A whopping sixteen pubs have been featured on the Michelin Guide and the Top 100 Gastropubs list, even more of a reason for you to start discovering the outstanding culinary delights the UK has to offer.
Hand & Flowers, Marlow
Kicking things off with the only Top 50 Gastropub with 2 Michelin Stars, Tom Kerridge’s Hand & Flowers has retained for another year. With previous Chef of the Year winner Tom De Keyser at the helm, this culinary hot spot is visited by thousands of eager foodies from across the country and world each year.
The ethos of the menu is ‘all about brilliant ingredients, cooked simply to let the flavours shine’. Expect dishes to start such as Cornish "tin mine" tart with spiced date sauce, soft cheddar and crispy beef. Follow it up with a main of tenderloin of pork roasted with liquorice, malted cheek, potato risotto, Irish kale and brassica & anchovy ketchup. If there’s still room for something sweet, then why not tuck into a banana soufflé with vanilla custard ice cream and milk chocolate & plantation original dark rum sauce
Black Swan Oldstead, Oldstead
The one Michelin Starred Black Swan has also been awarded a Green Star for their sustainability efforts. Chef-patron Tommy Banks and his family have pulled together one of the finest dining establishments on offer in the north of England.
The pub offers a tasting menu which they say, ‘allows us to bring together everything that we have grown, foraged and developed into a purposefully designed experience.’
Their menu is inspired by ingredients they can forage from their local surroundings, offering fresh and delicious dishes such as baron Bigod, pickled walnut and truffle, or mallard, parsnip and damson.
Bridge Arms, Canterbury
Originally a coaching inn dating back to the 16th century, this venue is overseen by Chef-patron Daniel Smith, Top 50 Gastropubs Chef of the Year 2024. He’s joined by his wife Natasha who helps create the perfect warming atmosphere.
With Michelin saying ingredients are ‘treated with exacting detail by the chefs, resulting in beautifully seasoned dishes’.
The gastropub offers food focused on seasonality and provenance that is all cooked over charcoal from a local Kentish woodland. Expect dishes such as chicken liver parfait, plum and onion milk loaf to start followed by south coast hake, grilled leek, brown shrimp and warm tartar sauce.
Dog and Gun Inn, Skelton
A historic pub known for its cosy atmosphere and traditional British dishes. Nestled in the picturesque village of Skelton, it offers a warm welcome to locals and visitors alike, serving delicious food and drinks in a charming setting with friendly service.
Taster menus can be enjoyed for a modest £85 and include dishes such as sourdough crusted cod loin with Vermouth butter sauce and gribiche, or Pringle House lamb with roasted cauliflower and salsa verde. Finish your meal with a sweet treat of saffron poached pears with pistachio crumble and wildflower honey.
Fordwich Arms, Canterbury
Sister venue to Bridge Arms, this gastropub uses local Kentish ingredients, which are sourced direct from nearby farms and producers, to create outstanding dishes.
The Michelin website says ‘The cooking is modern, creative and sometimes playful but this is never at the expense of flavour’.
Dishes on the a la carte menu have included raw Orkney scallop, green pepper, cucumber and smoked butter to start, or a main of middle white pork loin, black garlic, nashi pear and kale. Why not finish your meal with a sweet treat or tuck into their cheese menu.
Harwood Arms, Fulham, London
The only Michelin-starred pub in London this pub is a foodie institution boasting some impressive credentials. The gastropub prides itself on being “not your average gastropub” and is hidden away in Fulham’s backstreets offering award-winning food and wine in a casual and relaxed environment.
The menu is British to the core with Michelin saying ‘Well-balanced dishes burst with flavour and allow each main ingredient to shine by keeping things simple’.
Expect delicious handcrafted bar snacks like venison scotch eggs and potato crisps with cod roe. Mains include roast Cornish monkfish with crispy oyster, butternut squash and sage and Berkshire fallow deer with pale ale, prune and spring onion.
Heft, High Newton
2024’s Highest Climber announced earlier this year, Heft is a 17th century Inn owned and run by Kevin and Nicola Tickle. Kevin is the man behind the stove, and in his restaurant, diners can expect to eat dishes that offer a unique take on modern British cooking, grounded in a wealth of local reared and farmed produce.
Expect dishes that highlight Cumbrian produce such as kohlrabi, horseradish and walnut or low & slow beef shin with allium and ramson. Finish the meal with Yorkshire rhubarb, buttermilk and brown butter crunch, or a selection of local cheeses.
Masons Arms, Knowstone
Headed by chef-owner Mark and partner Sarah Dodson, the inn features seasonal, and ever-changing, lunch and Sunday lunch menus alongside an à la carte offer typically including fresh fish and locally sourced meat.
Michelin says ‘The cooking is more sophisticated than you might expect to find in a pub, with a concise seasonal menu of attractively presented dishes firmly rooted in British and French classics’.
