Wells Restaurant Guide

“Always a treat to eat” at Adam & Martine Fellows’ “friendly, very enjoyable fish-oriented restaurant” – an established feature of the area for over 20 years which moved to this smartly decorated site in 2022, where they also run a cookery school. Fans “love being able to see what’s happening in the open plan kitchen”, say the food “melts in the mouth” and “a definite plus is that every course comes with its own vegetables… it’s a pet hate when they are extra!”

The 17th-century coaching inn exterior belies Ayesha Kalai’s decidedly different outfit (but then again it does exotically draw its name from the tarot deck, in a nod to its mystical Glastonbury setting). On the menu, “interesting Middle Eastern food” served in small-plates style (including “wonderful [laver]bread” falafel or hogget and apricot merguez). Playfulness is the order of the day at this outfit, overseen by ‘kitchen mumma’ (as she calls herself on the website) Ayesha and team.

From “recommended for brunch with quality ingredients” to “friendly staff and very good atmosphere, but the Somerset burger was really not good!” – This new venue backed by the team from the nearby The Newt country estate hotel inspired somewhat mixed food (too limited for a rating) reviews in our annual diners’ poll, but everyone liked the general scene. They’ve spent a packet on the place, gorgeously scrubbing up the brick-walled, 1912 ‘Milk Factory’ next to Castle Cary station to create a ‘community hub’. On a November 2024 visit, The Sunday Times’s Charlotte Ivers found it akin to “the countryside designed by someone who has never left Notting Hill”.

In this increasingly arty part of Somerset, gallery owner Max Wigram’s “destination pub” – also the first venture outside the capital for Margot Henderson of London’s Rochelle Canteen fame, with Nye Smith overseeing the retro cooking on a day-to-day basis. While the village venture attracted quite some attention on opening in 2023 (“takes your nightmare of school food and elevates it to dreamlike status”, breathed William Sitwell), feedback this year was somewhat muted (ranging from reports of “very good” fish to more “varied food standards”).