Hungerford Restaurant Guide

“Just feeling right without making the appearance of a great effort” – this “busy upmarket restaurant” in a swishly converted former pub is “always worth the drive” for its large fanbase drawn from a wide swathe of Home Counties and London postcodes that extend far from its West Berkshire location. One of the top-40 most commented on restaurants outside London in our annual diners’ poll, it’s a “lovely new building” where the sum of the experience owes much to the all-round appeal of its “high quality cuisine” and “attentive service” all in a “classic and well-mannered” but modernified style.

“If ‘Cheers’ was a restaurant, this would be what it felt like” – a local indie (now with a marquee) that has built up a “good reputation locally”, and where Aussie owner “Dan (Bond), Charlotte and their team produce great grub” by most (if not all) accounts; however, “what really matters is the embracing atmosphere, defining the phrase ‘neighbourhood restaurant’”.

“A long-established restaurant that has moved with the times” from classically trained chef-patron Keith Marshall and his wife Julie, who have together provided “consistent quality cooking with excellent service” for almost four decades, in a pair of elegantly converted 16th-century cottages with a beautiful garden boasting views over Watership Down.

Basque-influenced cuisine – much of it from the charcoal grill – is now the order of the day at this “beautifully situated” pub, deep in the back-of-beyond of West Berkshire (in fact quite close to the M4, though you’d never know). The days when it was famous for its game dishes are gone – today you will discover an assortment of tapas plus more substantial fare – from Catalan fish stew to ‘12 Hour Lamb Shoulder’. Fans say it’s "really lovely” and “very well executed”. On the downside, one or two old timers can’t get with it. (“I really want to like this pub, I have been coming for years and its situation and ambience is idyllic, quintessential English countryside. But the prices are expensive and the tapas-style small plates and mains to share just aren’t that inviting”).

“A charming venue in a picture-postcard village location” – this “excellent” pub-with-rooms has a “lovely bright restaurant serving superb food” with influences from around the world, and a “good range of private dining options”. Charles I is said to have dined here during the English Civil War.

2023 Review: Complete with a riverside terrace, this privately owned pub near Newbury receives a good rep in our annual diners’ poll for its 40-seat dining room overlooking the river Lambourn, where chef Sam Cary aims to deliver ‘refined modern British pub food’. In an April 2022 visit, Tatler’s Fay Maschler declared it “a rare jewel of a country pub” offering “everything you want a welcome to be”.

2023 Review: After months of restoration, this 17th century Georgian building near Newbury re-opened in January 2022 and now boasts a traditional pub, very attractive pitched-roof dining room in contemporary style and 30-bed coaching inn, as well as a covered garden terrace. No feedback as yet in our annual diners’ poll – reports please!

A menu of ‘British Tapas’ “changes regularly and the wine list has loads on it to love” at this popular venue, in a very scenic townhouse, next to the bridge and overlooking the River Kennet, in the centre of the town, also praised for staff who are “always welcoming, but never stuffy”.

2023 Review: “Always reliable, serving exceptional food for a village pub”, say fans of Dave Watts’s rural inn, where classic pub dishes jostle on the menu with somewhat more ambitious fare. Top Tip – “the plat du jour is unbelievable value!”