The Top 51 Places to Eat Near The Walrus
-
Rank 1. The Walrus
Modern British
-
Rank 2. The Bear Inn
Modern British
-
Rank 3. 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.
-
Rank 4. Wild Shropshire
Modern British
Fourteen seats, a daily changing surprise menu, and almost everything grown on the chef's own farm nearby. This intimate Modern British restaurant in Whitchurch takes field-to-fork seriously enough to have its own fields, then tilts the produce toward Japanese technique, koji and yuzu sitting comfortably alongside Shropshire soil. The team is warm without being performative, which is harder to pull off than it sounds.
-
Rank 5. Docket Restaurant
Modern British
-
-
Rank 7. Mortimers
Modern British
-
A country gastropub east of the River Dee that the village literally helped rebuild, lending tools and labour when Gary Usher's team took over a shuttered local. The seasonal menu runs to comforting bistro dishes, and the guest chef series has pulled in names like Tom Kerridge and Angela Hartnett, which is not nothing for a pub in a Cheshire hamlet. It landed on the Top 50 Gastropubs list, and walkers and cyclists seem to find it without much trouble.
-
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.
-
Rank 10. Crown Wharf
British Pub
The brewery tap for Joules, Crown Wharf sits on the original site of one of their first breweries, built almost entirely from reclaimed materials by a two-man crew that kept going through the pandemic. It's a proper pub with a theatre and heritage centre attached, which is not a sentence you write every day. The Great British Pub Awards named it Overall Great British Pub of the Year in 2025, and Stone seems to agree, judging by the crowd.
-
Fourteen seats, a marble-wrapped open kitchen, and a tasting menu where every course is named after a single ingredient, which tells you something about the confidence level in the room. Kenny Atkinson's fine dining follow-up to House of Tides is a deliberately smaller, quieter thing, built around 15-odd courses of precise modern cooking. Newcastle, it turns out, can do this.
-
Rank 12. Little Seeds
Modern British
-
Rank 13. Lunar
Modern New American
The plates here are genuine Wedgwood, which makes sense given the address: a sprawling modern dining room inside the World of Wedgwood visitor complex, built into what used to be the factory canteen. The kitchen leans on prime British ingredients, there's a tucked-away bar worth finding, and a chef's table with a window straight into the action. Josiah himself would probably approve, or at least recognize the crockery.
-
-
Rank 15. 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.
-
Rank 16. The Baiting House
Modern British
-
Rank 17. Stile Napoletano
Neapolitan Pizza
A Neapolitan pizza restaurant in Chester that ranks 13th in Europe and 73rd in the world on 50 Top Pizza, which is either deeply surprising or exactly what you'd expect once you've eaten here. The dough is the point: open, balanced, made with the kind of patience that shortcuts can't fake. The room is unfussy and relaxed, the service moves quietly, and the whole operation stays focused on the pizza with a discipline that most pizza towns would envy.
-
Rank 18. Noted
New American
Six tables in a snug Chester dining room make Noted feel more like a dinner party than a restaurant. The menu is built for sharing and roams freely, pairing British produce with international detours: prawn toast bao, crab arancino, that kind of thing. Sundays bring a sharing roast with a distinctly 1980s sensibility, which sounds like a gimmick until it arrives. The Michelin Guide has it selected.
-
Rank 19. The Jolly Gardeners
British
Wood panelling, flagged floors, and open fires downstairs; proper British cooking upstairs. This Chester pub, a short walk from the city centre, pulls off the refurbishment trick without losing its pubby soul, which is harder than it sounds. The rotating ales keep the bar honest, while the dining rooms above turn out wholesome British plates with the occasional nod toward sunnier climates. The soda bread treacle tart is worth leaving room for.
-
Rank 20. The Boat
Modern British Pub
A Michelin-starred gastropub on a busy A-road outside Lichfield, which is either a strike against it or the whole point, depending on how you feel about destination dining. The kitchen runs a small on-site farm that feeds the menu, with local producers covering the rest, all handled with the kind of precision that makes a venison dish feel considered rather than merely seasonal. The chefs come out to explain what's on the plate, and somehow it doesn't feel annoying.
-
Rank 21. Upstairs at the Grill
Steakhouse
-
Rank 22. The Bryntirion Inn
Modern British
A whitewashed roadside inn in the Welsh countryside where the walls are covered in motorsport memorabilia and classic car collectibles, which is not a combination you expect from a pub with rooms. The menu runs from grill cuts to a rotating pie and mash, the sort of thing that actually suits the setting. Connected to nearby Palé Hall, it has the same easy, unfussy service without the manor house formality.
-
Rank 23. Henry Robertson
Modern British
-
Rank 24. Opheem
Contemporary Indian
A self-described Brummie of Bangladeshi heritage, Aktar Islam runs this two Michelin star contemporary Indian tasting menu restaurant in Birmingham city centre more like a modern European kitchen than anything you'd expect. The space is strikingly spare, the cooking is deeply researched, and a single potato dish can involve three separate cooking methods before it reaches the table. The set lunch keeps it from feeling like a special-occasion-only proposition.
