Edenbridge Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: This “lovely” mid-Victorian boozer (believed to be the only ‘Haycutter’ in the country) earns solid ratings for its “good old-fashioned pub grub” and “brilliant” all-round performance. It is now part of the Brunning & Price group.

A “very busy and popular pub just off the A21 outside Sevenoaks”, and occupying a characterful 16th-century building that boasts beams and wonky floors – as well as having a pleasant outdoor space for warmer months. Add in some solid seasonal gastro food (they do a slap-up Sunday lunch) and it’s “lots of fun” to visit.

“Good-quality food and friendly service” at this village pub, which was rescued in a rundown state by entrepreneur Sir Keith Mills and his wife Maureen a dozen years ago, and is run by well-known chef brothers Chris & James Tanner. “It’s great for families – you can watch the chefs at work in front of you!”.

This Arts & Crafts boutique hotel at the edge of Rusthall Common woods makes a “lovely setting” for a meal from chef Scott Goss, who trained under Gary Rhodes, served in a dining room with original stained-glass windows and wood-panelled fireplace. “Sunday lunches on the terrace are a summer treat” with “amazing views” over Happy Valley, and it’s “very popular for weddings”.

“The stunning glass-fronted dining room looks out onto the lovely garden” at this “quite magnificent spot” – a “rather splendid” Elizabethan manor house “steeped in history”, amidst 35 acres “of great horticultural interest” that were laid out in the 1880s. The building has been a hotel since 1958, and the very contemporary dining room was added in 2019 – “just glorious on all levels”; “a fabulous summer experience” in particular; and “perfect for a romantic interlude”. All reviews also attest to its “sublime food and super service”, which we’ve rated on the basis of our annual diners’ poll despite new Executive Head Chef, Martin Carabott joining in March 2025 as it was in progress. “With fresh vegetables and fruit from their extensive kitchen garden, it’s a very high quality experience indeed”. One of this year’s worst reviews? “Not sure it’s really worth the money, but it’s always a great occasion”. Top Menu Tip – “particularly good langoustine tartare”.

2022 Review: The French cuisine may not be cutting-edge, but it is both consistent and highly accomplished at this ten-year-old restaurant with rooms in north Surrey. Chef owners Laurent Pacaud and Martin Bradley ran the business as a catering company for ten years before that.

“My wife took me here for a “date lunch”… it was superb” – Richard Phillips’s well-known destination occupies an attractive and central Regency Villa and is “excellent for a special occasion” for which it provides “formal dining in the traditional manner with unusual nibbles and interesting flavours” and a high quality selection of wines. There is a luxurious à la carte menu (with mains around £40 each) or a seven course tasting menu for £95 per person. Top Tips – something of a favourite for business lunching hereabouts, they provide a lunch menu with two courses for £28 per person; “lovely terrace for outdoor dining in summer”.

2023 Review: A “family favourite” for its “lovely atmosphere and brasserie food” – and handily close to Tunbridge Wells station – this spin-off from the ever-expanding Ivy operation is well regarded by most reporters, but also suffers from the complaints commonly levelled against its Identikit siblings: most especially indifferent cooking that’s “poor value for money”.

“Absolutely lovely” 16th-century freehouse on the edge of Ashdown Forest, with “very reliable and friendly staff, a specials board that’s always worth checking” and “the best Sunday roast in quite a while” (much of the produce is grown at Courtlands nursery, a mile or so away).

“Extraordinary fresh battered cod and haddock and superb chips” are “savoured” at this “attentive and friendly” traditional chippy on the outskirts of Croydon that’s “still going strong after so many years”. Even a diner who feels “the area’s not the best and the restaurant looks a bit tired” says “the food’s great! – and they always take walk-ins”.

Andrew McLeish’s longtime beacon on London’s south-east fringe receives nothing but plaudits for its “imaginative” and “excellent quality” field-to-fork dining (an ethos reflected in the restaurant’s rooftop beehives), with its loyal army of local fans saying it’s a “very special place that easily beats most high-end offers in Central London”. Even those who have “been using Chapter One for special occasions for over 20 years” don’t get bored since “the menu is changed weekly” to keep things fresh; there’s also a more informal brasserie menu and “the addition of the conservatory bistro is a must for the summer”.

“Cannot be beaten!” – so says the very dedicated local fan club of Victor Choi’s long-established Cantonese fixture on the high street, known locally as a top option for a celebration.

“A country pub with an above-average menu” and "consistently good food” from chef-patron Lee Adams that’s generally agreed to be “a cut above the others in the area”. (The unusual name references First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon, who lived in the village.)

“When you want a hipster burger dripping in your beard, this place delivers!” – Scott Collins’s “buzzy, vibey” joints are notorious for their “really good dirty burgers” with memorable names (the ‘Dead Hippie’ and its veggie cousin the ‘Tempeh Tantrum’), plus “excellent buffalo wings with blue-cheese sauce”. In early 2025 he opened spinoff venture BLOODsports in a Covent Garden basement (see also), showing live sports and horror films on large-screen TVs.

“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.

2024 Review: “Really impressive and tasty food that’s a cut above usual Thai fare” and “attentive service” win praise for this local Thai, on the high street of a super-cute village. Top Tip – “top delivery” too: “speedy delivery and delicious food; and a good range for vegans too”.

2022 Review: They “recently extended the outdoor space and garden” at this imposing wattle-and-daub Elizabethan inn, built for the Keeper of the Privy Purse to Elizabeth I, no less. Together with a “new menu” of snacks and heartier grub it now makes a “great eating place” by all accounts.

The “tops in town” – even if that town is “a bit of a culinary desert”, a “buzzy” and “fairly new” corner bistro, which was set up in 2022 by Stuart Gillies, ex of Le Caprice and NYC’s Restaurant Daniel, ‘entre autres’, and his wife Cecilia. The “interesting” modern European-meets-trad-British fare includes a “very good” Sunday lunch (Tuesdays it’s BYOB), while the Gillies are “very visible and ensure high standards”, though it can be “noisy when full”.

Sierra Leonean chef, Maria Bradford launched this June newcomer (the name means ‘fancy’ in the Krio language) to showcase Sierra Leonean and Afro-fusion cuisine – a development of a supper club and online store she started in 2017. Dishes on the opening menu include: lamb belly, palm oil, and African five spice; bone marrow, kankankan puffed rice, and fermented honey chilli flatbread; and moringa millefeuille, benne cake, and sheep’s yoghurt ice cream. It opened after our survey had concluded, but in his July 2025 review, the FT’s Jay Rayner declared the interesting cooking “deeply savoury” and very much more than just a novelty. Jay’s Top Menu Tip – “I would go back… solely for Bradford’s flaky, golden flat bread, a little like a paratha, sliced thickly with honey and the warmth of fermented chilli”.