Rugby Restaurant Guide

This “fabulous French bistro” with a “lovely ambience” is owned by Aubrey Allen, the family-run butcher’s to the Royal Family, so “delicious” meats such as dry-aged steaks are a given, and feature alongside all the traditional fare you’d expect if this was a corner of France. It’s “excellent value” too – “their (£28, three-course) set menu on Tuesday ‘Auberge Nights’ is not to be missed”, with “wonderful service” contributing to a “very pleasant evening” indeed.

2023 Review: “A great surprise! An authentic Italian restaurant with a broad menu of very good food and wine” – “delivered with panache and generosity”. The “beautiful and romantic decor, with cherry trees garlanded with tiny lights” only adds to the appeal.

“Adam Bennett produces dishes of supreme quality, prepared with flair and skill” at this top-class gastroboozer, whose dining room occupies a 19th-century former schoolroom, and whose bar occupies an old butcher’s. It received nothing but praise this year for what is a “fantastic dining experience and great value for money despite the ‘cost of living crisis’”. It’s worth noting, however, that in January 2025, owner Andreas Antona announced his retirement after 50 starry years in the industry, putting the legendary Simpson’s in Brum up for sale; while the latter’s fate remains in the balance, one regular here is “confident the superlative standards will be maintained” – and there’s a good chance they will, given that Antona has happily decided to carry on overseeing this venture alongside other personal projects.

2022 Review: It’s “nice to eat outside by the canal on a sunny day” at this well-run casual spot, with a useful menu of grills and sarnies.

2022 Review: The oak-panelled dining room at this Lutyens-style Relais & Château spa hotel makes a suitable setting for chef Paul Evans to showcase fresh produce from the hotel’s long-established kitchen garden. Long-serving chef-director Simon Haigh oversees the Eden hotel collection’s culinary offering from this flagship restaurant.

2024 Review: With its oak beams and flagstone floors, this family-run rural gastropub between Leicester and Lutterworth continues to win a solid thumbs up from Midlands-based reporters in our annual diners’ poll. The fairly traditional, bistro-style cooking (e.g. chicken liver parfait, steak or seabass, panna cotta) is in a more ambitious mould than typical pub grub.