Woking, French Restaurant Guide

There’s no doubting the “fantastic location” of this link in Raymond Blanc’s Heartwood Inns collection – a nook and cranny-filled boozer on pretty Downside Common with a heated outdoor tent and beer garden for added measure. Its victuals aren’t fancy but are “generally good” by common consensus, and continue to be of note for their moderate price tags (especially now they’ve relaunched their bargainous seasonal set menus).

With its array of “silky-smooth croquetas” and other tapas favourites, backed up by “a great choice of sherries”, this popular gastropub-with-rooms in the Surrey ’burbs from Spanish maestro José Pizarro is “one of the best places to eat for miles around” – and, as you’d expect of this much-fêted ambassador of all things Iberian, “makes a decent stab at a Hispanic vibe”.

2024 Review: This “stylish restaurant” near the bridge to Windsor has been run for almost 50 years by co-founder Lin Gilbey, who is responsible for its interior design. Her husband and business partner Bill (scion of the Gilbey’s Gin dynasty) sadly passed away in 2022, but Lin has pressed ahead with improvements, acquiring the premises next door to offer corporate entertainment and private dining facilities. Modern British cooking is generally felt to be “solid”.

This “lovely little restaurant” of 10 years’ standing in St Margaret’s is all that a neighbourhood spot should be – “just wish it was more local!” – offering high-class French cooking from former Pierre Koffmann sous chef Gianluca di Monaco. Star of the show is the “superb chateaubriand, air-dried on the premises, that just melts in the mouth”. Note: very busy when there’s a big game at nearby Twickenham.

“A midsummer evening… drinks on the terrace overlooking the river… memorable” – and especially “great for special occasions”. That’s what the royal family thinks, anyway, about this Thames-side legend: one of few restaurants ever to have hosted them in the public dining area (and also, for private dining, the choice of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as the venue to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary). Opened in 1972, and celebrating its 40th year of holding three Michelin stars in 2025 (first under the late Michel Roux, nowadays run by his son Alain) it is also one of the Top 10 most commented-on restaurants in our annual diners’ poll outside London; and is especially tipped for landmark celebrations with reports this year of successful 60th, 70th and 80th birthdays marked here. You don’t visit the Waterside for the latest in culinary trends – this is essentially “classic and refined” Gallic haute cuisine and “each element is so full of flavour” with “incredible attention to every detail” from a kitchen team headed by Fabrice Uhryn reporting to Alain. Deft, “welcoming and professional” service is intrinsic to its success, nowadays overseen by Frédéric Poulette, who began his working life as a commis waiter here aged 18. If anyone makes a complaint it’s that it’s “good only and overpriced” and that’s what drags ratings into more middle territory this year, not for the first time. For more diners though it’s just a case of “perfect food, done perfectly”. (“We’ve earned our spurs eating at the Fat Duck and Ynyshir in recent years, but the tasting menu at the Waterside was the best meal of my life. I wouldn’t go back to the first two, but I would definitely go back to the Waterside. My wife bought me a voucher for Xmas so we stayed the night along with two friends. The welcome, the rooms, the service, the tasting menu – all agreed it was outstanding. An expensive evening but an experience I will remember for years”.)

This “long-established Brittany-French restaurant” is “much loved in Richmond for its good food – galettes, seafood and the rest”, “amazing value” and “decent (if sometimes hectic) service”. Its sale two years ago by founder Lindsay Wotton, who ran it for 35 years, has not dented its appeal.

This “lovely, small and very French restaurant” opposite Hampton Court Palace has been wowing guests for almost 30 years with its “well cooked food (nothing pretentious)” at “not greedy prices in the now very expensive restaurant world”. Chef-patron Jean-Philippe (JP) Gravier is joined by his daughter Victoria in the kitchen, with his English wife Kim running the FOH.

2023 Review: This “lovely local friendly coffee shop” with a French accent and pastries is a spin-off from Eric and Sarah Guignard’s French Table next door, and does a particularly good Gallic take on the English afternoon tea.