The Top 66 Places to Eat Near The Bull's Head
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Rank 1. The Bull's Head
Farm-to-fork British Pub
Six miles of single-track road separates this former drovers' inn from Hay-on-Wye, which tells you something about the kind of quiet it keeps. Flagstone floors, slate walls, and open fires set the tone for farm-to-fork pub cooking that runs on meat from the owners' regenerative farm and produce from the surrounding Black Mountains valley. Dogs are welcome in the bar, cabins sit on the grounds, and the Sunday roast is not negotiable.
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Rank 2. Walnut Tree
Modern British
The open fire in the bar sets the tone before you've even sat down: this is a Michelin-starred restaurant in rural Monmouthshire that feels nothing like one. Shaun Hill is a chef's chef's chef, the kind whose classical training shows up not in fussy presentations but in the quiet confidence of a sauce. The room has colourful art on the walls and the sense that the people running it would rather cook well than perform.
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Rank 3. Black Bear Inn
British Pub
A gastropub in the Gwent countryside where the menu changes every week, following whatever's coming in from local farms and suppliers. Josh and Hannah Byrne run the room while the kitchen turns out seasonal plates that lean into the landscape around them. The wine list favors small European producers working sustainably, which sounds earnest until you taste it. Good spot to land after a walk along the Usk.
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Three converted sheds tucked into a courtyard off Lion Street make for a bright, easygoing small-plates restaurant that earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand without taking itself too seriously. The menu shifts with the seasons and the sourdough with Marmite butter arrives early enough to set the tone. The team runs a coffee shop and deli on the High Street too, which tells you something about the general disposition toward feeding people well.
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Rank 5. Kilpeck Inn
Traditional British
Stone fireplaces, heavy beams, and a whitewashed exterior that looks like it grew out of the Herefordshire countryside rather than anything so deliberate as architecture. The Kilpeck Inn is a traditional village pub with food serious enough to fill the place with regulars who've stopped pretending they'll try somewhere new. The cooking leans old-school and hearty, the service is genuinely warm, and there are four rooms if you'd rather not drive back.
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Rank 6. Felin Fach Griffin
Modern British
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Rank 7. The Whitebrook
Creative British
A Michelin-starred restaurant deep in the Wye Valley woodland, where the drive alone is enough to make you feel like you've either found something special or taken a wrong turn. The kitchen leans hard into its surroundings, sourcing from the valley and its own garden, then turning out creative British cooking that includes a nose-to-tail Middle White suckling pig that really does mean every part. Bedrooms are available for those who'd rather not navigate that lane in the dark.
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Rank 8. 33 The Homend
Modern British
A husband-and-wife team runs this snug Modern British restaurant in an old Grade II listed townhouse on Ledbury's main street, and the division of labor is pleasantly straightforward: she looks after the room, he cooks alone. The menu is short and unfussy, letting whatever came in that day do the talking. It holds a Michelin star, which the lack of tableside theatrics makes feel almost impolite to mention.
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Rank 9. Charlton Arms
British Pub
A gastropub sitting right on the River Teme, with terraces that make it nearly impossible to eat inside on a fine day. The menu moves comfortably between French and British without making a fuss about it, running from fish soup with rouille to battered haddock to sticky toffee pudding. Muddy walkers, well-behaved dogs, and people on date nights all seem equally at home here. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
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Rank 10. Parva Farmhouse
Modern British
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Rank 11. Restaurant Sow
Modern British
The barn has been standing since the Tudor era, and the kitchen makes that feel like an asset rather than a quirk. This modern British restaurant sits on the Netherwood Estate, and the garden walk beforehand is worth doing: much of what grows there shows up on the plate. Occasional East Asian touches keep things from going too pastoral. There are rooms across the courtyard if the drive home feels like a problem.
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Rank 12. Mortimers
Modern British
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Rank 13. Post
Seasonal French
A striped canopy and fairy lights mark out this bottle shop and bistro on the Gloucestershire high street. The menu changes regularly, chalked on a blackboard, and leans on produce grown on the team's own smallholding, so the French-leaning cooking tends to taste like it means it. Pasta, tarte Tatin, sensible prices. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which about sums up the spirit of the thing.
