Hatfield, International Restaurant Guide

“Excellent-quality food at a reasonable price” is behind the 24-year success of Austrian-born chef Julius Oberegger’s Whetstone bistro. The cuisine is “mostly modern European but with an eye on pan-Asian flavours” – which makes it “an oasis” in a part of north London where the standard dining options are Greek, Turkish or pizza.

This “large, well-decorated gastropub” overlooking the village pond in Totteridge, on London’s northern fringe, serves a broad menu that majors in steaks, burgers, seafood and pizza. The odd blip is noted in reports foodwise, but it‘s nominated by a number of locals as their top pub.

2021 Review: Afternoon tea is “a real treat” in the “wonderful and friendly surroundings” of this country house hotel and spa, whose claim to fame is that it appeared in ‘Four Weddings’. Reports of more substantial meals here are more up-and-down.

2021 Review: “A very small, friendly local” in the centre of Muswell Hill for over two years now; mostly it serves “delicious”, light brunch-friendly fare from breakfast onwards (“lovely healthy salad options”), but there’s a more substantial menu of simple, modern bistro dishes by night.

2023 Review: With an all-day menu that bounces happily from the Caribbean and Mexico to the Isle of Man and Thailand, Juliette Banner has provided up-beat service in Crouch End for more than 30 years. “A Banners breakfast is the perfect cure for a hangover” – and you can also earn one with the “great cocktails”. The “authentic American-style burgers” must have attracted Bob Dylan, the bard of Americana, whose 1993 visit is commemorated with a plaque – you can even book the table he sat at!

This “crowd-pleasing destination” – dating from 1585 and “perfect after a walk on Hampstead Heath” – is a place of literary pilgrimage, frequented by Byron and Dickens, while Keats wrote his famous ode after listening to a nightingale sing in its garden. These days you’ll find a menu of “well-cooked and presented pub classics”.

Yes, the boozer from the distantly-remembered song – a music-hall hit for Edwardian chanteuse Florrie Forde. It nowadays pitches itself as a ‘country pub in the city’, thanks to its leafy location, between Golders Hill Park and Hampstead Heath West: so no real change from Florrie’s era, when Cockneys would visit on a day trip. The renovated tavern certainly remains an attractive destination – the menu is not particularly ‘gastro’ but a bit too fancy to be described as ‘pub grub’ (think steak or sea bass rather than burger or fish ’n’ chips).

Grade II listed pub in posh Highgate (whose former patrons include Dickens). Run by Young’s, the gastropub fare is solidly rated, but the chief highpoints include its attractively updated period charms, big outside terrace and cosy dining conservatory with large skylight.

“It just does everything right!” according to fans of Joe Swiers & Ollie Pudney’s phenomenally successful destination, which for many years has topped our survey as north London’s top gastropub, thanks not least to its location near Parliament Hill and the ease of “a long walk over Hampstead Heath” to walk off lunch. Hmmmm. That’s always been our annual diners’ poll’s conclusion hitherto anyway. But this year’s feedback was much less settled, with numerous reports saying it’s “not as good recently” and “despite the hype, produces decidedly underwhelming cooking”. Hopefully just a rough patch?