Littlewick Green Restaurant Guide

“Very much a local gem” – “Dom Chapman’s pub/restaurant remains a most attractive and well-run establishment”, with a “cosy and inviting interior”, “friendly staff” and a “great-value set menu if you want to save some money as well”. Ratings have slipped a notch on reports of some “pedestrian and inconsistent” dishes, but the broader message is of a “great local”.

2022 Review: This ultra-stylish boutique hotel reopened in late 2016 after a multi-million-pound, two-year renovation. Its “lovely food choices” run the whole gamut from Japanese dishes through to sourdough pizzas, and a large garden contributes to what's “an ideal spot on the way to Henley”.

“So pleased we went… the food, service and table decor was excellent and we look forward to going again” – this traditional pub on the village green parted ways with Dominic Chapman in 2023 and its nowadays run as part of a growing genre of UK establishments as an Indian-in-a-pub, serving fish ’n’ chips with curry sauce, chicken tikka burger… and on Sunday it’s tandoori chicken roast.

“It has to be done… and at the price it’s possibly a never-to-be-repeated experience… but what an experience – theatrical, magical AND delicious!” – Heston Blumenthal’s famously wacky temple of weird molecular gastronomy is entering its 30th year, and most reports say it’s “still an unforgettable and amazingly inventive experience”. Perhaps sensitive to the odd accusation that it can “feel a bit dated and a bit behind the likes of Core, The Ledbury and Row on 5” nowadays the rate of innovation has stepped up this year. A cheaper à la carte option has been reintroduced after an absence of many years (three courses for £255 per person); and there’s now ‘Mindful’ and ‘Journey’ menus (including iconic dishes of the last 30 years) for £275 and £350 per person respectively. Bad vibes about its cost-levels abated somewhat in this year’s annual diners’ poll – only 1 in 6 now consider it “overpriced”.

Heston’s take on the gastroboozer – a former hunting lodge that the celebrity chef took over in 2004, and is just a short waddle from his more famous and fancier Fat Duck. What it offers is “not really pub food per se”, but rather “reinterpretations of classic dishes” that delve into Britain’s gastronomic history, from ‘Quaking Pudding’, to their signature soft-yolk Scotch egg. The results are still relatively down-to-earth, “supremely tasty” and “remain great value”.

Simon & Deborah Bonwick took over this well-known pub (which boasts a cosy, traditional interior and huge garden) in mid 2025, and its website now dubs it as ‘A cosy pipe and slippers kind of pub’ that’s ‘A Gastronomic Chapel amongst the Culinary Cathedrals here in Bray-on-Thames’. He has been and continues to be involved with a number of other pubs in the Henley / Marlow area, and here aims for ‘highly executed seasonal French cuisine’, with dishes such as ‘Market Fish “Like When in Paris”; and ‘Aged Highland Beef fillet “A La Ficelle” with a Rather Nice Sauce’. Reports please!

“A midsummer evening… drinks on the terrace overlooking the river… memorable” – and especially “great for special occasions”. That’s what the royal family thinks, anyway, about this Thames-side legend: one of few restaurants ever to have hosted them in the public dining area (and also, for private dining, the choice of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as the venue to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary). Opened in 1972, and celebrating its 40th year of holding three Michelin stars in 2025 (first under the late Michel Roux, nowadays run by his son Alain) it is also one of the Top 10 most commented-on restaurants in our annual diners’ poll outside London; and is especially tipped for landmark celebrations with reports this year of successful 60th, 70th and 80th birthdays marked here. You don’t visit the Waterside for the latest in culinary trends – this is essentially “classic and refined” Gallic haute cuisine and “each element is so full of flavour” with “incredible attention to every detail” from a kitchen team headed by Fabrice Uhryn reporting to Alain. Deft, “welcoming and professional” service is intrinsic to its success, nowadays overseen by Frédéric Poulette, who began his working life as a commis waiter here aged 18. If anyone makes a complaint it’s that it’s “good only and overpriced” and that’s what drags ratings into more middle territory this year, not for the first time. For more diners though it’s just a case of “perfect food, done perfectly”. (“We’ve earned our spurs eating at the Fat Duck and Ynyshir in recent years, but the tasting menu at the Waterside was the best meal of my life. I wouldn’t go back to the first two, but I would definitely go back to the Waterside. My wife bought me a voucher for Xmas so we stayed the night along with two friends. The welcome, the rooms, the service, the tasting menu – all agreed it was outstanding. An expensive evening but an experience I will remember for years”.)

