Newcastle Upon Tyne Restaurant Guide

This Art Deco (1938) landmark (incorporating Newcastle's only surviving indie cinema) closed for much of the COVID-19 pandemic and started a phased reopening in August 2021. The coffee rooms are in the final phase following a new floor and refurbishment of furnishings throughout the building.

A Tyneside fixture for 26 years, Roberto & Walter Pani’s popular venue serves “real Italian dishes” – including a number of Sardinian specialities. It was marketed for sale in May 2021, but is still operating under the Pani brothers’ management.

“Top quality in all respects” – Terry Laybourne’s “reference point bistro” has often been acclaimed as “the best restaurant in the city” over many years and certainly remains its most commented-on since it first opened in 1988. “It’s buzzy, vibrant, modern and the food is slick and poised”. “Just the job for a meal, before walking across the millennium bridge to the Sage”.

“Atmospheric” venue – a thirteenth-century friary’s rectory – that claims to be the UK’s oldest dining room, and which serves “good local food” from a bistro/brasserie-style menu.

Newly crowned Best Local Restaurant – Northern England by the GFG, MasterChef: The Professionals finalist John Calton’s bistro-style second outpost (following North Shields gastroboozer Staith House, now RIP) is “fabulous” by absolutely all accounts. The small-plate menu features “wonderful”, globally accented dishes while “staff are knowledgeable and passionate about the food and wine they are selling”.

On the Quayside, this location “has had several reinventions since the old days of 21 Queen Street and is a very worthy successor”. There’s a capable set menu, or you can push the boat out and have a five-course or seven-course tasting menu, all at very affordable prices. “I like the location, the decor, the food and the overall experience!”

A collaboration between local luminary Terry Laybourne's 21 Hospitality Group and Live Theatre, a new writing theatre based nearby, this proper old-school ale-house isn’t aiming for the skies, but it does what it does – well-kept beer and bar food – very well indeed; a further boon – “the new outdoor terrace makes it even better!”.

Some of the “best-quality Indian” food in Newcastle is to be found at this showcase of vegan cuisine from the south-eastern state of Tamil Nadu, which graduated from pop-up to permanent status four years ago. Top Tip: the “Sunday lunch taster menu is a good-value introduction to the wide range of South Indian dishes available here”.

“This alone is worth the journey to Newcastle”: this acclaimed venue – arguably the foremost in the city – occupies a former merchant’s townhouse on the Quayside, and is run by Kenny & Abbie Atkinson; the lunchtime and evening tasting menus (£85/£110) are “fabulous” by all accounts, with equally “lovely ambience and service”. Stop Press – in October 2021, the duo were set to launch Solstice, a seven-table sister restaurant for intimate fine dining on the site of their former Violets bistro.

“Very good” reports again on this restaurant that’s part of the container village under the iconic Tyne Bridge, run by the ‘By The River Brew Co’. There’s also a covered terrace and outdoor market. Grills over open fire are at the heart of the menu, and there are many exotic local brews to wash down the food.

Consistently inconsistent ratings on the food front were echoed again this year (reports ranging from “quite ordinary” and “pricey” to “very good”), but by common consent the “amazing views” and “plentiful outdoor seating” make this upscale art gallery restaurant “worth the visit”.

You wouldn’t necessarily expect it from the unassuming façade, but former River Café alum Nick Grieve's “small but adventurous” bistro on the main road through Jesmond turns out some “outstanding quality” food – currently in the format of a six-course, no-choice menu (£59).

“Anna Hedworth’s gem of a restaurant has gone from strength to strength” since moving from its initial location in a shipping container (with a little help from Kickstarter) in 2018. “What a treat” it is, especially on the terrace, where you can enjoy accomplished small plates and an “unusual drinks list, much of it made on the premises” before carting off wares from their deli.

This Punjabi curry house behind Central Station has become a Toon institution over almost 40 years. It has been owned since 2000 by chef Bob Arora, who was a regular customer before taking over.

“Fantastic attention to detail and quality of cooking…”, “friendly and knowledgeable staff…”, “great-value tasting menu…” – recent converts rave about their “new favorite restaurant” at Dave Coulson’s agreeable Jesmond venture, which is nearing its tenth anniversary. Coulson trained under Michel Roux Jr and returned to his hometown to open the restaurant in 2013, mixing classic technique with local ingredients – including some foraged in nearby Jesmond Dene Park.

“Delicious, interesting dishes” inspired by the street food delivered by Mumbai’s ‘dabbawala’ bicycle delivery men, are to be found on the menu at this brightly coloured Jesmond venue with an open kitchen and verandah. It’s a spinoff of the city-centre original.

This Jesmond institution has long attracted queues before opening time for its extensive but uncomplicated menu of pizza, pasta and other Italian classics. It’s the welcoming buzz, the generous portions and very reasonable prices that keep them coming back.

Scant reports – too few for a rating – on this ‘upmarket neighbourhood dining room’ from ex-House of Tides chef Danny Parker, in the venerable Jesmond Dene location once part-owned by Terry Laybourne. In addition to dinner service and Sunday lunch, daily afternoon tea is a feature.