Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Old Burghclere
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Old Burghclere restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 11 restaurants in Old Burghclere and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Old Burghclere restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Old Burghclere Restaurants
1. The Vineyard at Stockcross
British, Modern restaurant in Stockcross
To say it has “an exceptional wine list” doesn’t quite do justice to the cellar of more than 30,000 bottles at winemarker Sir Peter Michael’s Berkshire passion project – the 49-room five-star property that he opened in 1998 and which celebrates its 25th year of operation this year. All rooms (both bedrooms and public spaces) are named after famous vintages and reference his family’s vineyards in Sonoma County and the Napa Valley. Chef Tom Scade’s cuisine has its work cut out to compete but is consistently well-rated in all reports. New this year: the addition of a summer pavilion dedicated to seafood – Catch.
2. Three Tuns Freehouse
British, Modern restaurant in Great Bedwyn
High St - SN8
2021 Review: “A super pub and family destination, with good food” – James Wilsey’s sizeable operation, with beer garden, has a beautiful rural location and is consistently well-rated.
3. George & Dragon
British, Traditional restaurant in Hurstbourne Tarrant
The Square - SP11
2021 Review: A “high-quality gastropub (with rooms) not too far from Andover”, winning increasingly favourable reports for its “interesting food, varied flavours and unusual takes on traditional fare”. Add in “obliging service and not too outrageously expensive” prices.
4. The Woodspeen
British, Modern restaurant in Newbury
Lambourn Rd - RG20
“I was expecting rather standard Home Counties fare, but instead I found delicious cooking and charming service all in an attractive barn-style setting”: this successful ten-year-old – a restored ‘run-down pub’ in West Berkshire countryside – boasts a “very lovely”, high-ceilinged contemporary dining extension and has become one of the most commented-on restaurants in our annual diners’ poll. Run by Alastair Storey (a top catering CEO), reporters are “delighted and frankly a bit surprised by the excellence of the experience” and – unusually for a rural venue – its “ambience and level of quiet formality make it a place in which you’d be happy to do business”. Its scores slipped a fraction this year though, on the back of some incidents of “mechanical” service (“in the old-style, fancy-restaurant way)” or the odd “ordinary” meal (“we have had better here”).
5. The Wellington Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Baughurst
Baughurst Rd - RG26
“Every village should have one” – a “really pretty pub (with rooms) and a beautiful garden” in the “lovely” setting of the Wellington Estate. Chef Jason King does not trade on its location, as his elevated pub-style classics (featuring produce plucked from the garden) are “imaginative” and “cooked to perfection” too. Top Tip – they sell their own bread and gin over the bar.
6. Eliane of Hungerford
International restaurant in Hungerford
24 High Street - RG17
2021 Review: “Really healthy food” (be it gluten-free, veggie, vegan or even more specific – think raw vegan) is the calling card of this bright “cafeteria-style” outfit, which spawned a Sunningdale spin-off in 2017.
7. The Pot Kiln
Game restaurant in Frilsham
Yattendon Estate - RG18
Kate Middleton’s favourite pub, apparently (Raymond Blanc is a fan too) is this rural inn deep in the Berkshire countryside, where noise from the nearby M4 doesn’t impinge on its tranquility. Much-expanded in recent years with the addition of a cookery school, it’s nowadays run by Kate Robinson and her partner, musician Rocky Rockliff (Kate’s ex-husband, game expert Mike Robinson, is no longer involved). Though still popular with our reporters too, there’s a feeling that “the menu has been scaled back in recent times” with meals that are increasingly “good but not special”.
8. The Palm
Indian restaurant in Froxfield
Bath Rd - SN8
2021 Review: It might not look like much from the road – an out-of-town bathroom showroom might be on the mark – and the location on the A4 doesn’t help, but brave the underwhelming façade of this outfit and you’ll find a “swanky” restaurant turning out “inventive Indian cuisine”.
9. The Hare & Hounds
British, Modern restaurant in Newbury
Bath Road, Speen - RG14
2023 Review: After months of restoration, this 17th century Georgian building near Newbury re-opened in January 2022 and now boasts a traditional pub, very attractive pitched-roof dining room in contemporary style and 30-bed coaching inn, as well as a covered garden terrace. No feedback as yet in our annual diners’ poll – reports please!
10. The Crown INN
British, Modern restaurant in Andover
-Upton - SP11
2023 Review: “Always reliable, serving exceptional food for a village pub”, say fans of Dave Watts’s rural inn, where classic pub dishes jostle on the menu with somewhat more ambitious fare. Top Tip – “the plat du jour is unbelievable value!”
11. The Great Shefford
British, Modern restaurant in Great Shefford
Newbury Road - RG17
2023 Review: Complete with a riverside terrace, this privately owned pub near Newbury receives a good rep in our annual diners’ poll for its 40-seat dining room overlooking the river Lambourn, where chef Sam Cary aims to deliver ‘refined modern British pub food’. In an April 2022 visit, Tatler’s Fay Maschler declared it “a rare jewel of a country pub” offering “everything you want a welcome to be”.
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