Stoke Holy Cross, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “terrific find just outside Norwich” is an “excellent gastropub” with “really pleasant staff” – owned and run by locally born chef Daniel Smith, it’s “sister to the Ingham Swan and just as good”. Originally a village pub called the Red Lion, it was re-named with an African theme as the Wildebeest by a previous owner, and the name stuck. Top Tip – “the daily fixed-price lunch is very good and very good value”.

“French-inspired fine dining in a cosy room” – using “high-quality ingredients” and “intricately presented” to showcase “the skills of the chef” – has won a national reputation for this long-running fixture “in one of the well-preserved historic quarters of the city”. The ratings slipped a touch this year, accompanied by a couple of reports from erstwhile local fans who bemoaned staff turnover post-Covid and an experience that was “disappointing” compared with past years. But they are still outweighed by those who say: “We have dined a good few times over the years and the high standards have remained consistent”.

“Great local Norfolk ingredients are used to good effect” at Richard Bainbridge’s inviting if simply decorated destination that’s “probably still the joint best restaurant in Norwich”, and as such “well worth a visit” for its “consistently good” cooking from a series of set menus that are pleasantly ambitious but without the excessive flummery of a classic tasting menu format.

Excellent feedback this year for ex-Alimentum chef Mark Poynton’s dining room in a country-house hotel a ten-minute drive from Norwich. The odd reporter feels that “the venue doesn’t match the food just yet”, but all agree that “you’re made to feel special as soon as you enter the restaurant” and that the food – which is exclusively from a tasting menu – is “fantastic”. At six courses for £49.50 per person, the entry-level option is particularly affordable.