“Ridiculous!”. “We’ve been to a lot of Michelin star restaurants, and we know this is a pub and not a tasting menu restaurant, but, sorry, only a limited choice of dishes for each course and very expensive for what they are at that” – typical feedback this year on Tom Kerridge’s famous Thames Valley boozer. Its fame was sealed in 2012 when it became the first pub in the world to be awarded two Michelin Stars, but after a sunny heyday and many years of celebratory reviews, its trajectory in recent times has been of steady decline and this year’s feedback was by far the worst yet. Over half of reporters consider the experience their most overpriced of the year, and – aside from the ludicrous prices – the food itself also takes flak for being “uninspiring” or “too salty”, with expressions like “inedible” and “made me angry” starting to feature in one or two accounts. It’s frankly hard not to conclude that only Tom’s TV celebrity stops the Tyre Men from pulling the gongs here. Perhaps he is aware, as change is afoot with a reallocation of the team – after our annual diners’ poll had concluded, in June 2025, Sarah Hayward was announced as the new head chef here, crowned Michelin Young Chef of the Year in 2023. Top Tip – during the week, there is a ‘Classics’ menu for £95 per person (not available at the weekends, hence higher formula-price shown).

Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan was – as of mid 2025 – rumoured to be on the verge of buying a £1 billion stake in Richard Caring’s restaurant empire, of which this famous brasserie chain is the crown jewel. Presumably, he’s more interested in ‘rolling out’ the brand in The Gulf and beyond rather than dropping by for a Salmon Fishcake and ‘Ivy Chocolate Bombe’, but if he’d asked the opinion of our annual diners’ poll, we’re not sure that he’d sign on the dotted line. “How can a restaurant with this heritage produce such uninspired, tick-box food?” is a question merited by its poor ratings, ditto what explains the “very slow and disinterested service”? The answer may be that “you don’t come here for the food, obviously” but for the “gorgeous” interior design and “picturesque” locations that continue to underpin their appeal. Let’s hope for the Sheikh’s sake that the middle classes of the Arab World are as undiscerning as those from the UK!

“Simply delicious British classics are executed to a high standard” at Tom Kerridge’s relaxed alternative to his famous (and over-pricey) flagship The Hand & Flowers just up the road, and a “very good-value set lunch” (two courses for £20 per person, three for £25 per person) adds to the appeal – no wonder several reporters “prefer it to the H&F”. “Every visit produces something special”, and there’s a “really lovely atmosphere, chatting with the chefs at the counter while watching them at their craft”. Top Tip – these days you can book on the day of your visit, so “book early”.

“The food is always delicious” at this riverside bistro from the Roux family (it was founded by Alain and his late father Michel Roux senior in 2017, on the site of a nightclub famous from the ’20s to the ’60s). The “slick, professional welcome always makes for a very enjoyable experience”, and there’s a “simple but well-thought-out menu” – the table d’hôte option is “actually very reasonable” at three courses for £35 per person. Top Tip – “if you can, grab a table by the huge window where you enjoy a fabulous view of the River Thames”.

“The third Tom Kerridge pub in Marlow” (and far from the best-known), this “exciting” local boozer and butcher’s “took its time to find its feet”, but is now “really buzzy and a true carnivore’s dream”; “okay, it is expensive for supposedly pub food, but it’s not like any normal pub…you select your meat/steak or cut from the butcher’s counter”, as per their ‘Meat Locker’ concept, “sit down with your pint, and wait for it to be brought to you cooked as you ordered it” (namely “in unadorned splendour”, though they do offer fancy sides if you want to pimp things up).

Chef Atul Kochhar is not just one of the UK’s most high-profile Indian chefs, but famous chefs full stop. He opened this modern, appealing dining room in 2020, just one day before the first Covid lockdown (aargh) as part of his empire of outlets across the Home Counties and it consistently inspires highly upbeat feedback (if, fair to say, short on utter rave reviews).

2023 Review: “Good food at a fair price” was reported again this year at this well-regarded pub: part of a local group with siblings in Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield. In good weather you can eat on the terrace, or book an ‘Oak Pod’ which seats up to 6 people, and incorporate a heater.

2023 Review: “Every dish is fresh and authentic” at this comfortable curry house which occupies a half-timbered building on the high street, and which has become well-known over many years for its superior Indian cuisine. Heston is a fan.

2024 Review: This “very old pub in a great location next to Henley Bridge” has been a scenic boozer for yonks, but now comes in a “fabulous new incarnation”, having been taken over by seasoned restaurateurs Matt Dockray and Phil Renner, who relaunched in late 2022. The hugely stylish interior (not least in the vaulted dining room, strewn with trinkets) makes it a “great place for a first date”, and there are positive early reports on the elevated pub classics by head chefs Joshua Wilde and George O’Leary – both previously senior sous-chefs at Tom Kerridge’s Marlow joints The Coach, and The Hand and Flowers.