Newcastle Upon Tyne Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: This Art Deco (1938) landmark (incorporating Newcastle's only surviving indie cinema) closed for much of the COVID-19 pandemic and started a phased reopening in August 2021. The coffee rooms are in the final phase following a new floor and refurbishment of furnishings throughout the building.

2019 Review: “Top Malaysian food” plus the ability to BYO, both win praise for this simple, “cheap ’n’ cheerful” city-centre spot, which makes a feature of a selection of clay pot dishes.

Roberto & Walter Pani’s Tyneside fixture (est. 1995) is “still a very reliable venue after all these years”, serving an Italian menu with “interesting Sardinian specialities” – and there’s “always a great vibe both lunchtime and evenings”.

2019 Review: “Andrew Wilkinson consistently produces meals bursting with flavour from first rate, locally sourced, ingredients” in the “unique setting” of this converted Victorian warehouse (part of the UK’s largest arts and crafts galleries): “a banker of a restaurant, with interesting monthly tasting menus and ‘fish Friday’ options”.

Terry Laybourne’s “buzzy Quayside fixture” is “clearly the place to be in the Toon” – “reliably pleasing and deservedly popular” after providing “top-quality dining at surprisingly affordable prices” for 35 years. Top Tip – “great pre-theatre prix-fixe menu” ahead of a visit to the Sage, just across the Millennium Bridge.

“An old building, with lots of candles and nooks and crannies” – “this beautiful 13th century former Dominican friary” is particularly “atmospheric in winter” (but it also has “a lovely courtyard area for summer dining”). From its bistro/brasserie-style menu, there’s “always a good choice of dishes based on good local produce” and its standards are “accomplished and reliable”.

2021 Review: Terry Laybourne’s 21 Group closed the beloved Caffè Vivo in August 2018 to much local ire, but after a remarkably short interregnum, the space was “reinvented as an imaginative, wine-led tapas restaurant” (“still with an Italian slant”, and featuring a new bar and metro-chic décor). Reassuringly, head chef Emanuele Lattanzi, a carry-over from the Vivo days, oversees the menu, which dances about all over the place (mac ‘n’ cheese, black pudding, etc.) but so far it’s the “fascinating wine list” which draws all the comments.

The route in question is that from castle to Quayside – the street where John Calton’s “lovely and intimate” modern bistro is located. There’s nothing but praise for the “exceedingly creative and imaginative menu, featuring original combinations and matched with a good value wine list”. Top Menu Tip – “Oh, the treacle bread…”

Casual fine dining is the style nowadays at this buzzy Quayside destination, which occupies an address made famous in its days as ‘21 Queen Street’ (long RIP). There is a conventional two-course/three-course menu, but also competitively priced 5-course and 7-courses options featuring more “unusual taste combinations”. All are well-reviewed as “always reliable” and “delicious” as is the “friendly and attentive service”. See also its siblings: Blackfriars Restaurant in Newcastle and Hinnies in Whitley Bay.

“Quality locally sourced food” “in an excellent refurbished pub close to the Quayside” wins consistently high ratings across the board for this long-running collaboration (12 years and counting) between Terry Laybourne’s 21 Hospitality Group and the neighbouring Live Theatre, a theatre for new writing.

“A very pleasant change from some of the run-of-the-mill Asian offerings elsewhere in Newcastle” – this “very nice South Indian restaurant” which doesn’t have the greatest entrance (“entry is via a door on a different street and up a flight of stairs”). “An excellent range of dosas” is the highlight of its “excellent value and very consistent food”. Top Tip – “Sunday buffet is especially good value and a great introduction to South Indian cuisine for those unfamiliar and/or unsure what to order”.

Kenny & Abbie Atkinson’s Grade I-listed sixteenth-century merchant’s house on the old Quayside is frequently hailed as Newcastle’s best restaurant, and it’s historically the most renowned of the city’s more ambitious culinary destinations. And its “lovely, informal, friendly atmosphere makes this haute cuisine dining experience an all-round joy”. The worst thing anyone said about the food this year? “The caviar was a bit soft and non-descript” [first world problems! Ed].

“Wood-fired wonders from one of Newcastle’s best!” – a “tremendous menu” of “raw-in-tooth-and-claw meat cooking over open flame” draws aficionados to this “wonderful location, right under the Tyne Bridge”. There’s “nothing here I could cook at home – many things I couldn’t even imagine. Risky, but it works!”

2022 Review: Consistently inconsistent ratings on the food front were echoed again this year (reports ranging from “quite ordinary” and “pricey” to “very good”), but by common consent the “amazing views” and “plentiful outdoor seating” make this upscale art gallery restaurant “worth the visit”.

2022 Review: You wouldn’t necessarily expect it from the unassuming façade, but former River Café alum Nick Grieve's “small but adventurous” bistro on the main road through Jesmond turns out some “outstanding quality” food – currently in the format of a six-course, no-choice menu (£59).

2021 Review: The “excellent Persian food” at this “friendly” Jesmond spot wins high ratings for “one of the cheapest restaurants in Newcastle for cooking of high quality”. A more central branch near the station has closed down.

A “really excellent find in a charming location”, “Anna Hedworth’s flagship restaurant in the Ouseburn serves an unusual and interesting menu” in “a quirky building just away from the city centre”. The former Quo Vadis and Rochelle Canteen chef started out here in a shipping container, before graduating to this upstairs, open-kitchen venue. (“Flawless… high praise from a veggie going to a ‘normal’ restaurant!”)

2022 Review: This Punjabi curry house behind Central Station has become a Toon institution over almost 40 years. It has been owned since 2000 by chef Bob Arora, who was a regular customer before taking over.