-
Rank 25. Upstairs by Tom Shepherd
Modern British
A tasting menu restaurant sitting above a jewellery shop in the middle of Lichfield, which is either the most unexpected address in the Midlands or a perfectly on-brand piece of theatre. Tom Shepherd holds a Michelin star, Staffordshire's first, and runs tight, unfussy modern British menus where each dish lands on two or three elements and earns every one of them. The room is 36 covers, warm, unhurried, and genuinely hard to book.
-
A stream runs alongside the terrace at this rural Worcestershire gastropub, which reopened after a full refurbishment and is now drawing people out from the city. The chef came up through Carters of Moseley, and the menu sits comfortably between proper pub food and something a bit more considered: battered haddock sits beside seabass with lobster bisque, and neither feels out of place. Menus turn with the seasons, the interior is cosy, and the desserts reportedly justify the drive.
-
Dark walls, a thumping soundtrack, and a kitchen that ages ingredients in-house set the tone at this Michelin-starred modern tasting menu restaurant in the Jewellery Quarter. Chef Alex Claridge has a reputation for cooking that surprises without showing off, pairing unexpected flavors and textures in ways that hold together. Wine flights and inventive non-alcoholic pairings both get serious treatment, so nobody at the table feels like an afterthought.
-
Rank 28. Adam's
Modern New American
The art-deco dining room on Waterloo Street has been around forever, and the cocktail bar that greets you sets the tone for what follows: this is a tasting-menu restaurant that takes itself seriously without going stiff. The kitchen works modern and occasionally playful, letting high-quality ingredients do the arguing rather than oversaucing them. A Michelin star. The wine list runs deep, and the pairings will nudge the bill skyward in the most civilized way possible.
-
Rank 29. Bryn Williams at Theatr Clwyd
Modern British
Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Clwydian Range while you eat, which is a better view than most theatre intervals offer. This modern British brasserie on the first floor of Theatr Clwyd leans hard on Welsh produce, including the chef's own pedigree Welsh Black beef, which shows up in more than one form on the menu. The room is warm, the service runs smoothly, and the prices won't require a second look.
-
Rank 30. Tropea
Italian
Homemade pasta is the reason to come to this bright, neighbourhood Italian in Harborne, where the sharing plates and a well-priced Italian wine list fill the room with the kind of buzz that suggests regulars aren't going anywhere. The staff steer you through the menu with warmth that stops short of hovering. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks: this is straightforward, unshowy cooking that makes the whole thing look easy.
-
Rank 31. Cuubo
Modern British
A Kickstarter-funded modern British bistro on Harborne High Street, small enough that the lively soundtrack fills every corner. The menu chases the seasons hard and keeps things unfussy, which turns out to be exactly the right instinct. Rhubarb frozen with peanut brittle and vanilla ice cream is the kind of dessert that reminds you restraint is its own technique. The room hums with the particular contentment of people who found somewhere good in their own neighborhood.
-
A set-menu spot in Stirchley that earned its Michelin Bib Gourmand after a run of pop-ups that apparently had people talking. The chef pulls from South African roots and a broad sweep of Asian flavors, so tom yum and furikake might share a menu with something altogether harder to categorize. Two menu lengths mean you can calibrate the evening to your appetite, or your wallet. Neighborhood locals fill the room like they've been coming since the pop-up days.
-
Rank 33. BALOCI
Indo Persian
A Georgian townhouse in Edgbaston, gilded and upholstered within an inch of its life, housing a restaurant that calls its cooking Indo-Persian, pulling threads from Afghanistan, Turkey, and Balochistan into a single menu. The tasting menu covers the most ground, but the Sultani lamb chops, melting and gently spiced, have a way of making the decision for you. It's a room that takes drama seriously, and so does the kitchen.
-
Rank 34. Folium
Modern British
A two-person operation in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, where one half cooks and the other runs the room with the kind of warmth that makes a small restaurant feel like a dinner party. The interior leans into neutral tones and pot plants, calm enough to let seasonal tasting menus do the talking. Modern British cooking with a personal stamp on the flavours and plating, served at lunch or in longer form come evening.
-
A stone building on a quiet Staffordshire canal, The Flintlock is a proper sit-down restaurant with two dining rooms full of period features and the kind of unhurried charm that makes you linger. The chef is self-taught, which the cooking doesn't apologize for, leaning into a modern style that lets the room do some of the heavy lifting. A canal stroll before dinner is genuinely part of the rhythm here.
-
-
Rank 37. Albatross Death Cult
Seafood Japanese
The name comes from Coleridge's albatross, which is either a promising omen or a warning, depending on how you read the poem. Either way, this counter-dining seafood restaurant in Birmingham pulls you in fast: chefs, sommeliers, and servers all talk to you like they mean it. The Japanese-inflected tasting menu leans heavily on raw and cured fish, keeping preparations spare enough that the seafood does the actual arguing.
