Wooburn Common, British, Modern - Restaurant Guide

“You feel like royalty” at this “amazing property” owned by the National Trust, which dates back to 1666, but was transformed into the Italianate mansion that you see today by Sir Charles Barry in the 1850s; Cliveden has welcomed a Who’s Who of 20th-century history, and was once owned by America’s richest man, William Waldorf Astor, as well as providing the backdrop to the notorious Profumo Affair. While the modern European cooking doesn’t always outshine that epic backstory, few places offer a more “amazing ‘Arvo’ tea”: “a truly wonderful retrospective experience of grand living in the 1920’s, with first class cakes and savouries and superlative views of the gardens”. One savory is ‘Winston Churchill Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding’, namechecking just one of the many famous former guests here.

A “beautiful location in the old stables at Cliveden”, where “you can sit indoors on a lovely cobbled terrace” in the summer, is the main attraction of the second-string restaurant at the Astor family’s glamorous Italianate mansion, where Christine Keeler came to salacious fame back in the Swinging 60s. It’s “expensive” and “relies on its setting”, of course, but “service is good” and there are no complaints about the food this year.

“A real delight” declares the strong local fan club of this “beautifully decorated out-of-town pub-cum-restaurant” in the heart of chichi Beaconsfield, which has been run since 2019 by Daniel Crump & Margriet Vandezande-Crump and has garnered no end of awards in that time. The food is very much not gastropub fare: you can eat à la carte (with mains about £40) or there’s a seven-course tasting menu for £110 per person and practically all reports say results are “superb”. One reporter this year, though, said that while “others seem entranced by this place, it seems to always be trying too hard and slightly misguided” (a view echoed by the Guardian’s Grace Dent in her August 2025 review who thought that “in a bid to be the best restaurant for miles around, they might just be missing the chance to be simply delicious”). For fans, though, “it just keeps getting better”.

2024 Review: This “great independent cafe recently changed hands when the owner sold it on to the longstanding manager” and, having initially been open just during the day (“very good salads and quiches” plus other South African-slanted breakfasts and brunch dishes and “excellent coffee”), it’s now also back to offering more complex meals at weekend dinners. Insufficient reports for a rating at this time of change.

2023 Review: “Good food at a fair price” was reported again this year at this well-regarded pub: part of a local group with siblings in Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield. In good weather you can eat on the terrace, or book an ‘Oak Pod’ which seats up to 6 people, and incorporate a heater.

“A great little pub with a lovely atmosphere”, leafily located beside a village green just outside Beaconsfield, serving food which “is certainly a cut above your average pub fare” from Tante Claire-trained Amanda Lillitou, who has run it with her husband Chris for 17 years.

“The third Tom Kerridge pub in Marlow” (and far from the best-known), this “exciting” local boozer and butcher’s “took its time to find its feet”, but is now “really buzzy and a true carnivore’s dream”; “okay, it is expensive for supposedly pub food, but it’s not like any normal pub…you select your meat/steak or cut from the butcher’s counter”, as per their ‘Meat Locker’ concept, “sit down with your pint, and wait for it to be brought to you cooked as you ordered it” (namely “in unadorned splendour”, though they do offer fancy sides if you want to pimp things up).

“Simply delicious British classics are executed to a high standard” at Tom Kerridge’s relaxed alternative to his famous (and over-pricey) flagship The Hand & Flowers just up the road, and a “very good-value set lunch” (two courses for £20 per person, three for £25 per person) adds to the appeal – no wonder several reporters “prefer it to the H&F”. “Every visit produces something special”, and there’s a “really lovely atmosphere, chatting with the chefs at the counter while watching them at their craft”. Top Tip – these days you can book on the day of your visit, so “book early”.

“Amazing, innovative food”, “welcoming staff and a brilliant wine list” combine to good effect at this neighbourhood restaurant, which was opened by Wesley & Francesca Smalley as the Covid restrictions lifted and has prospered ever since – what’s more, it’s “fantastic value for money”. Top Menu Tip – “the lightest cheese soufflé ever”.

An ancient village inn (dating apparently from 1252) serving “good old-fashioned nourishment at, by modern standards, not-unreasonable prices”, to a “clientele tending towards those born in the World War II ration years” (meaning “proper seafood cocktail, fish and meat dishes from the 70s and 80s, and veal!”). The “country cousin” of equally old-school Oslo Court in St John’s Wood, it prides itself on its traditional service, so “do not expect endless descriptions of ingredients and processes”. The inn offers two dining options: the Restaurant, for a very French menu (lobster Thermidor; steak Diane; caneton flambé), and the only slightly more casual Bar (which serves proper meals, not snacks).