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Rank 14. The Baiting House
Modern British
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Rank 15. 1919 at The Cottage in the Wood
Modern British
On a clear day, the terrace here looks out over a sweep of English countryside that makes it hard to focus on the menu. This is a smart Modern British restaurant inside a Malvern Hills hotel, running both a tasting menu and an à la carte built around ingredients like Exmoor caviar and Evesham asparagus. The cooking wears its Britishness without apology, and the pace of service keeps the whole thing feeling relaxed rather than stiff.
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Rank 16. The Inn at Welland
Modern British
A country inn in the Malvern Hills with a terrace that earns its keep, views and all. Inside, the dining room goes for a quietly stylish New England look, which is a choice in rural Worcestershire, but it works. The Modern British cooking leans into bold flavours and generous portions, and the specials board tends to be where the value concentrates. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks.
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Rank 17. The Butchers Arms
Modern British
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Rank 18. Heathcock
Contemporary British Pub
A champagne and oyster bar tucked into a century-old Llandaff pub is a choice that takes confidence, and the Heathcock pulls it off without blinking. The menu changes twice daily, leans hard into nose-to-tail Welsh cooking, and shares a kitchen philosophy with sibling pub the Hare & Hounds in Aberthin. Sharing plates are the move here. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, and the kitchen garden out back keeps things seasonal whether you like it or not.
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Rank 19. Gorse
Modern British
The chefs greet you from the open kitchen the moment you walk in, which sets the tone for how the whole meal goes at this intimate, Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant on Kings Road. Tom Waters builds his menus around the Welsh larder, so seaweed and seafood sit alongside beetroot and beef rib, and the whole thing moves with a quiet confidence. Service is warm without hovering.
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The tear-and-share cinnamon bun at the end of the meal is there because it reminds the chef of his grandmother's house, which tells you most of what you need to know about this intimate, one-Michelin-star restaurant in Penarth. James Sommerin runs the kitchen with his daughter Georgia, and the rest of the family fills the room around them. A surprise tasting menu changes regularly, leaning on local producers, and the whole thing feels less like dining out and more like being invited somewhere.
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Rank 21. Purple Poppadom
Indian
You reach this bright, sleek Indian restaurant by climbing the stairs behind a glass door tucked between Cardiff shopfronts, which sets the tone nicely. Purple accents, exposed brick, and abstract murals line the walls. The menu covers familiar ground, lamb rogan josh and the like, but the kitchen's touch is a light hand with spicing that lets the produce speak. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the service is as warm as the food.
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Rank 22. Wilsons
Modern British
A two-acre market garden outside Bristol writes the weekly menu at this 24-cover neighborhood restaurant, and what isn't growing yet has been quietly fermenting or preserving since it was. The cooking is a Michelin-starred tasting menu that manages to feel like something a very capable friend made, rather than a performance. The room runs on shared conviction, the kind where the servers and the chefs are clearly on the same side.
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Rank 23. Blok
Welsh Steakhouse
An open charcoal grill sits at the centre of the kitchen at this fire-cooking restaurant inside Lanelay Hall Hotel, and everything on the menu answers to it. Welsh beef from boutique farms arrives wet or dry-aged and cooked over flame with the kind of care that makes the sourcing feel like the point, not the marketing. The dining room runs to warm materials and soft light, and the partially visible kitchen keeps things grounded. It holds a spot on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list.
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Rank 24. Thomas, the brasserie
Modern British
The sourdough comes from Ground, the team's own bakery down the street, and it sets the tone for what follows. Thomas is a neighbourhood brasserie in Cardiff's leafy Pontcanna that has quietly grown into something a local would never stop recommending. There's a formal bar for cocktails, then a choice of a cosy downstairs room or a moodier one upstairs. The kitchen leans hard into Welsh produce, Pembrokeshire oysters and lamb among them, handled with obvious technical care.
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A Michelin-starred restaurant behind an unassuming facade in the middle of Cheltenham's spa-town centre, where the front of house runs with the warmth of someone who genuinely wants you there. The kitchen leans into classical technique and strict seasonality, though the chef's tequila slammer sorbet suggests he's not above having a good time. Smart but not stiff, and the kind of place that earns the drive.
