Oakham Restaurant Guide

“An unalloyed joy” – “Neil & Louise Hitchen’s exceptional family-run restaurant” is “a wonderful, happy home of good food and charming service, delighting all who visit” with their “lovely bistro-style” meals. “Not the poshest, nor the starriest and thankfully not the most expensive, but possibly the best ‘local’ restaurant in Rutland and for miles around”, with “some innovative cooking”. Top Menu Tip – “the marmalade ‘croissant’ bread-and-butter pudding is a knockout”.

“Always a favourite”, this 17th-century country inn is a “lovely old” place – “at least in the bar and older parts” (there being a “less lovely modern bit on the back built to take advantage of the location with fine views over Rutland Water”). The “food is pretty much standard gastropub fare”, but makes for handy refuelling before a walk round the reservoir.

“A village pub, but one which serves really good French bistro food (escargots, oysters) and is excellent for fish” – owners Carol & Scott Craddock worked in London ‘fine dining’ (Bibendum, The Dorchester) before decamping to rural Rutland in 2008, creating a venue that is “more restaurant than pub, but retains a friendly local welcome and atmosphere”. Carol’s “well-sourced-and-cooked food” is backed up by “husband Scott’s truly first-class wine list” – and if it’s “a tiny bit predictable, perhaps that’s not a bad thing”. Top Menu Tip – “save room for the desserts!”.

Dating back over 1,000 years (although rebuilt many times in the interim), this marvellously grand coaching inn is “a truly wonderful institution that helps define Stamford”. “One may eat in the glorious setting of the courtyard on fine summer days, or in one of several other sites inside”, not least its “historic panelled Oak Room” (to which this review relates). “None of the food is at the pointed end of modern cooking”, being “of the gleaming trolley of roast beef and whole Dover sole mode” (or else of the “fabulous afternoon tea” mode), but – while it’s most definitely “on the pricey side” – this is arguably the kind of old-school rarity that “should be treasured” (and if you’re at all price conscious, the “good value set lunch” is the way to go). Former owner Lawrence Hoskins – whose legacy lives on in the “very decent wine list” – passed away in 2023, having celebrated 50 years at the helm just a few months earlier.

2024 Review: This “beautiful old country pub” – thatched and beamed, with a “lovely cosy atmosphere, open fire and low lighting” – serves “top-quality food” from chef Emilie Bull, backed up with an “impressive wine list” overseen by proprietor Tim Hubbard, here for 22 years with his wife Kate. “Kate and Tim know what they’re doing and they do it very well indeed” – “they’re always so friendly and happy to see you again”.

“Interesting, contemporary, fun and welcoming” – this attractive hotel just off the A1 near Peterborough had a major re-launch in 2022 and its main dining room in a converted orangery wins praise from locals for “one of the best tasting menus around and a beautiful room”. “There was a recent change of head chef” (it’s now Rikki Hughes at the stoves) “but the quality is still top notch” with an affordable a la carte ‘entry’ option at £45 per person, and an eight-course menu of real ambition for £95 per person.

This “lovely restaurant” in a splendid 300-year-old building on the High Street makes a “fantastic new addition to the market town, whether you’re here for a drink at the beautifully designed bar or a full meal” – much of the produce on the eclectic, modern menu is from the owners’ farm just out of town. Founders Ben & Toby Cripps have moved the offices of their property company Langton Homes into the building; their local hospitality group now comprises the Sun Inn, Nevill Arms and Red Lion.

The “lovely village setting by the river” helps conjure an enticing atmosphere at this tranquil Rutland pub, which was transformed in 2023 from a simple boozer into the kind of “beautiful”, “plush”, “traditional” inn that features in Telegraph Travel. “You’re guaranteed to get served excellent food here” say its local fans – dishes are of the brasserie variety (Butternut squash curry, Caesar salad, Confit duck leg) with much grilled steak and fish from the Josper Grill.

Opened in 2020 and now a firm part of the Stamford scene, Oliver & Joseph Regis’s quirky venue is a “delightful, if slightly cramped, space” in one of the town’s gorgeous 16th-century buildings, where Dameon Clarke (ex-of Rywell’s ‘Wicked Witch’) oversees the “well-accomplished food” – be it the small plates available in the bar or the relaxed fine-dining menu on offer by night.

A “lovely Italian restaurant” in this attractive town, where “the menu is fairly standard (antipasti, pizzas, tasty pastas) but the quality is high”, and there’s “absolutely delightful service” to wash it down. Even those who have “eaten here many, many times” find it “unfailingly good in all regards – food, service, ambience and pricing”. They also run a next-door deli if you fall in love with their ingredients and want to take them and cart them off to your casa.