Morpeth Restaurant Guide

“A lovely setting on the Coquet estuary” makes Martin & Ruth Charlton’s 12-year-old quayside spot a popular choice for eating seafood (“their nearby Fish Shack is also great”). But one or two regulars are beginning to wonder if “it’s getting a bit too big” for comfort.

“A hidden gem” in Jesmond – “we used to bring our children and now bring our grandchildren: the menu (by no means only pizza) hasn’t changed much but along with the classics there are good daily specials (search out the blackboard!)”. “Food is good and tasty, service very quick, with a jolly vibe” – and it’s “walk-ins only, which means we give it a miss on Saturdays, when queues can be in the street”. Top Menu Tip – “the best garlic king prawns”.

Dave Coulson, a former MasterChef: The Professionals finalist, ensures that this whimsically named split-level venture on a shopping parade in Jesmond is “great for a business meal as well as for leisure”. The “good value and delicious set lunch” (£25 for four courses) remains the top draw, though the classically inflected cooking also takes in a more decadent £90 tasting menu – all “top rate” and with “excellent” service to boot…no wonder reporters “love it”.

A “lovely building” – a 13th-century former Dominican friary that’s among the oldest dining rooms in the kingdom, and also includes a cookery school – adds considerably to the lure of this long-running and “very reliable” restaurant. It’s a multi-tasking spot that will take you from breakfast through to an evening meal, all based on “good locally sourced produce” from fish to game. Further boons are the “helpful staff” and (in clement months) courtyard garden.

“A longstanding ‘go-to’ destination for a good night out” which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year – Roberto & Walter Pani’s “consistently good” Sardinian venture “has stood the test of time while others have come and gone”. It has an “interesting menu of Sardinian specials and wines to try”, a “buzzing atmosphere”, and “if you are new to town, you’ll feel quickly at home”. Top Tip – “perfect for a pre-theatre meal as the Theatre Royal is just around the corner”.

“You can always guarantee something a bit different or unusual” at Anna Hedworth’s Ouseburn operation, which upsized from its original shipping containers site seven years ago. “Not obviously romantic, but it’s cool and quirky with excellent cooking”. The changing menu offers the likes of “Cheese & Sauerkraut Doughnuts, Beetroot Borani with Walnuts, or Pan-Fried Hake & Sag Aloo with Curried Mussel Sauce” – making it “imaginative and generous, particularly considering the price point”.

“Great atmosphere, great cooking, great concept” – Terry Laybourne’s busy wine bar/restaurant just off Newcastle’s Quayside offers an enticing menu inspired by the south of France and Italy. It’s next door to the Live Theatre, so perfect for pre-theatre wining and dining.

“On a great location just off the Quayside”, this is “not really a traditional pub, but with Terry Laybourne at the helm you can be assured of the highest standards of both food and beer”. “They promise ‘honest, home-cooked food like pubs used to serve’ (well, none of the pubs I used to go to served food as good or as varied as this!)”. It’s also “perfect for the Live Theatre next door” (which it helps to fund). Top Menu Tip – “get a selection of the pub snacks (which should include the Lindisfarne oysters) to share: it’s like having special pub-themed tapas”.

In its days as ‘21 Queen Street’ (long RIP) this Quayside address led the local field for many years, and this casual dining successor took over in 2016, owned by Andy & Sam Hook plus chef Troy Terrington. Reports this year, though, continued the uneven theme of last: one regular hailed it as a “fabulous place that never disappoints” but others thought it “rather average” (“at the last visit, we felt we could have cooked our meals better at home”).

For 10 years “the go-to establishment for a fine-dining experience in Newcastle”, Kenny & Abbie Atkinson’s Quayside spot is these days slightly eclipsed in feedback by its younger sibling, the nearby Solstice. Reports ands ratings remain positive, but sometimes came with a sting in the tail in this year’s annual diners’ poll: for example, “expensive but actually reasonable for the quality of food and service on offer”… “really good but meagre portions”… “well-executed, but not hugely exciting”.

This “excellent takeaway on Tynemouth’s busy Front Street” – with “adjacent restaurant also popular with locals for its extended menu” of “attractively presented, super-fresh seafood” – was founded 10 years ago by Simon Walsh, a chef with a background in fine-dining. Top Tip – “expect queues at weekends”.

Chef Corrie Thomas and husband Lou have re-created the food they discovered during a long stint in Vietnam at this shack-like café in a shopping parade outside Whitley Bay. The “dishes show not just love but a real understanding of the South-East Asian food they serve” and the “atmosphere is charming” too. For regulars who’ve been quietly enjoying the “excellent outfit” for almost a decade, it’s “a great shame that Jay Rayner (in March 2024) has now given this a rave review” (citing “cracking” dishes such as the beef and peanut curry) since “it‘s already really hard to get a booking”.

Scheduled for a late 2025 opening, a modern Scandi-style restaurant to be built in the walled garden of Close House in the Tyne Valley, now part of a golf course. It's from the high-achieving owners of Hjem in Wall – Swedish chef Alex Nietosvuori and his Northumberland-born partner Ally Thompson – who will work their magic on produce from the garden and meat, game and fish from within a 30-mile radius.

Despite arguably being the “most understated place in Newcastle”, this “unpretentious” 15-seater in a block in a residential part of Sandyford is a “special place well deserving of anyone‘s attention” (and securing Jay Rayner’s in his November 2023 review, who found it decidedly “one of the great places”, while pleading with owner Sam Betts to increase wine mark-ups and reduce portion sizes). Delivering “the most generous and delicious food with care and passion”, it “feels like you’re in a proper home cook’s restaurant on the Continent, but with brilliant British food”.

A “reliable” neighbourhood restaurant and wine bar from Loire Valley native Cédric Boc-Ho and Northumberland-born wife Catherine which is set under the old railway arches near Newcastle Central station. Its “very sound” French brasserie food (“tapas-style” in part, though there is also a well-priced ‘formule du midi’) makes it “ideal for lunch”, but the cosy all-rounder is “also a good evening spot” too.