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Rank 26. Heaneys
Modern New American
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Rank 27. Le Champignon Sauvage
Modern French
A bread basket opens the meal and a serious dessert closes it, with a Michelin-starred kitchen working the space in between. This is a proper fine dining restaurant with a French lean, the kind Cheltenham has relied on for what feels like forever. The chef's chocolate delice has regulars planning around it. The wine list is longer than you'd expect and kinder to your wallet than the room suggests.
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Rank 28. ember at No. 5
Modern British
A light-wood counter and white surfaces give this Pontcanna neighbourhood restaurant a brightness that suits the cooking, which looks quiet on the plate but hits harder in the mouth. The menu leans on seasonal British ingredients with a real Italian thread running through it, daily focaccia included. The kind of place where the room feels relaxed and the food has a point of view, which is a harder combination to pull off than it sounds.
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Rank 29. Dongnae
Korean
Two Victorian shopfronts knocked together in Redland, with paper lanterns overhead and recycled-plastic stools at a communal counter overlooking the open kitchen. Dongnae is a Korean restaurant from the team behind Bokman, drawing on years spent living in Seoul. You can go à la carte with sharing plates, or commit to the hanjungshik tasting menu. The charcoal grill pulls most of the attention, helped along by house-made condiments that are fermented and spiced with some care.
- National Restaurant Awards 2026 · #12 · The National Restaurant Awards
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 30. The Woolpack Inn
British Pub
A vine-covered terrace looks out over Slad Valley, and Laurie Lee, who made this Cotswolds pub famous in "Cider with Rosie," is buried just up the road. The kitchen runs a short, seasonal menu driven by what's growing nearby, with a bar snacks list that takes sardines on toast more seriously than most restaurants take their mains. It ranked fourth on the Top 50 Gastropubs list in 2026.
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Rank 31. SONDER
Modern British
Fridges stacked with ageing prime cuts line the walls of this relaxed neighbourhood restaurant inside the Pontcanna Laundry development, so the menu leans heavily into steaks and house-made sausages. The room has faux-industrial bones, the cooking is ingredient-led Modern British, and the profiteroles come finished with a Cointreau chocolate caramel sauce that makes skipping dessert feel unwise.
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A Pontcanna neighbourhood bistro where the blackboard changes, the natural wine list runs deep, and the cooking leans heavily on vegetables without making a fuss about it. Weekday lunches are sandwiches; evenings and weekends step up to proper plates built around what's good. Salt marsh lamb, chard, braised carrot, that sort of thing: hearty and pared back. The wines on tap draw the kind of regulars who actually read the lesser-known selections before ordering.
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Rank 33. Asador 44
Spanish
A wood-clad, firelit Spanish restaurant tucked inside a boutique hotel on Quay Street, built around an asador grill that earns its place at the centre of the room. Squid, celeriac, and rump steak all go over charcoal, and the wine list runs almost exclusively Spanish, with producers obscure enough to feel like a discovery. Grab a seat overlooking the grill or the glass-fronted wine cave, and let someone else order the boquerones with yuzu dressing so you can steal a bite.
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Rank 34. Bulrush
Modern British
A Michelin-starred neighbourhood restaurant on a quiet Bristol street, where the open kitchen downstairs keeps things feeling like someone's actually cooking rather than performing. The tasting menu leans on foraged and organic ingredients, with preserving and pickling doing real work across the courses. Cotham Road is not where you'd expect to find this level of seriousness, which is precisely the point.
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Rank 35. The Sorting Room
Modern British
The leather banquettes and attentive staff signal brasserie from the moment you sit down, and the menu leans hard on Welsh beef, with steak and ale pie on one end and a Chateaubriand for two on the other. It sits inside the Parkgate Hotel and feels the part, polished without being stiff. The Michelin Guide lists it as a selected restaurant. Save room: the tarte Tatin arrives at a size that dares you to share it.
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The restaurant's name is a Welsh word with no clean English translation, somewhere between homesickness and pride, and the cooking follows that logic closely. It's a tasting menu spot on Cowbridge Road East, drawing on local and foraged produce, some of it from the team's own smallholding. The room is small and unpretentious, the service attentive without ceremony, and the dishes tend to land hardest when they let the ingredients make the case.
