North Petherton, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “lovely little neighbourhood restaurant tucked away in a sort of arcade” is “head and shoulders above the competition in the culinary desert of Taunton” and has been “reliably excellent over many years”, charming its legion of devotees by means of an “always interesting menu (fantastic daily specials to boot)” and a “very professional and likeable team” led by chef Richard Guest and FOH Cedric Chirrosel, the founders back in 2011. Top Tip – “a mainly game-led seasonal menu before Christmas was particularly good, without being overly festive in an Xmassy way”.

Nicholas Balfe – who honed his art working at hip London venues like St John, Rochelle Canteen and Moro – decamped to this rural village in 2021, and has transformed a bank into a “charming” modernist dining room where you can opt to sit at the chef’s counter for added drama. The “terrific value lunch” (£35 for three courses) remains a highlight of the “interesting and inventive menu”, with added charms including the “convivial atmosphere” and beautiful rooms available if you wish to stay overnight. Reflecting the restaurant’s focus on seasonality, Balfe leads occasional foraging experiences in the fields and woodlands around the venue.

2023 Review: This 500-year-old building in a “beautiful part of Somerset” now houses an “excellent dining pub” that “serves up top-class modern British dishes using brilliant local ingredients”. Chef Olly Jackson and his manager wife Rebecca “used to run the nearby and sadly missed Langford Fivehead hotel”.

“Everything a country pub should be” on the edge of the Somerset Levels – locally born chef Alasdair Clifford (ex-Chez Bruce and Harwood Arms) serves “excellent and interesting variations on well-liked dishes” in the dining room, there’s a “friendly reception” from his wife Victoria Collins, and a “separate (dog-friendly) bar” that still feels appropriately pubby. They also run a bakery in an old cider barn on the farm next door, and offer three different accommodation options.

2024 Review: As the name suggests, “a great, intimate atmosphere” is found at this seventeenth-century village inn, which is “a cut above the usual for style and service”. Charlotte Vincent was crowned ‘pub chef of the year’ in the 2023 Great British Pub Awards – she sends out “a varied range of dishes, nearly all locally sourced and precisely cooked”, such as a bar snack of roasted marrow bone and Porlock Bay oyster with garlic butter and sourdough bread.