Tyne And Wear Restaurant Guide

Behind “an unassuming but smart exterior”, Kenny & Abbie Atkinson’s much-accoladed venue was Newcastle’s highest-rated this year. Set on the Quayside in a Grade I listed sixteenth-century town house, you enter through the “lovely bar”, and climb to the upstairs restaurant, which is warm and vibrant, with “extremely helpful staff”. In the evening, the offering is a ten-course tasting menu (for £95) which is almost universally rated as exceptional in its quality.

“Still setting the standard for Newcastle restaurants” – Terry Laybourne’s “first class” brasserie remains the city’s most-mentioned venue, as it has been for most years in various locations since 1988. “Caring and friendly staff” provide “creative” food and it’s recommended for just about any occasion.

“Still going strong after all these years”; for “real Italian food” (the “usual suspects” plus “some interesting Sardinian specialities”) you “can’t beat” brothers Roberto & Walter Pani’s recently refurbed “old favourite”, launched in the mid nineties.

“A real star amongst Newcastle’s growing stable of good eateries” – ex-architect Anna Hedworth’s casual, all-day haunt has moved from its original home in a Byker shipping container to a bricks-and-mortar building thanks to a Kickstarter campaign. Serving up accomplished all-day fare and now also dinner: “excellent cocktails to start are followed by great food based on local and seasonal ingredients”.

“Right on the banks of the Tyne, under the iconic Tyne Bridge, with some of the UKs best city views” – these “trendily laid-out, converted shipping containers” have “a fabulous setting” and are “quirky in every way”. “Start with a beer: there’s around 15 to choose from, many brewed on the premises, served in 1/3 and 2/3 measures (a good plan given the strength range, of 5%-10%)”. The food is “cooked in-view” in a ‘fiercely seasonal, open-fire kitchen’ and the fairly eclectic results are regularly outstanding: “mains were as good a meat as I’ve had. The Barnsley Chop was gargantuan, cooked with seafood (it works!). The whole lemon sole easily fed two, and was perfect”. The odd reporter does strike unlucky, though: “duck predicted as ‘tender’ wasn’t… steak and bone marrow was very salty yet vegetables were bland”.

“One of the best views in the world” (if you don’t mind Newcastle’s urban sprawl) elevates a visit to this posh art gallery restaurant. It dodged the usual critiques it has often received this year, and although even some fans concede that “there is better-value food to be had in the city”, it was consistently well-rated (“creative without being silly”).

A “brilliant traditional Italian”, in Jesmond, whose “fabulous” ambience, “cheap but great quality food” and “consistently good service” ensure that, even decades on, it’s usually packed to the gills.