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Rank 38. Hare & Hounds
Gastropub British Pub
The pub runs its own smallholding, kitchen garden, and bakery, so when the menu changes twice a day at this Welsh gastropub, it's because something was just harvested. Tom Watts-Jones trained at London's Anchor & Hope and brought that ethos to the Vale of Glamorgan, making everything from cultured butter to fresh pasta in-house. Sit in the bar, dining room, or garden for cooking that's unfussy but clearly serious about its ingredients.
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Rank 39. The Blaise Inn
Modern British
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A 14th-century Grade I-listed manor house is the unlikely anchor of this sprawling south Staffordshire pub, where walkers and diners turn up in roughly equal numbers. Inside, art deco lighting and a Blue Room wrapped in a 360-degree mural sit comfortably beside the open kitchen and pizza oven. Outside, there are booths and a bookable teepee. It took Marston's Pub of the Year at the 2025 Great British Pub Awards.
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Rank 41. Touring Club
Modern British
The blue-tiled kitchen counter is the thing to grab if you arrive early enough, which you should, because Touring Club doesn't take bookings. It's a relaxed small-plates spot in Penarth serving Modern British food with a light touch, the kind of place where Welsh rarebit makes a strong case for itself without fuss. Multiple spots to settle in, a terrace included. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the friendly room makes an hour turn into three.
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Rank 42. Y Talbot
Traditional British
A whitewashed former drover's inn in a quiet rural village, with low-beamed bar rooms and a slightly more modern dining space beyond. The menu runs classic pub territory, fish and chips, confit duck, Welsh beef burgers, and traditional puds. Worth knowing: there is reportedly an elephant buried in the garden, which is either a great conversation starter or a reason to avoid the lawn.
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Rank 44. Jai Ho
Indian
An open kitchen with coal-roasting at its heart sets the tone at this Indian restaurant in Bishop's Cleeve, which holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. The menu leans into street food, with sharing plates arriving as they come rather than all at once, and the lamb chops and a rotating house biryani do most of the heavy lifting. Sister spot to a pair of Cheltenham institutions, it has the same careful touch without the formality.
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Rank 45. Sauce
Modern British
A Palladian country house hotel tucked down one of Painswick's narrow lanes is an unlikely home for a brasserie, yet here we are. Sauce keeps its plates uncluttered, which takes more confidence than it sounds, and the beef Wellington with its deep Madeira reduction is the kitchen making a clear argument for restraint. The kind of room where Cotswolds weekenders feel they've found something, and they're not entirely wrong.
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Rank 46. Little Hollows Pasta
Italian
Fresh pasta is made beside the front window each morning, which means anyone walking past on Chandos Road gets a small preview of dinner. This snug neighbourhood bistro in Redland holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and leans heavily toward vegetable-forward dishes, the kind where the pasta does most of the talking. Tiramisu arrives in portions that suggest the kitchen isn't counting. A genuinely relaxed room where no one is performing.
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Rank 47. Juliet
French
A French bistro dropped into a Cotswolds market town, Juliet leans into the classics without being precious about where they come from. The room runs warm and a little buzzy, and the team treats everyone like a regular. A dish of the day keeps things from getting too predictable. There's a private Piano Bar downstairs for celebrations, with a live musician to make the evening feel like an occasion.
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Rank 48. Marmo
Italian
High ceilings, parquet floors, and panelled walls from a former insurance building set the stage for this osteria and wine bar on Baldwin Street. The Italian menu is short by design, leaning on the logic that a few good things beat a long list of average ones. The Michelin Bib Gourmand signals the kind of cooking that punches above its price point. Service is warm without being fussy.
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Rank 49. Root
Vegetarian
Five shipping containers stacked on Wapping Wharf somehow add up to one of Bristol's most cheerful restaurants. Root holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and earns it through vegetable-forward sharing plates that make carrots and hispi cabbage feel like the main event, sourced from small local suppliers and seasoned with real conviction. The room buzzes, the team keeps things moving, and you'll find yourself ordering more than you planned.
