Of course you can get every food stuff you can think of delivered to your door these days, but, convenient as that might be, does it ever feel like something’s… missing? Perhaps it’s a throwback to our prehistoric hunter-gatherer instincts, but there’s something inherently satisfying about a meal that you’ve had to make some effort to attain – even if travelling for an hour up the M4 to a luxury hotel isn’t exactly the kind of thing our ancestors were up to – and sometimes a bit of a legwork just heightens the whole shebang.
In the below list we’ve scoured the UK (by which we mean, beyond the capital) for some of the best restaurants both near- and far-flung, that take a bit of time and care to get to, but are totally worth it if you do – perhaps for the spectacular food, perhaps the spectacular scenery, usually a bit of both. (And yes, we acknowledge that if you already live in some remote corner of this kingdom that maybe they’re actually not far-flung as far as you’re concerned – in which case, lucky you, and we can recommend some excellent branches of TGI Friday’s in London whenever you’re next down.)
Sargasso
Stone Pier, Margate, Kent, CT9 1AP sargasso.bar
Admittedly if the tide is out and the wind is blowing a certain way, the stench of seaweed that can greet you on your way to chef Ed Wilson’s tiny little restaurant-cum-wine-bar on Margate’s stone pier can be a little, shall we say, challenging. However, once you get inside the cosy space – high tables, exposed brick and tastefully low lighting – all thoughts (and smells) of putrefying algae disappear, in favour of a menu that is confidently low-key and pre-eminently delicious. There is, as you might expect, a fish and seafood bent (and special mention to the smoked cod’s roe and crisps which are, quite frankly, heavenly), as well as plenty of seasonal vegetables (and also herbs – don’t miss the sage fritti). Sargasso does have an equally delightful sister restaurant in East London, Brawn, but there you don’t get to finish your evening sitting on a bench at the end of the sea wall getting whipped round the face by a northwesterly. Bracing stuff.
Marle
Heckfield Place, Hampshire, RG27 0LD heckfieldplace.com
Though it’s only an hour outside London, Marle, at Heckfield Place in Hampshire, overseen by culinary director and all-round food legend Skye Gyngell (who also oversees Heckfield’s fire-centric restaurant, Hearth, which is next on our “to visit” list), will make you feel a complete world away. From the idyllic walled garden that you can stroll around before or after your meal, to the airy, relaxed dining room that you’re ushered into when it’s time to eat, which has views over the Georgian Manor House’s 438-acre grounds, it’s a far, far cry from the urban sprawl. But it’s the food, such as slow-cooked beef cheek with polenta or buttery burrata on bruschetta with kale and pinenuts – most of the ingredients provided by the estate’s own market garden and farm – that is worth the commute (or the night, if you bunk up in one of Heckfield Place’s 45 luxurious bedrooms).
The Hut
Colwell Chine Rd, Colwell Bay, Isle of Wight, PO40 9NP thehutcolwell.co.uk
There are several ways to reach The Hut, perhaps the most sought-after dining spot on the whole of the Isle of Wight. You can be collected by one of the restaurant’s two Land Rover trucks, "Surf" and "Turf", which ferry guests to The Hut’s seaside location in cute Colwell Bay; you can arrive by boat, and be transferred onto solid ground by one of The Hut’s own tenders, piloted, in all likelihood, by a handsome local teenager; or, if you’re feeling energetic/suicidal, you could even swim from Hurst Castle that juts out from the mainland a kilometre across The Solent. Esquire opted to arrive by car (snore!), but that didn’t take away from the feeling that you’ve wound up somewhere special, and should duly celebrate with, say, a whole roasted fish or delicious fresh lobster, and a soul-enriching gaze out to sea.
Osip
1 High St, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0AB osiprestaurant.com
Though he cannot be credited/blamed with turning the village of Bruton in Somerset into the Farrow & Ball-hued toy town that it is today (Hauser & Wirth Somerset, just up the road, must surely take the glory for that), chef Merlin Labron-Johnson is certainly responsible for giving Bruton’s beanie-hatted out-of-town visitors a gem of a restaurant to write home about. At Michelin-starred Osip, which is tiny, and situated on Bruton’s equally tiny high street, just beneath the charming boutique hotel Number One Bruton, Labron-Johnson and his team deliver an evening of exquisite and inventive dishes, primarily from locally sourced vegetables and game. There’s no menu, so come with your mind open, but in such expert hands you will not be disappointed. And, sometimes, isn't it nice to cede control?
Crocadon
St Mellion, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 6RL crocadon.farm
You don’t have to spend long with Dan Cox, chef-proprietor of Crocadon Farm in St Mellion, Cornwall, to understand quite what a labour of love this restaurant is. From the menu to the crockery to the reconditioned Ercol furniture, there’s basically nothing that Cox hasn’t had a hand in in the six years since he took over the site, and you can feel his impressively monomaniacal attention to detail everywhere. And that’s not even mentioning the produce, much of which Cox has sown, or watered, or fed on the surrounding 120-acre farm; recently though, he has been joined by an excellent team of chefs and growers who can help make the evening tasting menus and Sunday feasting menus – including dishes such as hen of the woods mushrooms with wild garlic, or red deer tartare with salted plum – a delicious reality.
