Aldeburgh, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

With its jaunty, nautically themed pale blue frontage, this sizable restaurant is a long-established feature of the high street, with fish centre-stage on its daily changing specials board. It attracts a fair number of reports, but something of a scattergun of opinions – ratings suffer from one or two diners who feel it “used to be better”, but a more representative report is of “a lunch, which though fairly basic was very well executed (it was our first visit here after it changing hands and it is still to be recommended)”. Twins Alex and Oliver Burnside who own it also oversee The Golden Key (in Snape) and The Plough and Sail (at Snape Maltings).

“A favourite of locals and often booked well ahead (meaning outsiders may need ingenuity to get a look in)” – this “friendly” bistro of three decades’ standing has been owned since 2015 by long-time manager Sam Hayes and his wife Maxine, and – in terms of volume of commentary – they have held their own against the arrival of The Suffolk. Food-wise, it’s a “perennial performer that doesn’t hit sublime heights but never disappoints”, serving “decent brasserie fare” that’s “the best value in millionaires’-row-on-sea Aldeburgh”, with most starters under £10, mains averaging £20 and puds £9.

Handy for a visit to the “interesting Orford Castle”, this “laidback” coastal restaurant-with-rooms offers some “delicious” cooking from a “menu that changes regularly and they always use excellent local produce, e.g., Pinney’s smoked salmon, Blythburgh pork, Pump House Bakery bread”. While the odd naysayer feels that “this place has declined in the hands of the local Hotel Folk group” (who took it over from ‘Hotel Inspector’ Ruth Watson), the majority verdict is much more buoyant, and “if you are staying then they serve the best breakfast – again all local produce”. Note that they “no longer open for lunch”, except for the “very good” Sunday roast.

Brendan Padfield’s “fantastic restaurant/pub” has topped Estrella Damm’s Top 50 UK Gastropubs list three times in four years (2022, ’24, ’25), and most reporters agree that “it’s No.1 for a reason”: “I’m lucky enough to have been half a dozen times, and it’s outstanding”; “the best gastropub we’ve experienced, and it really is still a pub!”. The Guardian’s Grace Dent concurred with this view in her January 2025 review, heaping praise on imaginative chef Dave Wall’s ‘go-hard or go-home’ food, perfect for the adventurous diner. But a possibly surprising number of naysayers insist it’s “not quite as good as it thinks it is” – or worse, that it “always manages to disappoint” (“the judges of various awards clearly see something in this fairly ordinary gastropub which I don’t. Having eaten here many times I have been neither disappointed nor impressed”).

2023 Review: This attractive Arts & Crafts pub-with-rooms and an acre of land is a “good place to stay on the Suffolk coast”, with “friendly service” and “good pub grub” which puts an emphasis on local seafood and produce – including beers from champion local brewer Adnams. Mark & Sophie Dorber (formerly of the White Horse in Parsons Green, aka the Sloaney Pony) have owned and run it for 19 years.

In a Georgian building on the high street of this famous seaside town – where the brewery of this tavern’s owners Adnams is a key landmark – this well-known destination is “kept alive by the many tourists visiting the area” and has yet to regain its mojo of a couple of decades ago when the likes of Fay Maschler would declare it an out-of-town favourite. Nowadays, its dining room “is pleasant, but still needs to up their game in a number of areas”. Fans, though, do say “it’s on the up again, if for no better reason than the fact that it’s benefitting from the disastrous refurbishment of its sibling, the Swan!”

“Fish is the speciality at this historic house hotel” – “we love the food here and we’re always made to feel very welcome” by proprietors Andy & Kinga Rudd, who have run it for 16 years. The building itself is one of the oldest in Southwold, dating from 1455.

Dependable pub food – with “attentive and friendly” service – are to be found at the “spacious” restaurant of this fixture in the “discreet resort” of Thorpeness, which is “buzzing with customers” during the season (“although some of the terribly smart locals do pop in for ample refreshment”). It has a sister venue nearby, The Parrot in Aldringham.