Mains have previously included potato rosti with roasted vegetables, poached egg, herb oil and balsamic reduction; fillet of seabass with carrot, ginger, tempura prawns and aioli.
Pipe and Glass, South Dalton
James and Kate Mackenzie’s Yorkshire pub, as you should rightly expect, offers hearty and moreish dishes only, cooked from the heart. The menu ranges from traditional, but polished, takes on pub classics to more extravagant restaurant-style offerings.
Starters have included potted pork, with sticky apple and crackling salad, sage butter and spelt toast, or beetroot tartare with pickled golden beetroot, confit egg yolk, Yorkshire pecorino and nasturtium. Mains could be a dish of fillet of wild halibut with creamed leeks, brown butter hash brown, black garlic, crispy confit chicken wing, winter truffle, or barbecued Yorkshire Dales lamb rump with glazed lamb rib, feta and mint potato croquette, baby carrots, gremolata.
Star Inn at Harome, Harome
Re-entering the Top 50 Gastropubs list this year after a devastating fire in 2021, Andrew Pern’s The Star has become synonymous across the country with a dedication to fine produce and playful but refined cooking.
The Michelin website says ‘Head Chef Steve Smith’s cooking has a classical base with modern overtones, and Yorkshire leads the way in rich, gutsy, flavour-driven dishes’.
Enjoy “rich man, poor man” style cooking like Pern’s best-known dish of pan-fried foie gras teamed with rich black pudding, doused in a sticky scrumpy cider reduction.
The Angel at Hetton, Hetton
The venue was awarded its star in 2019, just 12 months after Michael Wignall took over the venue and maintained the accolade for the following years. The previous Chef of the Year winner has gathered a strong team around him, the combined skills and experience of whom will take the Angel to a brighter future.
The a la carte menu is carefully and skilfully prepared by Michael and his team each day, using the freshest, seasonal ingredients. Expect dishes like roasted turbot, kohlrabi, brown shrimp, razor clam, Mylor prawns and winter leaves, or fallow deer, chervil root, poached fig, green peppercorn and pine.
The Coach, Marlow
Tom Kerridge’s second site, the Coach, is a sleek, modern bistro-style pub serving small, tapas style dishes. At the helm you’ll find chef Sarah Hayward is ensuring the venue’s culinary credentials exceed expectations.
Michelin says ‘Although the dishes are simple to look at, they're bursting with punchy flavours’.
At the centre of the operation is the pub’s glorious rotisserie which are used to make dishes such as whole stuffed rotisserie quail with toasted barley, smoked bacon and Dordogne butter or rotisserie beetroot salad with mulled pear, burrata and hazelnuts.
The Cross, Kenilworth
Situated in the historic town of Kenilworth, the Cross operates under chef director Adam Bennett. The pub was awarded their first Michelin Star just 12 months after opening in September 2014, which they have retained ever since.
Michelin says the menu features ‘bold, classically based dishes which champion local produce and are re-mastered, refined and raised to a level that will really impress’.
You could be dining on delights such as fillet of Cornish monkfish with caramelised onion risotto, cavolo nero, red wine sauce and onion crumb, or loin of Highland venison with smoked beetroot, blackberry, pearl barley, venison jus with Madagascan pepper.
Royal Oak Whatcote, Whatcote
Run by husband-and-wife team Richard and Solanche Craven, the Royal Oak is a Michelin-starred pub that dates back more than 800 years. Produce is mostly sourced from the surrounding countryside and trusted farmers with game and foraged ingredients fuelling the imagination that goes into a constantly changing menu.
Dishes have included the likes of fallow buck tartare with Tewkesbury mustard and radish for starters or Paddock Farm beef with carrot and cow's curd. Follow up with a dessert, pour over coffee and petit fours.
The Sportsman, Seasalter
Having been named number one in the Top 50 Gastropubs list since 2015, the pub, owned by Steven Harris, has retained its Michelin Star for another year. Dishes served at the Sportsman are sourced almost exclusively from the land surrounding the pub.
The self-taught chef serves a tasting menu which starts with dishes such as three poached rock oysters, pickled cucumber and Avruga caviar, followed by roast breast of Aylesbury duck (served pink) with spiced roasting juices and orange. Finish the meal off with a Bramley apple soufflé with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel.
White Swan, Fence
The gastropub is fronted by fantastic foursome Gareth, Laura, Liv and mischievous genius Tom Parker in the kitchen. Tom devotes all his attention and energies towards curating a handsome and clever menu at the Michelin-starred pub.
Michelin says ‘The concise menu allows the kitchen to concentrate on producing good value cooking from small batches of locally sourced produce’.
Though the White Swan will never be able to say exactly what is on its menu until you arrive, previous dishes have included: lobster soup, salmon, fennel and tarragon; Whitewell partridge, roast celeriac, smoked bacon and onion.
