Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Windermere
Hardens guides have spent 30 years compiling reviews of the best Windermere restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 14 restaurants in Windermere and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Windermere restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Windermere Restaurants
1. Cedar Manor
British, Modern restaurant in Windermere
Ambleside Road - LA23
2019 Review: Small boutique hotel a short walk from Windermere with an attractive, traditional dining room serving a good-value, prix fixe menu of straightforward, enjoyable dishes.
2. Henrock
British, Modern restaurant in Windermere
Linthwaite Hall, Crook Road - LA23
Simon Rogan is running this October 2019 newcomer at Windermere’s extensively revamped Linthwaite House which, since 2016, has benefited from over £12m of refurbishment and expansion. Under head chef, Brian Limoges, the culinary style is much more straightforward and inexpensive than L’Enclume.
3. Langdale Chase
British, Modern restaurant in Windermere
Ambleside Road - LA23
2019 Review: Few venues enjoy as stunning a location as this hotel within a Victorian mansion, overlooking Lake Windermere (which for a year now has been part of the House of Daniel Thwaites hotel and pub portfolio). Feedback was too limited for a rating this year, but such as we had was all positive, including for afternoon tea.
4. HRiSHi, Gilpin Lodge
British, Modern restaurant in Windermere
Crook Rd - LA23
“The best local ingredients are married with spices and great originality” at Hrishikesh Desai’s swish dining room – the posher of the two eating options at this plush hotel, set “in a gorgeous Lake District setting” (see also Gilpin Spice). It offers a variety of modern British menus which provide “a hint of Indian influence in some of the dishes, but the resulting food is in no way overpowering: rather it is delicate and full of wonderful flavours”. “From the moment of arrival up to the moment of departure you are cosseted in a traditional but not suffocating way – a real pleasure”.
5. The Samling
British, Modern restaurant in Windermere
Ambleside Road - LA23
“Magnificent views over Lake Windermere” are part of the appeal of this celebrated county hotel, which gained a fancy new glass-walled restaurant, wine cellar and chef’s table a few years back. It attracted the odd middling rating last year, but most feedback has remained very upbeat as chef Robby Jenks (from Newbury’s Vineyard at Stockcross) succeeded Peter Howarth in spring 2019, and we’ve maintained its ratings as an “amazing” all-rounder.
6. Gilpin Spice, Gilpin Lodge
restaurant in Windermere
Crook Road - LA23
“A great addition to Gilpin Lodge” – this “funky, delightful restaurant” (the more casual of the hotel’s two dining rooms overseen by Hrishikesh Desai) serves up “bold flavours and panache”, with “a leaning towards India, particularly southern India, but also drawing inspiration from beyond”: “undeniably gorgeous!”
7. Holbeck Ghyll
French restaurant in Windermere
Holbeck Lane - LA23
“Luxury, on all fronts” helps summarise the appeal of a meal at this well-known Lakeland hotel: originally built as a hunting lodge with a “gorgeous” wood-panelled, traditional dining room and “sensational views” over Lake Windermere. Fans applaud its “truly elegant” cuisine too, but ratings are capped by sceptics who consider the performance “overrated”.
8. Homeground
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Windermere
“This place is never quiet” – “they serve the best coffee (from Carvetii) for miles around and their creative breakfasts and brunches are out of this world”.
9. First Floor Café, Lakeland Limited
British, Modern restaurant in Windermere
Alexandra Buildings - LA23
2017 Review: “Attuned to the psychology of the middle-class shoppers who want a break from their status-enhancing kitchen products” – bought in the downstairs cookware shop – this mountain-view café, helmed by ex-Gavroche chef Steven Doherty, mixes a “solid range of light lunches and snacks” with a “nice sofa area to read the papers” afterwards.
10. Hooked
Fish & seafood restaurant in Windermere
Ellerthwaite Square - LA23
“Fresh fish perfectly cooked on the bone” is a highlight of a visit to this well-established if “basic” venue, which continues to garner positive reports in the main. The owners launched a sibling, Urban Food House, offering pizza and other casual fare, in Bowness, in August 2018.
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