Aylsham Restaurant Guide

With its “wonderful food, great art (Lucian Freud, Tracey Emin), brilliant ambience and lovely setting in a deer park”, this very “English-eccentric gastropub” is “simply the best place for a memorable experience”. Launched 15 years ago by art dealer Ivor Braka and run by ex-Hix duo Stuart & Simone Tattersall, it excels for “meat cooked to perfection over a roaring fire in a slightly surreal setting”; “just perfect on a cold winter’s day”.

“Top-drawer fish ’n’ chips with great sea views” are the attractive offer at this clifftop venue from prominent Norfolk chef Galton Blackiston – a more casual spin-off from his upmarket Morston Hall flagship. Choose between the downstairs café and a menu of more refined fish and seafood in the upstairs restaurant.

“Goes from strength to strength – an absolute treat” – Greg Anderson & Rebecca Williams’s simply but tastefully converted Georgian townhouse provides “exceptional service and attention to detail in calm, and beautiful surroundings”. The cuisine is “exquisite” too (“the food stands comparison with any of the top restaurants we’ve eaten in the world over”). At dinner, there’s a ten-course tasting menu for £150 per person (a cheaper four-course menu for £85 is also available earlier in the week, and on Saturday lunchtimes): “it’s good that the chefs themselves bring the food to the table and give an introduction” and “each course has many ingredient combinations, blending into a perfect composite and displayed with great artistry”. Top Tip – “Stay in one of their three rooms if you can, and take advantage of Rebecca’s wine expertise”.

Richard & Katja Bainbridge’s comfortable yet simply decorated dining room is often recommended as the best restaurant in Norwich and is well-rated in all diner feedback this year. There are a variety of menus, although they are in a “fixed ‘tasting menu’ style these days” which some diners feel “can be a little overwhelming at lunchtime”. Even such doubters, however, say “but it’s always a lovely experience, and so reliably good”. The entry level offering at dinner is an eight course ingredient-led selection for £65 per person.

“An unpretentious, well-run pub: long may it never change!” – “informal, laid-back but efficient staff”, “good gastropub food” and a “cosy ambience” make a meal here “a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable experience”, with “the option for outside eating overlooking the salt marshes in better weather”.

This boozer-with-rooms prospecting the village green was taken over by the Chestnut Group in 2022 and its general success is reflected by the good volume of feedback it inspires. Reports remain a little split on its virtues though. Most accounts do proclaim some “very decent” and “interesting” pub food, along with the “friendly welcome”. Its ratings are held back, though, by a minority who find the menu style restrictive, or who feel it’s “not as good as it was”.

“The star dishes are all about locally sourced seafood, which is superbly presented” and goes “beyond run-of-the-mill choices” at this consistently well-regarded outfit – a “very good example of the quality of restaurants on the North Norfolk coast”. As one of its band of fans puts it, founder “Angela Long and her late husband Richard developed a loyal following” who, even to this day, “love the care and attention that’s given to each dish”.

“Great tapas in a beautiful location” is the promise at this twin venue to the famous Gunton Arms, a mile away, from art dealer Ivor Branka – “the quality of the Hispanic cuisine is consistent and the staff are fantastic”, while the abiding memory for most visitors is the striking modern art on the walls.

“Hidden away in Cromer… what a find!” – Dan Goff & Ruth Butler opened this new venture in a converted butcher’s shop in late 2024 and initial feedback, though too thin for a definitive rating, is promising on its short menu (e.g. bavette steak, grilled mackerel, gnocchi). An early reporter notes: “the food is really fantastic from a beautifully constructed compact and balanced menu, with great ingredients and wonderfully cooked – we have been back and it was even better the second time!”

“Generous helpings of clearly fresh locally caught fish and seafood” are “tastefully presented” at this “cliff-top favourite” – a Victorian former brick kiln repurposed 10 years ago by Alison Matthews and her husband Richard, a crab and lobster fisherman (“alternatives to fish are also available”). Top Menu Tip – don’t miss the “notable desserts: ‘Runton Mess’ a lovely pile with several summer fruits, and a tangy lemon posset”.

2024 Review: “A fresh and vibrant menu with a fusion of local foods and inspired cooking” inspires enthusiastic (if limited) feedback on Jimmy Preston’s funky two-year-old, which started as a pop-up and went permanent in late 2021. In early 2023, The Observer’s Jay Rayner also raved over its “face-slapping flavours” and “cheeky, magpie-like romp across Asia” (including XO seasoning which includes Frazzles, Scampi Fries and Monster Munch).

Launched in 2020 by Frenchman Thomas Aubrit, son of a cook and nephew of a butcher, and English wife Gemma (FOH), this “very small” but very good Gallic outfit in Norwich Lanes has cemented its popularity with “simple good food” from a short menu featuring all the expected classics (e.g., onion soup, boeuf bourguignon). Thanks to the “very attentive” hosts, a “warm atmosphere” pervades both the miniscule downstairs bar and the 20-seat upstairs dining room.

“Inventive Italian dishes” are “delivered brilliantly” at this popular trattoria from locally born Oli Boon, a former head chef of Roux at the Landau and MasterChef: The Professionals finalist. There’s a relatively compact menu with a focus on handmade pasta, but it changes frequently to entice regular visitors. Top Menu Tips – “the parmesan croquettes are a must and if the agnolotti carbonara is on... have it!”.

“Incredible food that’s very reasonably priced from a menu that’s excellent value and brilliant service” win enthusiastic praise (if only from a limited fan base) for Daniel Smith’s “small” converted 14th-century inn: nowadays a restaurant-with-rooms. It’s the possessor of an impressive three AA rosettes.

Handsome Edwardian pub-with-rooms overlooking Cleys saltmarshes, which makes the most of a “nice local atmosphere” and a dining room that offers “good basics with some nice surprises”, at “a very reasonable price”. Top Menu Tip – “one of the best pub burgers in Norfolk”.

“Exceptional food and service with chefs coming out to announce the dishes and even serve wine sometimes” again helps inspire very high levels of satisfaction with this ex-Alimentum chef’s “attentive and charming” dining room in a country house hotel near Norwich (which carried off a Michelin star from the tyre co’s 2025 awards). There’s an eight-course tasting menu for £95 per person, and at lunch a six-course version for £75 per person. Top Menu Tip – “Loved the homemade bread so much that they gave me a loaf to take home with me!”

With a “lovely setting at any time of the day”, this quayside hotel and restaurant has sweeping views across the estuary and salt marshes to the National Trust-owned Blakeney Point. “Non-residents are welcome at the restaurant”, whose “very relaxed” atmosphere backdrops some “delicious” food, be it a hearty English breakfast or the daily table d’hôte. It’s particularly “good for a quiet mid-week lunch out of season when there are not too many guests around”.