Horsham Restaurant Guide

In the second half of 2022 (well after our annual diners’ poll had concluded), Ben Wilkinson (formerly of The Cottage in the Woods) was named as chef to relaunch the open kitchen, chef's counter operation at this foodie hotel. It hit fame when it first launched in 2008, quickly winning a Michelin star, when it was one of the early adopters of the now-ubiquitous open dining-as-theatre approach. In recent years it has struggled to hit an even keel seeing a number of chefs come and go for different reasons. His eight-course menu is £120 per person.

“Still an all-round top-notch experience”, chef Matt Gillan’s “lovely restaurant with rooms” serves “exceptional food at very reasonable prices”. His “Great British Menu ‘extra course’ of goat” (inspired by his mother, who is from St Helena) is also a “treat” – and it’s “worth staying overnight for the breakfast”, too. Top Tip – quirky wines are a feature, as are “cocktail pairings to die for, created for every dish”.

This “picture-book thatched country gastropub” from Brighton’s Gingerman group in a “beautiful, isolated setting nestled under the South Downs”, is “just perfect on a sunny day when you can eat in the attractive garden”. It’s “much more than a pub”, serving “inventive dishes”, “done with refinement”, along with “a wine list including bottles from 10 Sussex vineyards”.

Steven Drake’s “formal, well-spaced but welcoming and comfortable Surrey Hills venue in the centre of Dorking” is “a great bonus to the Surrey dining scene” and one of the most commented-on non-metropolitan restaurants in our annual diners’ poll. “It has really bounced back well post-lockdown – service is discrete and knowledgeable” and the “always exciting” cuisine “remains of the highest quality”. It focuses on a tasting menu format: 9 courses for £125, and all of the many reports suggest results are “special in every way”.

This sixteenth-century inn is “a totally traditional country pub with open fires, nooks and crannies” and “a friendly owner and team”, serving “decent portions of fantastic food, with no pretensions”. Top Tip – “excellent Sunday lunch, with good roast potatoes”.

“A garden tour before summer lunch is just the most uplifting experience” at this “beautiful Elizabethan country house in the Sussex countryside” (whose grounds were laid out in the 1880s by its then-owner, a famous landscape gardener). Three years ago, a modernisation saw the opening of a new “airy, conservatory-style dining room” with “a picture window showing the garden to full effect”: “a fantastic masterpiece where you feel as though you are within the beautiful gardens”. It was a successful relaunch that has established the dining room as one of the most commented-on in our annual diners’ poll. Elsewhere within the property, the scene is of “old-school lounges to relax in and classic hotel accommodation”. Chef George Blogg’s cuisine is “classical” in style, with “consistently delicious” flavours and “exceptional attention to detail in terms of presentation”.

Leafily located in the Surrey Hills, this cute-looking, converted red-brick cottage has been a restaurant since 1993, and has been run by Jack Forrest Foster since 2019. The odd reporter sees its slightly old-school menu as “a last bastion of nouvelle cuisine” but feedback overall rates it decently well all-round.

The “stunning surroundings” of a semi-ruined medieval castle dating from 1103 complete with ramparts and working portcullis make this hotel (part of Andrew Brownsword’s group) a “beautiful venue for a romantic date which you won’t forget”. With a rare and original barrel-vaulted dining room ceiling, the dining room is situated upstairs in the castle: “the food is average but the staff are helpful and obliging”.

“A proper gastropub in a bucolic setting” – this “cosy” tavern on the edge of the Petworth estates sits in a quintessential village setting (complete with neighbouring post office, red phone box, and little lane to the church) and a meal often starts with a drink in the “lovely, large garden”. One of the most commented-on West Sussex destinations, it provides “a modern and eclectic menu” – “not the normal selection you see in most pubs” – which results in “really delicious food made with top-quality seasonal ingredients”. (For example “hoglet stew in red wine sauce with feta cheese or superb salmon, cod and seafood with chorizo”.) All this plus “great beers” and a thoughtful wine selection.

Knepp Estate’s rewilding project is now producing and cooking wild meat and fresh produce from their market garden; you can eat in the café, in a restored Sussex barn, in the dog-friendly open-air courtyard (breakfast and lunch every day), or the restaurant (open for lunch, Wed to Sun).

“Top-notch wood-fired pizza” wins praise for brothers Paolo and Luca’s small debut restaurant, launched in 2019. They started out with a mobile food truck in Redhill market two years earlier, naming the business after their inspirational Neapolitan-born grandmother, Lucia Monteforte. There’s now also a bigger branch in Horsham.