Leicestershire Restaurant Guide

2018 Review: Jill Townend and Mark Hammond’s “pleasant, welcoming and efficient” gastropub generated all-round positive feedback for its reliable fare and agreeable interior, with attractive modern dining annex.

You “always can depend on excellent vegetarian food” (of a Gujarati bent) at this affordable sweet shop and canteen: a fixture on the Golden Mile since way back in 1976 – though it’s somewhat spruced-up these days, and the menu has taken into account modern healthy-eating trends (sadly the founder, Bhagwanji Lakhani, passed away in 2017).

2018 Review: The Boboli family’s “friendly and unfussy” establishment – a more democratic, English follow-up to their popular Italian, Firenze – is “always a great choice for good fish and seafood” (and at “fair prices” too).

“The food is sublime and the presentation exemplary” at this “exquisite” beamed gastropub, whose considerable charms have, over the past decade and a half, established it as a real foodie haunt. Menu options are numerous: from Sunday lunch to a ten-course grazing option. A collaboration with ‘galerie gARTenhaus’ means there is regularly changing art on display.

2019 Review: “A perfect country pub experience” – Beil & Louise Hitchen’s “lively and welcoming” gastroboozer is “a fine place” that’s “always packed out”. “The food is seasonal, the ingredients local (brilliant game in season – quail, grouse, partridge, venison, pigeon and so much more) and the cooking inventive and beautifully executed”.

“Authentic South Asian cooking at its best” – Kayal has blazed a trail for Keralan cuisine in Leicester “with an excellent choice of dosas, fish and vegetarian dishes and a knowledgeable waiter to talk you through the options”. Top Tip: “amazing business lunch for £6”.

“Everything is cooked well and flavourful” at this modern brasserie in the centre of town. “It may be unfair to label it as cheap ’n’ cheerful, but it’s certainly very good value”.

Restaurant, steak house and bar, "celebrating the very best of British" in an imposing Georgian grade II listed hotel set in parkland; weekend brunch and afternoon tea (not Sunday) a feature.

2018 Review: It’s all change at this swish boutique hotel – a bit of a pioneer when it opened a decade back – with former owner Aatin Anadkat opting to focus solely on the ground-floor restaurant; in August 2017, replacing the fine dining spot of old, he launched this new, more populist Union Jack-strewn concept venue, serving comfort food classics (sausage ’n’ chips, surf ’n’ turf burgers etc.) and, as of yore, superior cocktails.