Slad Restaurant Guide

This “very special pub in the gorgeous Slad Valley” combines “brilliant cooking” with “an olde worlde country feeling” – it was “Laurie Lee’s hangout and he’s buried in the churchyard opposite”. Owned and run for more than 25 years by the sculptor Daniel Chadwick, it offers a “delicious menu that ranges lightly across influences (Modern European? Modern British? Does it even matter?)” – “every single dish, from olives and charcuterie through to a large plate of perfectly cooked lamb with root vegetables is spot-on” (“we overheard a couple saying they’d driven down from Manchester, which was both insane and understandable!”). Top Menu Tip – “skate with cockles and wild garlic in cider sauce” (Laurie Lee’s Rosie would have loved it).

Founded in 2013, this farmshop meets café and drive-thru on the site of a former petrol station is a multi-tasking sort of place that makes a “great option for breakfast” or “excellent rare-breed burgers” – even if, for the fancier fare, “one pays accordingly”. Alongside the bar/dining tent, there’s plenty of outdoor seating in the meadows and a fire pit for cooler days – plus a whole gamut of events ranging from breathwork classes to folk nights and puppy meet-ups.

“Welcome to Stroud… how badly we needed you!” – enthusiasm runs high for sculptor Daniel Chadwick’s late 2024 newcomer (named for his wife), and not just amongst the locals (“found this restaurant for lunch by chance whilst visiting the Stroud area and what a delight!” said a diner from the other side of the country). Set in an old industrial building, “the place has a real buzz” and dishes from the Italian- and French-inspired menu can hit “exceptional” heights. It quickly became one of this year’s most-reviewed out-of-London newcomers by newspaper reviewers, perhaps because it’s just three minutes from a station that’s 90 minutes from Paddington? Tim Hayward of the FT’s vitello tonnato was sliced “as thin as a worn-out credit card” and arrived in a sauce that was “ointment of the gods”; Grace Dent’s mousse de canard was a “translucent layer of glorious fat”; Tom Parker Bowles’s oeuf mayonnaise was “as voluptuous as a Titian nude”; and William Sitwell’s crab bisque with artichoke “a heavenly mix of soft pork and sweetness”. Top Menu Tip – after all that, it’s the Tarte Tatin that’s the must-have here.

An attractive family-run freehouse overlooking the canal, with a “great atmosphere” and “good-quality gastropub food” at “realistic prices”. “You have to book well in advance for the best Sunday lunch for miles”.

2022 Review: “A great pleasure that this fine old inn was rescued from dereliction pre-pandemic by the Lucky Onion team”, a design-led Cotswolds operation. “Food has improved considerably and is well-sourced and often original”, with a “good ambience” and “charming stuff” ensuring that the establishment “works well all round”.