Ellesmere Restaurant Guide

“Having relocated from the original site on the Wirral to rural Shropshire”, Marc Wilkinson “greets, cooks, explains and serves a range of incredible dishes in his new venue near Oswestry”: part of his home (with the address provided on booking) and now more in the format of a chef’s table experience than during his days in Oxton. “Marc is a consummate professional and never fails to impress” with his £130 per person tasting menu (with bookings released on the 1st of each month): “a truly unique dining experience unlike any other”. As yet he is unlicensed, so you can BYO! – an incredible boon with a meal of this quality.

Stuart Collins racked up a stellar CV (via stints with Gary Rhodes, Michael Caines and Gordon Ramsay) before launching this “very intimate” fine-dining outpost, which landed like a foodie comet in this market town just east of the Welsh frontier in 2017. Still warmed by the mediatic glow of Stuart’s cameo on the Great British Menu, its classically informed cooking (FOH is overseen by wife Frances) revolves around an £85 tasting menu which now plays out over ten courses, rather than nine, making a “favourite difficult to decide” (but what matter when it’s all “simply superb”?).

“Adjacent to the River Dee and with decking over the water”, this “consistent Brunning & Price establishment” in an old watermill certainly has “an idyllic setting, particularly in the summer months” when you can “spend a lazy few hours just absorbing some of the good things in life”. The food (“high-quality” gastrogrub fare) also elicits positive comments but it is indeed “the location which sets it apart”.

“Almost next to Cholmondeley Castle gardens”, the ‘Chum’ is an “interesting conversion of a village school” (complete with “much educational memorabilia”) into a “quirky but deservedly popular inn” serving an “excellent selection of comforting local food”. It also “prides itself on having 366 gins at the bar” – “their own is excellent”. Top Menu Tip – “the steak-and-kidney pie is stonking, but not for the faint-hearted”.

“This excellent local trat epitomises cheap ’n’ cheerful in this increasingly foodie town” – a relaxed, decade-old Italian that combines “genuinely friendly service”, “brilliant” food and a “great atmosphere”. Even if you’re not from these parts it’s “worth travelling” for – “if you can get a table”, that is (“locals book it from week to week”).

“An interesting, well priced menu, with friendly and prompt service” continues to inspire fans of Mel & Martin Board’s converted coaching inn, by the village’s ancient church (which they launched three years ago after a £2m refit). It also has a fan in the form of the Mail on Sunday’s Tom Parker Bowles, who is in his May 2024 review approved of a “rather lovely pub, recently refurbished, and smart but not showy” (although he cautions that although it serves “what appears to be an upmarket gastropub menu… what appears is rather more cheffy… if it’s pub grub you‘re after, you’d best look elsewhere”).

“Great food, with all the elan of an Elite Bistros venue, but in a pub!” – Gary Usher’s crowd-funded boozer is “a pub AND restaurant, as opposed to a ‘gastropub’, and it does both jobs very well”. “Staff here are real stars and make everyone feel very welcome” and serve a “longer and more exciting menu than Kala and Sticky Walnut – amazing value for the creativity and quality of cooking”.