Buckinghamshire Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: “Splendid surroundings for a plentiful and tasty afternoon tea” are again noted as a highpoint at this Jacobean/Georgian stately home spa hotel, with grounds laid out originally by Capability Brown and nowadays owned by the National Trust. Top Tip – “they are happy to give you a box for anything you can’t finish!”

Choose from either the 16-seat chef’s table experience or eating in the main restaurant if you visit this ambitious venue under chef Scott Barnard’s (two times runner-up in Masterchef: The Professionals). The former is £135 per person, while the latter provides a three-course meal for £80 per person. Feedback is limited but says “it’s very good”.

Run by keen wildlife photographer and one-man-band Frederic Desmette, and housed in a charming 16th-century cottage, “La Chouette remains a solid outpost of Belgian cooking”, where top menu tips include “the best Coquilles St. Jacques and halibut you’ll find (at a price, but worth it)”. If your wallet is looking a little thin, go for the ‘Prix d’Ami’: a starter, main course and dessert for just £29.50.

2022 Review: You can eat like a Rothschild at this gastropub on the Waddeston estate, dining on meat from the estate’s farms and vegetables from Baron Rothschild’s walled garden at Eythrope. The pub serves “really excellent food” and is set in “pleasant countryside”, with profits going to support the historic Waddesdon Manor, now owned by the National Trust while the Baron retains the estate. There is also afternoon ‘teapas’ – a selection of savoury small plates and more traditional scones and cakes.

2023 Review: “The team is small but work incredibly hard to create beautifully presented dishes that always hit the spot” at this “lovely pub” between the Chilterns and the Cotswolds, where Matt Gill’s cuisine provides “excellent food” from an à la carte menu that, while “rustic”, bears no relation to pub grub.

2022 Review: Set in a “lovely building” with tables under a 200-year-old olive tree, this restaurant – one of eight in a local chain – is frequently packed with regulars, who come back for its “good honest Italian fare at a reasonable price”. There’s “something for everyone on the menu”.

“A hidden gem, off the beaten track in Ashridge Forest”, this village pub is “well worth finding” for its “very interesting menu (that changes every fortnight) and pretty rural location” just outside London. David & Becky Salisbury have been at the helm for more than 25 years, and ensure that the kitchen keeps abreast of contemporary dietary requirements.

2023 Review: “Foraged food prepared over a fire: unbeatable?” – Nick Mash’s higgledy-piggledy village inn is “an absolute treasure of a place”, with “really interesting, special cooking” on a purpose-built wood-fired grill that helps achieve outstanding results. It’s “well worth the trip” to the Chilterns, “(and the beautiful rooms mean it’s worth the stay, too)”. We’ve rated it in the hope that it can maintain the high standards set by former chef Jon Parry, who departed in mid-2022 after five years at the helm.

2022 Review: This rural pub (complete with beams and roaring fire, and also accommodation) in a lovely Buckinghamshire village still achieves solid ratings, and – notwithstanding gripes from the occasional reporter about its takeover by Oakman Inns in late 2019 – most feedback rates the food as “very good”.

“Very good Thai food” remains the order of the day at this “cramped” fixture of the local scene, whose extensive menu (wok dishes, curries, fresh papaya salads) represents excellent value for money. From Tuesday to Saturday there’s a lunchtime noodle bar, and they also do a swift trade as a takeaway.

2024 Review: “Tasty bistro food” is enjoyed in the “lovely setting” of a seventeenth-century former school in Old Amersham, a “cosy” local spot opened by the Gilbey’s gin dynasty 35 years ago. Founder Michael Gilbey passed away in summer 2022, and his widow, Lin, has put the site up for sale. (She also runs its sister restaurant in Eton.)

2024 Review: This “great local” has had an up-and-down time of it of late, with the Gerrards Cross branch under new management, and The Grocer at 91, which had pivoted to being a food shop in the pandemic, now closed. On the plus side, this “very busy” outpost is still going strong with its “reliable” (if pricey) sandwiches, salads and toasties, and they also recently opened a new Amersham venue, The Grocer at 2 (Whielden St), spanning a grocery store and café.

2024 Review: “All food pubs should be like this!” – according to fans of this “perfect pit stop” on the outskirts of town. “You can’t fault the intent or enthusiasm of the service and the food, if unadventurous, is very decent”.

This “lovely old pub” in the Chilterns, handy for the Harry Potter antics at Warner Bros Studio nearby, built up quite a reputation for its Anglo-French cooking over nearly two decades under husband-and-wife team Sally & Alvin Michaels. The 18th-century venue is now managed by Alvin’s former protégé Matt Jackson (and part of the growing RedCat pub company) but, on limited feedback this year, its “exceptional pub dining” still makes it a local magnet.

“A hidden gem in the Buckinghamshire countryside” – this thatched pub has a “beautiful” village location, despite being just five miles outside of Aylesbury. A small fan club holds it in high esteem, proclaiming its “fabulous value and super atmosphere”. Chef Tom Moody is one of the two partners running the pub since 2021, and provides a menu that’s more pub-appropriate than pub-grub (e.g. Spiced, glazed lamb’s neck, Braised Beef Cheek, Teriyaki Duck Breast with Black Pudding Bon Bon).

“A lovely place for morning coffee or afternoon tea” – and “the handmade chocolates are delightful” at this duo in Wendover and Thame from chocolatier and patissier Nigel Rumsey, who founded his business 34 years ago at the back of his home.