Woburn Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: “All food pubs should be like this!” – according to fans of this “perfect pit stop” on the outskirts of town. “You can’t fault the intent or enthusiasm of the service and the food, if unadventurous, is very decent”.

Choose from either the 16-seat chef’s table experience or eating in the main restaurant if you visit this ambitious venue under chef Scott Barnard’s (two times runner-up in Masterchef: The Professionals). The former is £135 per person, while the latter provides a three-course meal for £80 per person. Feedback is limited but says “it’s very good”.

“A hidden gem, off the beaten track in Ashridge Forest”, this village pub is “well worth finding” for its “very interesting menu (that changes every fortnight) and pretty rural location” just outside London. David & Becky Salisbury have been at the helm for more than 25 years, and ensure that the kitchen keeps abreast of contemporary dietary requirements.

“Fascinating dishes served with enthusiasm” make a meal at this small tasting menu-only restaurant on the edge of town “a great experience”. Steven Barringer is a “passionate chef” heading a young team “who clearly care” and he takes the time to chat to his guests, while his cooking is both “interesting and subtle”, in particular the “superb fish dishes” and “amazing desserts”.

Two minutes from the station, a scion from the dynasty behind the famous Brilliant Indian restaurant in Southall has spread her wings to open a 150-cover venue in the shiny new Unity Place development in late 2023; dusting off some of her family’s oldest recipes (and there’s an in-house microbrewery too). No survey feedback as yet, but in her June 2024 review, The Guardian’s Grace Dent declared it one of the best things to have happened to Milton Keynes in ages – “absolutely charming” once you leave the exterior streetscape behind, with “light, thoughtful cooking that determinedly sets out to incapacitate you, with lovely, kind service”.

“A hidden gem in the Buckinghamshire countryside” – this thatched pub has a “beautiful” village location, despite being just five miles outside of Aylesbury. A small fan club holds it in high esteem, proclaiming its “fabulous value and super atmosphere”. Chef Tom Moody is one of the two partners running the pub since 2021, and provides a menu that’s more pub-appropriate than pub-grub (e.g. Spiced, glazed lamb’s neck, Braised Beef Cheek, Teriyaki Duck Breast with Black Pudding Bon Bon).

Open in July 2025, a newly opened gastropub set in a 450-year-old coaching inn (that was previously operating as a restaurant). Led by Chef Alex Corley and Operations Manager Adam Msetfi, the pub offers modern British cuisine in a historic setting. Samples dishes include Cornish crab tartlet, elderflower and Granny Smith apple; Brioche doughnuts with pulled beef; Herefordshire rump of beef, Blythburgh Farm pork belly, and North Devon roast chicken.