Leek Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: “The days when this was a pub have long gone: it is an unashamedly ambitious restaurant which charges a full price for some very good cooking” – so say fans of this Peak District gastropub near the Dove Valley, who say “the chef knows what he is doing, and as long as you can afford it this is one of the best places to eat in the Peak District”. William Sitwell of The Telegraph paid it a visit in September 2022 and gave a similar but more nuanced view: the “cooking really is excellent and delicate with clever flavours” and “there is talent and charm by the bucket-load”, but he felt the dishes on the menu were presented and served in tiny portions, and he was encouraged to think of them as tapas. He declared, they “are the most un-tapassy things I’ve ever seen”.

2023 Review: “Theatrical presentation” is a longstanding feature of the Pear family’s stalwart fixture of four decades’ standing, whose ‘Dinner at 8’ package was an early adopter of the tasting menu format, with a 7-course menu delivered in a single sitting (you arrive at 7.30 pm). Fans say “Covid hasn't affected the consistent high quality of this unique dining venue. And to the famous ‘Dinner at 8’, can be added the growing popularity of their afternoon tea”: “a choice of gentleman’s or lady’s gives a useful mix of sweet and savoury, including the legendary homemade desserts. Ample portions (take-home boxes cheerfully provided), well served and a good range of teas''.

“Terrific French cooking” by Cheshire-born chef-patron Joseph Rawlins combines with immaculate presentation from his FOH partner, Parisienne Gaëlle Radigon, in a smart, “contemporary setting” (“love having a tablecloth: so many restaurants don’t”) at this converted farmhouse in a village famous for its timber-framed church and ancient ‘Marston oak’ (Britain’s largest tree). Top Tip – “the set meal is exceptional value”.

2021 Review: “I can’t vouch for its authenticity as a Sri Lankan experience… but it’s a delight to eat!” – so say fans of this family-run three-year-old café. By its nature, a good choice for pescatarians, veggies and vegans.

2022 Review: “Excellent Thai food full of flavour” (including wallet-friendly set lunches) are the order of the day at this Peak District outfit decorated with traditional carvings and sculptures, and hosting twice-monthly jazz and cocktail nights.

2022 Review: Patrick Hannity's decade-old spin-off from his Manchester original is less well known than its progenitor but is “usually excellent”, too; the food is “light, balanced and filled with flavour”, incorporating produce from his Peak District farm.

“A pub that can serve ultra-fresh, skillfully cooked seafood is a rare treat” – “this country inn in the hills above Macclesfield” has a “light and comfortable small dining room adjacent to the old bar”. It enjoys “strong support from the village”, which clubbed together 20 years ago to buy the freehold when the pub was threatened with closure.

2022 Review: “The best thing to hit Macclesfield since the silk industry died” – “a sister to Altrincham Market (and Manchester's Mackie Mayor), conceived and run by Nick Johnson and his wife. This Edwardian building was the first cinema in town, fell to other unglamorous uses some 70 years ago, and has now been sympathetically restored to house excellent individual food stalls serving a range of high quality dishes: the freshest of fish, steaks, pasta, pizzas, mussels and more”.

“You are served in a large dining room under a giant moon” in this striking eatery – a centrepiece of the World of Wedgwood – which was added to this factory-visit and museum experience in late 2021. Named for a seventeenth-century dining club filled with luminaries of the Midlands Enlightenment, and overseen by local lad Niall Keating (who left behind two Michelin stars to take up the opportunity), it brings a pleasing level of ambition to underserved Staffs and The Potteries. There’s a relatively affordable à la carte menu, or an eight-course tasting menu for £120 per person. Given that its mere presence is a minor miracle in the area, it’s not hard to be bowled over and it delivers “frequently excellent dishes – often containing luxury ingredients, formally but attentively and helpfully served, if in a space that is perhaps a little large to feel completely at home in”. On the flip-side, even those who think it “very good” can still find it “overpriced”.