Burton Upon Trent Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: Over a decade on, this fine dining spot “sitting at the back of the Rose and Crown plum in the middle of nowhere” is “a revelation” to some reporters, “trying too hard” for others. The “regularly changing tasting menu” (the only option, coming with or without wine flights) is “getting even better, if anything”.

The kitchen at this Peak District pub – with six bedrooms – is overseen by Cornish-born Nathan Senior, and it shows through in the emphasis on fresh fish sourced from the West Country. “They like to promote the hotel aspect, but in fact this is a very good fish-oriented restaurant, with the freshest of supplies from Devon and Cornwall and the menu reflecting what is best on the day, all served by a friendly, enthusiastic team”.

“Pleasant old pub, with a modern dining room at the rear, in the Derbyshire countryside near Ashbourne”. “Very competent” cooking emerges from the kitchen of chef Gareth Ward, “including top-class fish (from the same source as sister establishment The Cow at Dalbury) – not often do you find both turbot and halibut on offer alongside good-quality local beef and lamb”.

“Absolutely spectacular sushi” (sashimi, tempura and more) is the pay-off at this “no-frills, hole-in-the-wall” venue, in a “nondescript ’burb of Derby”. What can explain this “peerless” and “spot-on” example of “authentic Japanese cooking” in the unlikeliest of settings? There’s a Toyota car factory just up the road, whose expat staff need a taste of home!

“Worth a visit” for its “high-quality food from the Indian subcontinent” – Naveed Khaliq’s 21-year-old flagship occupies a grand former picture palace whose plush decor and lavishly uniformed staff bring a sense of occasion to the meal. There are spinoffs in Nottingham and Burton.

“In the middle of nowhere geographically speaking, but attentive service and innovative cooking make this a number one restaurant venue” – chef-patron Liam Dillon has transformed this former pub since 2017 into a champion of sustainability, with its own micro-farm incorporating a water treatment plant with ponds to breed trout and carp. It impresses all of the Midlands-based reporters who make the trip – at dinner there’s a short tasting menu for £75 per person or a full version for £110 per person (while at lunch, prices start at two courses for £42 for a short à la carte menu).

“Magnificent cooking” from Tom Shepherd justifies the bet made by his father four years ago when he commissioned the “smart” conversion of the first-floor space above his jewellery shop in the centre of town to accommodate a new 28-cover dining room with open kitchen to showcase his son’s cooking. Awards – including a position in the Harden’s Best UK Top 100 2025 – have followed for this “friendly, warm and unpretentious” venue, where you eat from a seven-course tasting menu of high ambition. Its ratings dipped a little in this year’s annual diners’ poll however, as a result of feedback which – though relentlessly positive – included more caveats than previously (“very good, but the very long waiting list made expectations hard to meet…”; “as popular as ever, but it all felt a little frenetic and prices seem to have risen steadily…”).