Tyne And Wear Restaurant Guide

A “really excellent find in a charming location”, “Anna Hedworth’s flagship restaurant in the Ouseburn serves an unusual and interesting menu” in “a quirky building just away from the city centre”. The former Quo Vadis and Rochelle Canteen chef started out here in a shipping container, before graduating to this upstairs, open-kitchen venue. (“Flawless… high praise from a veggie going to a ‘normal’ restaurant!”)

“Wood-fired wonders from one of Newcastle’s best!” – a “tremendous menu” of “raw-in-tooth-and-claw meat cooking over open flame” draws aficionados to this “wonderful location, right under the Tyne Bridge”. There’s “nothing here I could cook at home – many things I couldn’t even imagine. Risky, but it works!”

“Quality locally sourced food” “in an excellent refurbished pub close to the Quayside” wins consistently high ratings across the board for this long-running collaboration (12 years and counting) between Terry Laybourne’s 21 Hospitality Group and the neighbouring Live Theatre, a theatre for new writing.

Terry Laybourne’s “buzzy Quayside fixture” is “clearly the place to be in the Toon” – “reliably pleasing and deservedly popular” after providing “top-quality dining at surprisingly affordable prices” for 35 years. Top Tip – “great pre-theatre prix-fixe menu” ahead of a visit to the Sage, just across the Millennium Bridge.

Casual fine dining is the style nowadays at this buzzy Quayside destination, which occupies an address made famous in its days as ‘21 Queen Street’ (long RIP). There is a conventional two-course/three-course menu, but also competitively priced 5-course and 7-courses options featuring more “unusual taste combinations”. All are well-reviewed as “always reliable” and “delicious” as is the “friendly and attentive service”. See also its siblings: Blackfriars Restaurant in Newcastle and Hinnies in Whitley Bay.

Kenny & Abbie Atkinson’s Grade I-listed sixteenth-century merchant’s house on the old Quayside is frequently hailed as Newcastle’s best restaurant, and it’s historically the most renowned of the city’s more ambitious culinary destinations. And its “lovely, informal, friendly atmosphere makes this haute cuisine dining experience an all-round joy”. The worst thing anyone said about the food this year? “The caviar was a bit soft and non-descript” [first world problems! Ed].

Roberto & Walter Pani’s Tyneside fixture (est. 1995) is “still a very reliable venue after all these years”, serving an Italian menu with “interesting Sardinian specialities” – and there’s “always a great vibe both lunchtime and evenings”.

“An old building, with lots of candles and nooks and crannies” – “this beautiful 13th century former Dominican friary” is particularly “atmospheric in winter” (but it also has “a lovely courtyard area for summer dining”). From its bistro/brasserie-style menu, there’s “always a good choice of dishes based on good local produce” and its standards are “accomplished and reliable”.

“I’ve never had a bad meal here”. Local chef Dave Coulson trained at Le Gavroche in London, and returned to open his “outstanding” Jesmond restaurant 10 years ago, steadily building its reputation ever since for “adventurous and delicious” cuisine from its seasonal tasting menus. “Dave is renowned locally and deserves national recognition”. Top Tip – lunchtime and early evening, try it out more inexpensively with the ‘2, 1, 2, 1, 2’ menu for £35 per person.

“A very pleasant change from some of the run-of-the-mill Asian offerings elsewhere in Newcastle” – this “very nice South Indian restaurant” which doesn’t have the greatest entrance (“entry is via a door on a different street and up a flight of stairs”). “An excellent range of dosas” is the highlight of its “excellent value and very consistent food”. Top Tip – “Sunday buffet is especially good value and a great introduction to South Indian cuisine for those unfamiliar and/or unsure what to order”.

“Queues seem to be longer than ever” at this “well-established, great-value Italian institution” in Jesmond – “a testament to the popularity” of its generous servings of pizza, pasta and much else on a long menu that “continues to provide VFM”.

“A great escape in the centre of Newcastle”, the “excellent” dining room in this Arts & Crafts boutique hotel serves “reliably decent food in a very nice setting”. Coffee and tea are served in the “beautiful lounges or garden” – and it’s all “reasonable value”.

This 2020 newcomer in a Victorian building just off the Quayside creates “unusual twists on Indian cuisine” by using a modern Josper grill to recreate the ‘primal’ smoky flavours of the subcontinent’s traditional regional cuisines. Top Tip – “wonderful cocktails”.

Kenny Atkinson’s follow-up to House of Tides next door (and replacement for Violets Café) offers a tasting menu for just 14 guests. It opened in summer 2022, too late for feedback in our annual diners’ poll, but a September 2022 review from Grace Dent of The Guardian suggests it’s a ‘must-visit’: “For every Ynyshir, Moor Hall or Ikoyi – and Solstice is easily as impressive as those three – there are others that keep you hostage for hours, offering endless edible gold leaf and interminable pauses, and leaving you hungrier when you leave than you were when you arrived. That’s why I appreciate the theatre, the pacing and the exquisite attention to detail of the likes of Solstice.”

“One of the best fine-dining Indian restaurants in the region”, with “fantastic food and service”, this family-run Quayside fixture opened 42 years ago and was transformed with the modernisation of both premises and menu in 2016.