Cuckfield Restaurant Guide

“A lovely setting overlooking the gardens towards the South Downs” helps set up a “top-class experience” at this Elizabethan country house spa-hotel: “decor… ambience… service… food all are first rate”. Mind you, “there‘s nothing flash/super-creative about any of this: they know their market and it’s just really well executed”.

“Ben Wilkinson, previously of ‘Cottage in the Woods’, Linklater, has brought his fabulous clean cooking south” with the “very inventive” seven-course menu for £145 per person that he delivers at this well-known chef’s table experience within a boutique hotel set in 93 acres with views of the South Downs, which he joined in late 2022. In short order it has become one of the more accoladed restaurants in the UK, having won a Michelin star and 4 AA rosettes (the latter actually being the rarer accolade) and all of the feedback that we receive rates the experience as very good or better.

This “extremely popular” 16th-century free house with four bedrooms, in a hilltop village in the Sussex Weald, has everything you want in a country pub, from “very good cooking” and beamed interiors to “a lovely pint of Harvey’s”.

“For us, as garden lovers, a magical place” – this Elizabethan country house in the Sussex countryside sits in grounds laid out in the 1880s by the famous landscape gardener who then owned the property (and has been a hotel since 1958). “It‘s probably best to enjoy Gravetye in the summer when it is delightful to wander round the beautiful gardens with an aperitif” and to get the most out of “the modern, conservatory-style dining room, which is simply dazzling in design, creating a feeling of almost being in the garden”. Since its 2019 relaunch, there has been a major upgrade to the cuisine here, with chef George Blogg preparing “beautifully balanced dishes with assured use of ingredients”: “seasonal produce is allowed to shine and sing”. (The food would score even higher if the odd reporter did not find it “a bit safe”). Staff generally “can’t do enough for you” but ratings slipped slightly this year on one or two “hit ’n’ miss” experiences in this regard. No complaints of any significance were highlighted, and the general impression is that a meal here is “so smart, and of such quality”.

This “lovely thatched country boozer” with a pretty beer garden and great views of the South Downs is highly popular in our annual diners’ poll as an “absolute go-to place for the most excellent, innovative and delicious pub food”, in “a lovely quiet spot”. It’s the country cousin of the high-quality Gingerman group in Brighton, seven miles away – and does a roaring Sunday lunch trade.

“In a delightful village”, this “scenic” gastroboozer-with-rooms continues to please, two years after longtime owners the Pullan family handed the keys to the Young’s group; the “best atmosphere is in the bar” (as opposed to the annexe), though the “great garden” remains the standout here, offering lovely views of the Ouse countryside.

It’s “unexpected for a local, suburban boozer sitting next to a school”, but “Brighton’s seafood gastropub” marches to the beat of its own drum, turning out “exceptional” dishes (“emphasis on shellfish”) plus craft beer “brewed in the premises” downstairs, “which adds to the fun”. Taking into account the “upscale” setting, too, you’ve got all “the ingredients for a Perfect Sunday!” (when the idiosyncratic venue pays tribute to paella).

“Ambience is not key when you just want to stuff your face!” – you “just get a great dirty burger” at these tongue-in-cheek diners, whose signature offering is the ‘Dead Hippie’. Founded 16 years ago from the back of a truck by Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis, at the time a technician with the English National Ballet, it now has 15 London outlets and a national delivery operation.

“The attention to detail is amazing, with top-notch food and wine pairings” say fans of this “favourite destination restaurant” – Stephen Edwards’s conversion of a former bank arguably “feels like a converted pub”, but “is so unexpected and elevated it fits well with the vibe of Hove”. Choose from either a five-course menu for £50 per person, or a seven-course menu for £75 per person: “flavours are fun and refreshing, from seasonal and playful tasting plates” – “truly spectacular cooking and would be three times the price in a central London restaurant”. Many local diners report their gastronomic highlight of the year here. Top Menu Tip – “the marmite bread is to die for (if only the whole meal could’ve been made of that!)”

“Outstanding pizza that’s super-light and oozing Italian style” (“not usually a pizza fan but really enjoyed the food”) has made the name of this “buzzing and hilarious” but also “good- value” Neapolitan joint. It’s now part of a five-strong chain, spanning two London outposts (the most recent in chi-chi Covent Garden), a newly refurbed Hove branch and this, the original, where “sitting outside to people watch is also great – it’s Brighton after all!”.

This “amazing neighbourhood restaurant will have you coming back for more” of its “brilliant modern British cooking in a relaxed bistro setting”. Founded five years ago by a trio of local hospitality veterans, Rob Maynard and James & Faye Thompson, it is “very much in tune with modern Hove, but in a very unprepossessing location” – and with “very sensible prices”, including a £22 per person set menu that runs alongside the à la carte. Many diners recommend the wines here (“one of the rare restaurants which do not force you to ‘kill’ red wine too young, offering good mature reds for fair prices”).

“A dependable favourite ever since it opened” – this “elevated pub” near Hove seafront is part of a hugely popular four-strong local chain; with its “upmarket take on sausages and mash with kale or a lovely slow-cooked beef pie”, it’s “more akin to a restaurant (with a nice bar attached)” than a boozer, and a “buzzy atmosphere” is guaranteed. Top Tip – stay over in their “quirky rooms” (in either the main building or self-catering mews houses); one reporter who did so “could not think of eating anywhere else” after the first night (resulting in “six meals, including terrific breakfasts, in three days!”).

“Duncan Ray delivers a top seafood menu from a tiny kitchen” at this “wonderful and intimate spot tucked away behind a busy Brighton street”, where just 20 guests enjoy an “unbelievable menu in a single sitting per night”. Even a reporter who felt “the food didn’t quite live up to some sublime experiences in the past” still felt that “there were some great dishes, we love what LFM does, and it’s well worth a visit”.

Chef Ben and his wife Pamela McKellar’s flagship restaurant (est. 1998) is a “cosy side-street gem” that has “maintained its high standards through all its years, and against a rising tide of local competition”. In fact, some think it has “upped its game again on quality and imagination, although that has come at a (literal) price”. Top Menu Tips – “the bread and the soufflés remain things that cannot be passed over”.

“Looks and feels like a proper yakitori place”, and the food is “sooo good” at this 10-year-old “Asian gem” that is “clearly no longer hidden from locals” – so the small space is often packed. Founder David Miney spent three years as a chef in Tokyo developing the expertise he now deploys in “authentic dishes at very reasonable prices” – “sit at the bar and watch the chefs in action”. “The sake selection is also on point and not outrageously expensive, like it is at other locations in this country”.