Wingham, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “lovely gastropub in a pretty Kent village” wins praise for its “good menu selection, including unusual dishes like homity pie” alongside the more standard burgers, steak and fish ’n’ chips. It is part of Saga heir Josh De Haan’s Pickled Egg pub group.

“Each time we come we are impressed by the attention to detail and outstanding quality of the food at this well-regarded gastropub” – Daniel & Natasha Smith purchased this “beautiful old pub on the River Stour” in 2017 and has become one of the most commented-on venues outside the capital in our annual diners’ poll. “The style of cuisine is that of fine dining with locally sourced produce and the flavours bring out the best in the ingredients”. “Tables are well-spaced and the staff certainly know their stuff” – “incredible value”. Top Tip – “Lovely wisteria-covered terrace by the river on a sunny day”.

This old drovers’ inn just outside Canterbury is “very atmospheric and comfortable, but the food is truly the star” – “really well executed but not overly fussy” and “a real dining treat”. Former Clove Club chef Daniel Smith and his wife Tasha, herself a pastry chef, have settled in the village and created a “chilled pub with food that surprises” with its excellence. They also run the nearby Fordwich Arms. Top Menu Tip – “best lobster and chips ever”.

Four miles from Canterbury, this much-commented-on manor house is part of the now ten-strong Pig litter (the latest porcine offering, in Stratford-upon-Avon, is due in 2024) and “does not disappoint”. The “buzzy” dining room – “like a large potting shed, its walls lined with preserved vegetables and pulses” – backdrops “lovely” gastrofare, and “in summer you can eat casually and drink in the garden” at their new ‘Garden Oven’, focusing on wood-fired snacks. On the downside, as at others in the chain, a minority of reports characterise its cooking as “pleasant, but nothing special”.