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Rank 50. RAGÙ Restaurant
Italian
A snug Italian restaurant built into a reclaimed shipping container at Wapping Wharf, where the menu is designed for sharing and the prices make ordering too much feel responsible rather than reckless. The team behind nearby COR keeps things simple: seasonal ingredients, wood-fired fish and meat, focaccia that disappears faster than expected. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Bring someone who doesn't mind elbows touching.
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Rank 51. BOX-E
Modern British
A converted shipping container fitted out in chipboard and plywood, BOX-E seats maybe a dozen people inside, though a terrace nearly triples that when Bristol's weather cooperates. It's a small Modern British restaurant run by a husband-and-wife team, one cooking bold, generous plates, one steering the room and the wine list. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, it punches well above its square footage.
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Rank 52. COR
Modern British
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Bright orange walls set the tone in this small Bedminster bistro, where the menu shifts constantly and defies any tidy label. Chef Zak Hitchman pulls from wherever he likes, and the cooking is playful enough that you stop trying to categorize it and just order. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks: the food and the wine list both land at prices that don't require a quiet word with your bank.
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Rank 54. littlefrench
French
A soufflé Suissesse to start and a prune and armagnac tart to finish tells you everything about littlefrench's mood: firmly, happily French, and not embarrassed about it. This Westbury Park neighbourhood bistro runs on warmth, with a relaxed team and a menu of rustic, well-executed dishes that feel cooked by someone who means it. Pairs should eye the côte de boeuf with frites, a sharing centrepiece that tends to settle any lingering table debate about where to eat next time.
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Rank 56. Bhoomi Kitchen
Southern Indian
Recipes passed down through three generations anchor the menu at this warm, well-dressed southern Indian restaurant in Cheltenham. The cooking leans into Kerala, with dishes built on bright, layered spicing rather than heat for its own sake. If commitment is proving difficult, the banquet menus take the decision out of your hands entirely, which is either a relief or an excuse, depending on your evening.
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The address only arrives 24 hours before your reservation, which either sounds like exactly your thing or absolutely does not. Inside, projections shift across the walls while a tasting menu works through dishes shaped by the chef's time at Ynyshir and The Fat Duck, plus a lot of miles logged abroad. Creative and unapologetically theatrical, it's the kind of place that wants you to surrender to it, and the service is relaxed enough that you probably will.
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Rank 58. Memsahib's Lounge
Indian
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Rank 59. Purslane
Modern British
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Rank 60. One Fish Street
Seafood
The name is a souvenir from a previous life in St Ives, which tells you most of what you need to know about the menu. This stripped-back seafood spot on Chandos Road anchors itself around oysters, then fans out into things like red mullet with shellfish sauce and a shelf of high-end tinned fish that makes a strong case for itself. Redland's little cluster of good eating surrounds it, and the pricing won't require a sit-down with your accountant.
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Rank 61. Prithvi
Modern Indian
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Rank 62. Bristol Lido
Mediterranean
A restored Victorian lido sits just outside the windows, which fold back completely in good weather and make it hard to remember you're in Bristol. The restaurant runs across a former viewing gallery upstairs, with small plates and Mediterranean cooking that leans on whatever's genuinely good, crab tagliatelle with lobster butter being a recurring argument for that approach. Poolside bar snacks are available if you'd rather eat in a swimsuit.
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A neighbourhood bistro tucked into the Georgian lanes of Clifton, where the menu roams pan-European without apology, from ricotta gnudi to squid ink rice to veal schnitzel. Sit upstairs to catch the light through big windows, or take the spiral staircase down for something quieter. Whole roast chicken arrives for sharing, which sets the tone: this is an easygoing room, relaxed service included, not a place that takes itself too seriously.
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Rank 64. Chef's Table
Modern British
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Rank 66. Cowley Manor
Modern British
The panelled dining room at this Cotswolds country house hotel keeps its original bones but layers in enough modern touches that it doesn't feel like eating inside a heritage listing. The kitchen leans Mediterranean while shopping British, and the madeleines come warm from the oven at dessert, which is the kind of small thing that lingers. A drink in the sleek bar first is the right move.