Rawtenstall Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: “Great food and also a sense that they are putting back into the community” inspires support for this pub-with-rooms on the village green. Run as a youth-focused social enterprise, supporting young people to access training and paid work experience, it has won a string of awards over its almost ten years in operation. In summer, its ‘Incredible Edible Beer Garden’ comes into its own: almost an acre in size and with lots of interest as well as outside seating.

“The best… a real pub, with good ales and wine and unbelievable food!” – Gareth & Laura Ostick’s “fabulous” boozer looks just like a normal pub but chef Tom Parker’s cuisine is anything but and “incredible value”. “Glorious seasonal fare is served by a young and enthusiastic team and washed down with interesting wines” either from a four-course menu for £65 per person; or a five-course selection for £85 per person. Some dishes – Herdwick Lamb with olive oil mash – are founded in tradition, but the vegetarian option in particular is a far cry from it, with dishes such as Pickled Cucumber with Wasabi, Buttermilk and Dill.

2023 Review: “Simplicity” combines with “top quality” at Carlow-born Breda Murphy’s deli-restaurant, a popular destination in the Ribble Valley since 2006 for her Anglo-Irish home-style cooking. “At first it feels overly conservative, but every dish is perfectly cooked, often with a small and interesting twist such as thick-cut lime and soy-cured salmon.”

Opinions are somewhat divided this year on this famous pub with rooms in the Ribble Valley, where chef Steve Smith departed in mid 2024 for the bright lights of Manchester. Fans say its production of “Michelin-starred service, wines and food, all without the aspirations and fuss”, continues unabated and feel “you don’t get much better than this for quality and value”. But it also inspired a couple of disappointments this year, including amongst former fans, who perceive “a lack of heart or passion” to recent meals, or who have found some dishes “uninspired and poorly prepared”. Hopefully teething problems?

Victor Yu’s enjoyably flash Cantonese pub conversion in the Ribble Valley guarantees a “perfect night out with good food” – and is “just as brilliant as ever” after 22 years. He opened a spin-off in Manchester last year, Choi Wan in the new House of Social food hall, inspired by Hong Kong-style street food.

This award-winning curry house from Mohammad Ali continues to punch above its weight (geddit), having expanded three times over the years to its current 205-seater size; the Ribble Valley spot offers a “really nice atmosphere and lovely food” to match, with one fan who has “been going for over 25 years, so rigorous testing” (indeed) claiming that they have “yet to find one to beat” its Lamb Madras.

Dark greige and blond wood abound at this ‘Scandinavian Neighbourhood Bar & Restaurant’ in the boonies of North Manchester, which is celebrating its fifth year in 2025. It’s run by chef Danielle Heron and business partner Sofie Götberg, and even those who say “it’s not in a very prepossessing location and has a fairly plain interior” feel “the food is worth a visit”. That’s the least enthusiastic report! Feedback from locals suggests it does exactly what it sets out to: “with a changing weekly menu, the food at Osma is fantastic. Danielle and her team work really hard to bring creative dishes in taster-style portions to my local area. Front of house service is professional and welcoming, with staff knowledgeable on the food and wine they serve”.

Even in the foodie hotspot that is the Ribble Valley, chef-patron Michael Heathcote’s well-known destination stands out for its “relaxing pub atmosphere, great real ale and copious pub fare at fair prices”.

“Almost like a speakeasy to get into”, and based in a railway arch, but once inside you’ll find a “totally charming place” that makes for “the perfect cheap ’n’ cheerful night out”. The MO is “fabulous” and “slightly bonkers”: spätzle (a Swabian, noodle-like pasta dish) is the star of the show, with William Sitwell in his June 2025 review – one of many journos to rave about what he called this “Manchester institution” – claiming that “all seems well with the world as you guzzle them”; also on the menu, other “great-value Polish and Eastern European food”, all of which is “wonderfully presented” too. No wonder fans “love everything about this place”.

“Much more than a pub!” – this once abandoned Victorian boozer was resurrected in 2021 after a decade and a half in the doldrums; now a globetrotting and “high-quality” restaurant out back (‘The Glass Room’), plus a front room offering more casual but “solid” grub, it’s “worth walking out to” the borough of Salford, in the Greater Manchester ‘burbs, to enjoy – and if you take your friends along for the ride they’ll be “duly impressed”.

2022 Review: “Busy”, huge and gaudy Cantonese that sits over the Wing Yip Oriental supermarket, where you can choose from over 300 dishes on the menu. It’s one of the few places left in town (in the country?) where dim sum still comes on trolleys.

On the ground floor of the city’s stunning, Gothic Revival Town Hall, this all-day restaurant (breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea, dinner) offers a menu of hearty, traditional Lancashire dishes listed as ‘Rochdale Town Hall Classics’ (e.g. Black pudding scotch egg, Braised steak and ale pie). No reports as yet, but in his November 2024 review The Observer’s Jay Rayner was left “slack-jawed” by the architecture and impressed by a civic amenity delivered with a combination of professionalism, good sense, taste and skill (“every town should have one”). Reports please!

“Great Yorkshire-Italian cuisine” from York-born Poppy Cartwright: a former fashion designer who was inspired to cook by her Sicilian grandmother and launched a home-based supper club with her husband, Matthew Shelton. Now in a former Victorian butchers shop, they serve a set five-course meal (with vegetarian options) on Friday and Saturday nights, using their own hand-made bowls and plates (they also host cooking and art classes on the premises).

2024 Review: A “great fit-out” of a former bank has resulted in this very cool destination, run by two alumni of the Moorcock Inn at Sowerby Bridge. It’s “a lovely place to while away a couple of hours” (in the company of your canine if you like), where the concise menu revolves around punchy and “great small plates, including charcuterie and cheese” and there’s “a dependable wine list too”.

This year-old pizzeria from the team behind Shawbridge Cicchetti and Parlour cocktail bar has made an early impression on locals for its good-value offering.

“Interesting up-and-coming new arrival” in a “converted Ribble Valley pub” (previously the Buck Inn, in a village near Clitheroe), “still with a small bar for locals but more a restaurant for a frocked-up clientele”. “Personable” chef-patron Bob Geldeard talks guests through “a very ambitious and well-executed seven-course tasting menu for £70 per person” (set, seasonal and Sunday menus are also available), while his partner Kiaja heads “well-drilled staff”.

2024 Review: Opened in August 2022 in a former Chinese takeaway/chip shop, this ‘authentic Hong Kong’ (their words) venue shot to local fame on the back of an April 2023 review from The Observer’s Jay Rayner, who enjoyed its “profoundly comforting” dishes, with the “textural joys” of both traditionally Asian “slippery foods” and plenty of deep-fried, crunchy ones (including “very good chicken wings”). Reports please!