Godstone Hotel

An attractive 300-year-old former school in the town centre is home to this delightful restaurant, which is named after the owner’s favourite herb. Sit on the cosy ground floor or in the intimate upstairs room, where beams divide the area into three. Chef Alex Payne and his team offer a light à la carte and surprise tasting menu (the best option for the full experience), filled with top-quality ingredients. From Orkney scallops to mature, full-flavoured Hereford beef, the produce is put to good use in detailed, intricate dishes. The affable team genuinely want you to enjoy your visit.

Colourful, unfussy and joyous, there is so much to love about this great little restaurant decorated with warm hues and black-and-white photographs depicting scenes from West Africa, setting the stage perfectly for Maria Bradford’s generous, vibrantly flavoured food. A self-taught chef from Sierra Leone, she pulls inspiration from her home country and beyond for dishes such as meltingly tender beef short rib in a delicious groundnut and coconut sauce. The tasting menu is great for hungry diners, but brilliant value can be found when sharing plates from the à la carte.

A modest-looking place from outside, Dastaan is a restaurant run with true heart and soul. Its reward is a dining room consistently packed with happy diners, joining together to create an electric atmosphere – and while its popularity may seem like it could cause an issue for the service team, they make it run it like clockwork. The menu presents great value for money and takes North India as its main inspiration, with each dish delivering many layers of flavour thanks to the expert spicing. The desserts are a joy, too, be that the homemade kulfi or the gulab jamun.

They’ve got a loyal following at this long-standing restaurant that offers an extensive and appealing menu of modern European dishes. The cooking has some light, delicate touches and prime British produce cooked on the Mibrasa grill is a feature, like Cornish monkfish or Angus rib-eye. It’s all delivered inside a property that dates back to the 1930s and there are subtle references to this period in the elegant décor. The service team bring an enthusiastic smile and real care to their work.

This long-standing inn is an understandably popular local haunt that has retained the feel of a proper village pub, and its interior is packed with character thanks to its beamed ceilings, pewter tankards, open fires and plenty of cosy corners. The good value cooking focuses on hearty pub classics such as a well-baked, immensely satisfying pie of the steak, mushroom and ale variety, accompanied by triple-cooked chips. The service team are sweet and friendly, while four tastefully decorated bedrooms complete the picture.

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