely sunk from view in terms of gastronomy – nowadays its “quietly impressive” performance under chef George Blogg is establishing itself as one of the top 10 most commented-on destinations outside the capital in our annual diners’ poll. He “has significantly upped the kitchen’s game, with a three-course menu, perfectly prepared and exquisitely presented, incorporating wonderfully fresh herbs and vegetables” backed up by a heavyweight wine list. Top Tip – stay the night and “breakfast is every bit as good as dinner!”

2022 Review: “The hype is all true!” – “The most extraordinary selection of stunningly presented South African-influenced dishes” inspires a huge thumbs-up for Jean Delport’s cuisine at this “memorable” destination. It is set in “staggering grounds, too” – “sitting in the lovely Leonardslee Gardens, just outside Horsham”.

This pioneer of the open kitchen concept (launched in 2008) is nowadays in the hands of chef Ben Wilkinson. Despite its renown in foodie circles, it achieved relatively little feedback in our annual diners’ poll, hence we’ve left it unrated. But such reports as we did receive were ecstatic, and the AA have awarded the place an un-scruffy three stars.

With its “beautiful setting nestling under the South Downs” and “inventive, superbly presented dishes,” this “lovely thatched country pub” from Brighton’s Gingerman group is “well worth the trip inland from the coast”. The wine list is strong on local Sussex wines.

“The Dead Hippy burger is a dirty, dirty legend” – the best-named burger on British menus and “if not the easiest burger to eat definitely the tastiest” (especially when chased down by a boozy “hard shake”) – at the “cool” chain founded 15 years ago by Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis. The expansion of recent years seems to have ground to a halt with the closure of branches in Boxpark Croydon and Clapham Old Town, with a new strategy based around boosting sales via a national network of delivery kitchens launched in 2023. Top Tip – “root beer is available if you want a bit of real Americana!”

2023 Review: Isaac Bartlett-Copeland’s ambitious and ultra-local operation in Brighton’s boho North Laine is “so original and never the same twice”, with its ‘taste of Sussex’ menus and an all-English list of wines. The “NYC vibe” goes too far for some tastes (“well-meaning front of house told us everything, and I mean absolutely everything, about every dish…”)

2023 Review: Decked out with neon lights, graffiti, sugar skulls and vivid flowers, this ten-year-old cantina has also spawned a (larger) Hove spin-off. Such feedback as we have says its “great value, with really enjoyable food” – more reports please!

This popular Neapolitan-style pizza pie joint (born in 2015) now has three outlets in Brighton and Hove – plus a newer one in King’s Cross; solid ratings, if little in the way of feedback this year, but what there was reported the pizzas “excellent” (they do pizzas of the month, and also run a pizzaiolo competition).

2023 Review: This “little” Victorian boozer on a North Laine corner is “a bit away from the centre but not far from the station, so perfect when arriving at lunchtime” – “the menu’s not massive, which is usually a good sign, and you’ll find Sunday roast, fish ’n’ chips, and classic pub dishes”.