Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Northwood
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Northwood restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 28 restaurants in Northwood and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Northwood restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Northwood Restaurants
1. Stones
British, Modern restaurant in Matlock
1C Dale Rd - DE4
Kevin Stone (the chef), wife Jade and sister Katie Temple provide “very good cooking and service” at this converted pub, whose glazed dining room, opening onto an outside terrace, makes the most of its “lovely setting” overlooking the River Derwent. Despite the heritage of the building, the menu – with a tasting option – is restaurant-style fare, not pub grub.
2. Nonna’s
Italian restaurant in Chesterfield
131 Chatsworth Road - S40
2022 Review: Limited feedback on this ten-year-old Italian, with a wide-ranging menu, but it’s tipped in particular for its pizza.
3. Jack Rabbits
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Ashbourne
10 Saint John Street - DE6
2022 Review: At the back of The Greenman retail and entertainment complex, this stylishly designed venue – with quirky angled roof and steel-and-glass frontage – is worth knowing about as a useful all-day option.
4. The Fork & Furrow
British, Modern restaurant in Alfreton
The White Hart Inn, Inns Lane, Moorwood Moor - DE55
After undergoing a £50,000 renovation in March 2023, The White Hart Inn restaurant became brand new restaurant concept – The Fork & Furrow.The expertly designed menus offer culinary experiences to surprise the senses, partnering with local suppliers to...
6. Losehill House Hotel & Spa
British, Modern restaurant in Hope Valley
Losehill Lane, Edale Road - S33
Down a lane near the lovely Hope Valley, Paul and Kathryn Roden’s Peak District property has a marvellous setting and wins consistent praise from a loyal fan club for its “beautifully presented” food, and “pleasant” staff. The choice is primarily à la carte, with the evening selection offering three courses for £60 per person.
7. The Tickled Trout
Fish & seafood restaurant in Dronfield
33 Valley Road - S18
2023 Review: ‘Deliciously Derbyshire’ is the motto at this Peak District gastropub – feedback is too limited for a rating, but such as we have gives the thumbs-up to high-quality pub grub, which includes a wide variety of sourdough pizzas.
8. The Bulls Head
British, Modern restaurant in Holymoorside
New Road - S42
Mark Aisthorpe again wins consistent feedback (if not a huge volume of it) for his Peak District pub (the accommodation has five AA stars), where he presides over a kitchen providing a high standard of cooking at very reasonable prices: the five-course lunchtime and early evening menu is £35 and the eight-course option is £80. (There are also à la carte and Sunday lunch options).
9. The Peacock at Rowsley
British, Modern restaurant in Rowsley
Bakewell Rd - DE4
This “old manor house” handy for Chatsworth (and “not to be confused with the Peacock Inn in nearby Bakewell”), may “feel old-fashioned”, but its “great food and interesting menu” (from tasting menus to more “relaxed” options, both taken in the “fine dining room”) make it “a pleasure” by all accounts. Local ingredients (beef and lamb, say) are sourced from the Haddon Estate on which it sits.
10. The Devonshire Arms at Beeley
British, Modern restaurant in Beeley
Devonshire Square - DE4
2022 Review: This “lovely gastropub” on the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth estate gets mostly positive feedback for its “good food and real ales”. There’s sometimes a perception, though, that “it falls short” of its potential: “the cooking was fair, but it could be so nice here”.
11. Piedaniels
French restaurant in Bakewell
Bath St - DE45
“Great-value French cuisine” has drawn guests for more than 25 years to this family-run venture from Eric & Christiana Piedaniel – both career chefs. It makes a “lovely quiet environment for lunch” just 10 minutes’ drive from historic Chatsworth House.
12. The Gallery Restaurant at The Cavendish Hotel
restaurant in Baslow
Church Lane - DE45
This swish country house hotel, in one of the Peak District’s most picturesque villages, is transforming before visitors’ eyes as part of an ongoing, £1.1 million makeover. As we went to press, the more casual ‘Garden Room’ had already been reborn, with chef Adam Harper (ex-of the acclaimed nearby Fischer’s) overseeing a new menu with impeccable local sourcing such as Chatsworth beef; this, the more formal fine diner, will follow suit, but meanwhile won praise this year – well “on its way to a Michelin star” by some accounts. All reports acclaim the “brilliant food and ambience in all areas” and it’s also tipped for afternoon tea.
13. Fischer’s at Baslow Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Baslow
Calver Rd - DE45
This well-known Peak District property has been run by Max & Susan Fischer since 1988 and is currently managed by their son Neil, who is credited in reports with keeping standards at least as high under his parents. Watch this space as there are plans to open a champagne bar on the terrace this summer.
14. The Cricket Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Sheffield
Penny Ln - S17
2022 Review: A collaboration between Sheffield cook Richard Smith, his restaurateur wife Victoria and the award-winning craft brewers Thornbridge; “creative fish dishes” feature alongside meats – all well-singed on the fancy Bertha indoor charcoal oven – and the “great location” (skirting the Peak District) makes it particularly “good for outdoor eating”.
15. The George
British, Modern restaurant in Alstonefield
2023 Review: “The days when this was a pub have long gone: it is an unashamedly ambitious restaurant which charges a full price for some very good cooking” – so say fans of this Peak District gastropub near the Dove Valley, who say “the chef knows what he is doing, and as long as you can afford it this is one of the best places to eat in the Peak District”. William Sitwell of The Telegraph paid it a visit in September 2022 and gave a similar but more nuanced view: the “cooking really is excellent and delicate with clever flavours” and “there is talent and charm by the bucket-load”, but he felt the dishes on the menu were presented and served in tiny portions, and he was encouraged to think of them as tapas. He declared, they “are the most un-tapassy things I’ve ever seen”.
16. The Samuel Fox Country Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Bradwell
Stretfield Rd - S33
2022 Review: “Seriously tasty, excellent-quality food” is on the menu at chef James Duckett’s inn, which has wonderful views over the Hope Valley in the Peak District National Park. His cooking is “very good”, and “the 7-course tasting menu is superb value for money”. “Friendly service and no over-long waits between courses”.
17. Rafters
British, Modern restaurant in Sheffield
220 Oakbrook Rd, Nethergreen - S11
“Tucked away in a leafy suburb in the posh west of the city”, this comfortably appointed 26-seat venue from Tom Lawson & Alastair Myers has a dedicated local fan club. It’s “now entirely focused on set menus, from 4 courses for £65 to the ‘Kitchen Bench’ for £120 – highly priced for round here” but scoring decent ratings or better in all reports.
18. Nonna’s
Italian restaurant in Sheffield
535 - 541 Eccleshall Road - S11
2021 Review: Maurizio Mori’s long-established Italian (est. 1996) has earned its local popularity with “good food that’s consistently authentic” and “staff and an atmosphere that help improve your day”.
19. Simply Thai
Thai restaurant in Buxton
2-3 Cavendish Circus - SK17
2022 Review: “Excellent Thai food full of flavour” (including wallet-friendly set lunches) are the order of the day at this Peak District outfit decorated with traditional carvings and sculptures, and hosting twice-monthly jazz and cocktail nights.
20. The Saracen's Head
British, Modern restaurant in Shirley
Church Lane - DE6
2021 Review: “Really pleasing food”, “very good service” and a “lovely location” have earned plaudits over many years from the locals for Robin Hunter’s Derby Dales village gastropub, which has recently added the Church Lane Deli to its attractions.
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