Mayford, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

The second link in the growing Brucan Pubs group, set up by James Lyon Shaw and Jamie Dobbin, who met during their days at the famous Ivy. By all accounts the three-year-old venture is “surprisingly good for a somewhat unprepossessing area”, and with “good-value set menus” to boot. Top Menu Tip – “in my experience the best dishes are the slow-cooked ones”.

This smart gastroboozer is “a jolly nice place to go, whether à deux, or as a large group”; its “outstanding” British menu sets the local “benchmark for fish ’n’ chips” and “the fact that it is always busy says it all (even we, as regulars, who always book way in advance, sometimes cannot get our first-choice table!”).

“The view is unbeatable” (and what it overlooks is incorporated into the name) of this highly rated link in Richard Caring’s national chain; as for the rest, you can expect the usual “pretty” decor and a “decent menu selection” (“including healthy choices that don’t feel like a sacrifice”); “it isn’t cheap though, so save it for an occasion”.

2021 Review: “Upmarket pub” with a dozen bedrooms, handy for Ascot Racecourse, which was taken over by new owners (Barons Pub Company) in late 2018. Not all reporters are happy with the new ownership, but upbeat feedback praises its “well-rounded menu, relaxed style and pleasant service”. Reflecting the up-and-down reports, we’ve left a rating till the next Diners Poll.

2021 Review: FKA ‘The Manor at Foxhills’: this “beautiful” dining room of a top golf course – set in an impressive Victorian manor house – “has been refurbished, with no carpets or window furnishings so it’s noisier than it used to be”. Too little feedback as yet from which to rate this new, more modern guise, but prices are not punishing and there is a menu for ‘Young Adults’. A traditional afternoon tea in the adjoining plush lounge is still an option.

2023 Review: “Good solid food” and a “large outdoor space for eating” makes this country pub a handy refuelling spot for visitors to the RHS gardens at nearby Wisley.

“Set in a delightful village” in the Surrey Hills, this 17th-century red-brick cottage now houses a “delightful restaurant” where the “mild Moroccan influence on modern British food makes for a superb dining experience” (“I live in London and go specially”). “The staff cannot do enough to make your meal enjoyable – and that includes the charming owner”, Jack Forrest Foster.

“Steve Smith hits all the right notes” in this opulent dining room: “a real treat that’s expensive but worth it”. “While the hotel may feel a bit big and corporate, The Latymer just feels special. From the moment you walk in, to the time you leave. Each course is craft-fully mapped out with little cards explaining what it is and where it originated from”. On all accounts this year, its six-course menu – for which you should allow three hours – delivers an “outstanding” experience for £175 per person.

From a growing popular chain of ‘no membership’ clubs, this comfortable venue has a bar, lounge, orangery and terrace, along with “fun” all-weather igloos on the roof, in which to graze on a pretty standard all-day menu of Italian-inspired dishes, including pizza and pasta. Not a culinary fave rave, but handy for many occasions.

The Rarebreed Dining Group’s boozer is far from your regular beast: the in-house butchery and smokery turns out “excellent” meaty cuts including chateaubriand, t-bone or sous-vide sirloin; in August they also run an outdoor cinema if you’d like some celluloid after your steak.

“An amazing new dining room! The experience from start to finish is personal, thought provoking and the cooking is inspired. a true destination!” – so say fans of the revamp of the “well appointed” flagship dining room at this Dorchester Collection property, where a new contemporary look has brought the decor much more into line with the quality of chef Adam Smith’s cuisine. Reports acclaim both its “exceptional food and dining experience on a consistent basis”. You choose from a five-course menu for £145 per person.

The intimate, seven-table dining room at this grand manor-house hotel features a tapestried wall and spectacular Tudor fireplace, making it an ideal showcase for ambitious and refined classical meals from chef Alex Payne, who grew up a mile away in Egham and trained under Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay. The hotel also serves smart afternoon teas in the Anne Boleyn drawing room and relaxed meals in the Estate Grill, with an impressive vaulted ceiling.

2023 Review: “The best by far in the locality” – with “upmarket pub food that puts many expensive restaurants to shame” – this “buzzing” gastroboozer is “always excellent, whether you want a quick lunch or are celebrating a special occasion”. Top Tip – “walk there along the towpath on a sunny summer evening”.

Ex-Core chef Steven Ellis & pastry-chef wife Ami’s “temple-of-gastronomy-wolf in a comfy-pub-sheep’s clothing” launched two years back and it has a particular focus on local game. The “highly distinctive and skilfully crafted cuisine” (with “venison to the fore”) plus “attentive and courteous service” place it “at the top gastropub level”. NB – while “parking is potentially tricky, one could enjoy a delightful walk in Windsor Great Park before or after a meal here”.

2021 Review: “Good Italian food in the Surrey Hills” is to be found in this substantial village pub, now operated by an Italian team that ran restaurants in Guildford for three decades. The bar menu of pizzas and pasta is complemented by a more formal menu in the restaurant.

“A great addition to the local Oxshott/Cobham area” – this smartly converted pub in the heart of the plush commuter belt from chef Matt Larcombe and front-of-house Simon King is universally applauded for standards that are a cut above in all respects. But even fans note that “while superb, it’s definitely on the pricey side”, to the extent some consider it “expensive for what it is”. Top Menu Tip – “good and varied wine list”, with one or two trophy vintages (at well over £1,000 per bottle).

2021 Review: A refurbishment/relaunch a few years ago added to the charms of this good all-round boozer, handy pre- or post catching the nags at Sandown Park, whose food was consistently well-rated last year.

Food TV staple José Pizarro’s first outfit outside the capital – and first gastroboozer (with rooms) – is set in “a not-completely-obvious location” in the Surrey ‘burbs. Reviews were slightly muted this year: while most praised the “great modern Spanish food” (including “fabulous tapas”), others noted a lack of atmosphere (“wouldn’t be hard to make it feel a bit more intimate”).

“A stunning tasting menu where every course offers a unique experience” wins nothing but praise this year for Adam Handling’s out-of-town operation, in a “charming converted pub in Old Windsor”, acclaimed for the “same high-quality, creative cuisine as his other ‘Frog’ restaurants” (“my favourite was brill with hispi cabbage and lobster bisque emulsion!”). There are a number of menus including an à la carte selection and one dedicated to Sunday lunch; and “at £65 per head for six courses it’s tasting menu is great value” too. In September 2023, it was crowned ‘Dining Pub of the Year’ in the Great British Pub Awards.