-
Rank 38. The Two Pigs
Modern British
The name changed from the Red Lion to The Two Pigs in 2023, and so did pretty much everything else. It's a gastropub in a Staffordshire village, doing modern pub classics with produce from local farmers and a micro-farm next door. Weekend brunches, Sunday roasts, seasonal cocktails, and bar snacks running all day give the place an all-hours, good-time quality that most gastropubs only manage for dinner service.
-
Rank 39. Asha's
Indian
The restaurant takes its name from Bollywood legend Asha Bhosle, who is, among her many talents, apparently also a restaurateur. This Indian dining room in central Birmingham runs through the subcontinent's regions at some breadth, with tandoori kebabs as the anchor and a generous spread of vegetarian dishes alongside. The kitchen cooks with enough confidence that the menu's ambition rarely outpaces the plate.
-
The milk loaf arrives with malt vinegar and chicken fat, and the room snaps into focus from there. Glynn Purnell's modern sharing-plates restaurant sits among the glass towers of a newer Birmingham quarter, running a fluid menu of snacks, small plates, and platters that shift with what's good. The team knows the wine list well and will steer you without making it a lesson.
-
Rank 41. Land
Pan-Asian Vegetarian
Tucked into the Victorian ironwork of Great Western Arcade, Land is a small, intimate vegetarian restaurant running a set menu that's almost entirely vegan. Pan-Asian touches show up throughout, carrot char siu sitting alongside sake lees and other quietly surprising moves. The menu shifts with the seasons, and the cooking has a genuinely inventive streak that doesn't feel like it's trying to win you over. Wine flights are available, and the service is warm without hovering.
-
Graffiti covers the walls, the music is loud, and the whole room is shot in monochrome, which is either very cool or a lot, depending on your tolerance for a statement. Inside Birmingham's old Custard Factory, this is a tasting-menu restaurant where the kitchen leans into playful, creative cooking, with unexpected flavour pairings and contrasts in texture and temperature driving each dish. The wine list is short but pours generously by the glass.
-
-
Rank 44. Next Door
Contemporary British
Low ceilings, exposed beams, and a family that's been working this 17th-century building for three generations make Next Door feel like it earned its charm the slow way. These days it's a cosy contemporary British restaurant run by a husband-and-wife team, he in the kitchen and she managing the wine. The beef comes from the family butcher two doors down, which is either very convenient or very good planning, probably both.
-
Rank 45. The Duncombe Arms
Modern British
A terrace overlooking the Staffordshire countryside and a red-brick barn converted into bedrooms next door make this dining pub feel like someone's particularly sorted country house. That someone rescued the village local when it closed, and the kitchen has since earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand turning out Modern British cooking that's hearty without being heavy. Prices stay honest, the portions don't.
-
-
Rank 47. Satori
Japanese
A Japanese restaurant in Moseley where the meal can end with a dessert set on fire at the table, which feels like a reasonable way to close things out. The menu covers a lot of ground, from sushi and sashimi to tempura and robata-grilled cuts, so this is the kind of place where a group with different appetites tends to work well. The room runs busy most nights, which tells you something about how the neighborhood feels about it.
-
Rank 48. La Popote
Classic French
Brick floors, exposed beams, and a menu that opens with coq au vin: La Popote is a classic French restaurant tucked inside a converted barn on a Cheshire farm, which makes the cassoulet feel both completely out of place and exactly right. The team spent years cooking in Paris, and the food reads like they meant it. Friendly service, countryside quiet, and a clafoutis at the end.
-
Rank 49. The Two Pigs
British
A snug bar, a slightly more formal dining room, and a terrace for when England briefly cooperates: this is a country pub doing what the form asks, and doing it with evident pleasure. The menu runs classic British, from Welsh rarebit through smoked haddock fishcake to pork schnitzel, and the trifle has a reputation. The same owner runs The Boat in Lichfield, so the hospitality instincts are well exercised.
-
Rank 50. LI~LY by Aiden Byrne
Modern British
A black-and-white timbered building in the middle of Knutsford hides a surprisingly bright, contemporary dining room inside. Aiden Byrne runs a tasting menu restaurant here, with the kind of precisely assembled plates that make you feel someone really thought about them. Byrne has a habit of delivering dishes himself, and his enthusiasm for what he's put in front of you comes across as completely unperformed.
-
Rank 51. Lighthouse Restaurant
Modern British
A self-taught chef running an intimate Modern British restaurant in the Derbyshire countryside sounds like either a love story or a cautionary tale; here it's the former. The menu swings between a full tasting format and a shorter sharing menu on weekdays, with the kitchen leaning hard into seasonal cooking and the occasional Thai-inspired detour, like a coconut and chilli broth that earns its place on the table.