Witham, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: In a village a short drive outside Chelmsford, this converted sixteenth-century pub has fine countryside views and provides a traditionally comfortable destination, complete with linen tablecloths, candles and cut glass. It wins good all-round feedback (if not a huge volume of reviews) and its modern brasserie fare (with steak, beef Wellington and cote de boeuf to share a highlight) helps it regularly feature in Essex food awards. (Owners Brendan Curran & Justin Mullender are also known for the quality of their put-downs on Tripadvisor!)

2023 Review: “A good-to-find culinary outpost in an area with few interesting eating spots” – this “welcoming” gastropub is well worth remembering: “a steady hand in the kitchen meets good ingredients, and if food and wine both tread a relatively safe path, it’s no less enjoyable for that”.

2024 Review: This “lovely old Essex pub” with a white wooden facade serves food that is “well above average for pub grub” – and its popularity means it “gets overcrowded and noisy” at times. Originally three weavers’ cottages from 1460, the building was converted two centuries later using beams salvaged from naval vessels docked at Tilbury. Top Menu Tip – “the skate wing is delicious”.

Surprise! Paul Wendholt announced the closure of his tiny operation ‘in the heart of Colchester town centre in the shadow of a multi storey car park’, only in August to dub 2025 ‘The Year of the U-Turn’ with reopening announced in September. The format is little-changed: there’s a full seven-course tasting menu for £90 per person, with a short one for £65 available all week except Saturday evenings. Our diners will be pleased: they say, “this restaurant has had a consistently high standard since it first opened in 2016 as Grain. Their tasting menu is delicious from course to course with lovely combinations of flavours. Service is friendly and knowledgeable”.