Hawkshead Restaurant Guide

This rural gastropub-with-rooms in prime Lakeland tourist territory is “still good after very many years”. The concise menu has “a strong focus on vegetarian and fish dishes” (although one visitor’s husband “had a hankering for a few more meaty options”), but in any case it’s all “very tasty” and “the bar with the on-site brewery (Barngates) is excellent” too.

“Great Rogan food, but in a more relaxed setting!” (“Like L’Enclume on its day off!”) – no report has a bad word to say about the cuisine at this spin-off venue from the Lake District’s most renowned celebrity chef, which occupies the light-filled dining room – complete with floor-to-ceiling windows and skylight – of Linthwaite Hotel, overlooking Windermere. Chef Mark McCabe (the former chef-owner of The Ethicurean in Bristol) took over at the stoves here in early 2024, and reports say “you can taste the individual flavours making up each course”. One could argue for the award of 5/5 for the food-score here – our sole reservation is that no reporter nominates it as their best meal of the year, just that it was “altogether highly recommended”.

2023 Review: Set in 27 acres, this country house hotel is one of the better-known luxury destinations in the Lakes and boasts a dining room whose floor-to-ceiling windows provide magnificent views of Windermere and the surrounding peaks, where chef Robby Jenks presides over the kitchen. It inspired very upbeat (but relatively little) feedback again this year, with nominations as an ideal romantic choice or for its impressive afternoon teas. For a full meal in the dining room, lunch is a four-course affair for £60 per person, and in the evening the sole option is a seven-course tasting menu at £115 per person.

2023 Review: This “tiny restaurant in Windermere specialises in expertly cooked fish and seafood”. Established in 2010, it changed hands three years ago and now shares ownership with Bowness-on-Windermere’s Urban Food House. On the debit side, it can be “a bit lacking in atmosphere” (one reporter discerned a “retail shop feel”) and a couple of reports diagnose service issues relating to “post-Brexit and pandemic staff shortages”.

2022 Review: Ratings weakened this year at this luxurious Lakeland hotel, whose wood-panelled, traditional dining room provides a splendid vantage-point for gazing over Lake Windermere. One reporter felt that the “competent, but potentially excellent, cooking was not value for money, due to willing but overstretched service” – perhaps signposting that the blip was due to the tribulations of the times?

2022 Review: Below a cinema, this popular ‘Vegeterranean’ (vegetarian with a Mediterranean twist) has long been a feature of this Lakeland town. Prices are very reasonable.

James Cross is celebrating his tenth year at the stoves of this well-established Lakeland foodie mecca, where he has won acclaim for his “unique” cuisine: “incredible dishes with different inspirations, but with a nod to both Nordic and Asian influences” (the result of past stints at Noma, Per Se et al). The stripped-down interior is of a piece with the cuisine and staff are “very welcoming and friendly” too. Top Menu Tip – “The freshly baked bread is out of this world (we were given the rest to take home); The A5 Wagyu was incredible and they made us feel so special as it was our tenth anniversary”; “exceptional vanilla ice cream to finish”.

“The Lake District is not short of good places to eat at, but this stands out in an area of brilliant restaurants!” – so say fans of Ryan (chef) and Craig (manager) Blackburn’s well-established destination located in the former office of poet William Wordsworth from the days when he was the local stamp distributor. The main event in the evening is the ‘Journey around Cumbria’ tasting menu with eight courses for £95 per person: “superb food that thoroughly deserves its Michelin star” all delivered by “knowledgeable and warm” service. Top Tip – “priced at £55, it’s very good value for lunch: rabbit cannelloni is good, the steamed halibut superb, the hogget full of flavour and the rhubarb dessert delicious”.

“In the area, Zeffirelli‘s is rightly celebrated” – this Lakeland fixture (est. 1980) has been a feature of the town centre for nearly 45 years and is part of a quirky site incorporating a cinema and jazz bar. “Although it‘s a vegetarian restaurant, often people eat there without realising there’s no meat on the menu! The food’s well-presented and doesn‘t make a big fuss about being vegetarian”. “With lots of friendly staff, it’s deservedly popular”.

“A smart but ultra-comfortable Lakeland hotel with a stunning restaurant from ex-Fat Duck chef Ollie Bridgewater, who has really put his stamp on the menu over the last year, with cooking that is original, refined and absolutely delicious”. The venue itself is “spread over a couple of dining rooms, with well-set tables complete with white tablecloths”. This is “clever cooking” such as “gnocchi with identically shaped mousses of the local St James cheese – a remarkable dish with an intense truffled jus gras”; or “Lobster pappardelle – thin pasta with some herbs rolled in, excellent sauce and Oscietra caviar”. The menu is based around three courses with an ‘Origin’ menu for £90 per person; or a ‘Source Culinary Journey’ for £120 per person. As well as its evident gastronomic attributes, it’s also often recommended as a “romantic” destination too.