Mitton, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “The quality of the chef is well known and the major attraction” at this timbered country house hotel, helmed by MasterChef: The Professionals winner Mark Stinchcombe; yet while his “excellent” farm-to-fork cuisine generally pleases, service strikes some reporters as “average”: “a tremendous amount of attention has been paid to the design of the cooking school adjacent but seemingly less to what makes a good fine-dining restaurant”.

2021 Review: It’s still early days for Grain Store chef, Mark Block, who took over this celebrated county inn in January 2018. While there’s the odd complaint – of food that’s “competent but has no zing” – the general sense is that, despite the former regime being “quite a tough act to follow, it’s doing nicely under the new ownership”: no longer chasing Michelin stars, but “very much a rural pub with good food”.

“At last! A well-deserved Michelin star” for John and (FOH) Helen Howe’s “small, intimate and sophisticated modern British venture” and its considerable fan club is “absolutely delighted” that it is “finally getting the recognition it deserves” (although, to be fair, the question is what took them so long, as we’ve been raving about this place for many years). “Every element is perfectly crafted” to deliver “sublime cooking and stunning presentation” (with much of the produce sourced from a relative’s farm) all “delightfully served”, combining to make Lumière “as good as it gets” – “just what a perfect restaurant should be”.

2022 Review: Rugby World Cup AND Celebrity MasterChef winner Phil Vickery has opened his own restaurant, with his wife Jules and chef Tom Rains, after a year of running a delivery service, No.3 at Home.

“The rotunda is wonderful”, and “can make a visit stand out” at this branch of the ubiquitous chain, which otherwise conforms to type with “food and service that are professional, reliable and entirely anonymous” – “one could eat the same dish every day and find it unvarying, while being treated politely but distantly by the staff”.

Chef-patron Gareth Fulford’s small indie is a “friendly” location in which to dine upon sustainable seafood and Cotswolds produce – either from the “great set-price lunch”, which changes weekly, or the bi-monthly-changing à la carte. It doesn’t inspire a huge volume of feedback, but fans say it’s an “underrated” restaurant that outperforms the local competition.

2022 Review: In a prime town-centre location, this luxurious hotel (ultimately owned by Superdry founder Julian Dunkerton) is converted from a trio of Georgian townhouses. On limited feedback in this survey, the themes here are the same as in previous years: “attractive setting and good food… but all at a high price”.

“The yardstick against which we compare everything and few, if any, can compete with the quality and value” – an oft-repeated compliment for David & Helen Everitt-Matthias’s long-established temple of foodie pilgrimage (“it is lucky we live 2.5 hours away as if it was closer I doubt we would go anywhere else”). David’s cuisine is “always original, seasonal and well judged and – though carefully presented – avoids the irritating Instagrammability sometimes found elsewhere”. “Helen presides over the room and also the wine with grace” in a manner that’s both “friendly and professional” and the “very good list” is an attraction in itself with “the ample selection of half bottles being a bonus”; and “the cheese basket is a tour de force”. Even devotees concede that “some might find the atmosphere sedate” – a more critical view is that “excellent food and wine is let down by an overly formal approach and lack of ambience” (“the reverential tone is not where we are in 2023!”). Overall, though, the verdict is of a stalwart that’s “serene, calm, well-spaced and good humoured… if there’s a better place to enjoy terrific cooking whilst having a good conversation, I’d like to know about it!”

“Constant high quality both in taste and inventiveness” has been a hallmark of chef-patron Gus Ashenford’s cooking at the “always delightful” small restaurant, a converted Cotswold tea room, he has run with his wife Kate for two decades. His modern British dishes, underpinned by the French classical techniques he learned under his mentor, the late Michel Roux Senior, invariably “look beautiful on the plate”.

2023 Review: A “country house atmosphere”, “excellent service” and “delicious food” win praise from fans of this “beautiful” Cotswolds hotel – owned by greetings card mogul Andrew Brownsword – and it “should please every romantic”. Ratings were dragged down, though, by other reporters who feel that the house is “lovely but tired”, while “the food is good-ish, but certainly could be better”.

James Martin is the latest in the line of c’leb chefs to have his name over the door of the barrel-vaulted dining room of this historic Tudor coaching inn (which accommodated both Charles I and Oliver Cromwell at different times during the Civil War). Iconic Luxury Hotels Group (who run Cliveden and Chewton Glen) have managed the property for some time, and pre-rebrand the feedback continued the downbeat tenor – “such a disappointment…”, “trading on its name and reputation” – of recent decades. Here’s hoping James can bring some of the magic here that’s created in Chewton Glen and that this fine space finally starts to live up to its potential.

This “lovely, chic restaurant in a pretty and historic Worcestershire Cotswold town” offers “a great dining experience” with “some excellent dishes, beautifully served and delightfully prepared”. A new owner, Birmingham-based Roger Dudley, has taken over from Andrew & Gaynor Riley, who ran the property for 18 years, but chef George Santos and his kitchen team have carried on much as before.

“Newly refurbished Cotswolds inn now serving high-end pub food” from Nathan Eades and Liam Goff, formerly of The Wild Rabbit in Kingham. “Definitely one to watch”, its cooking is “delicious, well executed and hearty” and “service charming”.