18 of the best restaurants in Somerset
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It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Somerset’s rolling hills and sprawling levels became cool, pulling a crowd that might once have only had eyes for the Cotswolds. But Bruton’s buzz has now so successfully reverberated across the county that it comes as no surprise when another foodie haven opens in a seemingly sleepy village. Seasonality and provenance reign supreme on menus — not a hardship when farms and dairies abound, and the Devon and Dorset coasts are just a short hop away — and there’s a refreshingly bohemian feel to the hotspots. This is no longer just a place for passing through as you head for the beach, but instead somewhere that leaves foodies totting up how they could make a West Country commute work. This are our choices for the eighteen best restaurants in Somerset.
Root Wells, Wells
Best for: Vegetable dishes
Dish to order: courgettes, ewe's curd and braised beans
Chef and owner Josh Eggleton is no stranger to these parts. His former pub, Pony & Trap, pushed the realms of the 'local pub' with its Michelin-starred food, while his two Root restaurants (the first in Bristol's container ship Wapping Wharf) put veg firmly at the menu's centre. Opening in 2022, the Wells site has chef Rob Howell at the helm, and the menu's sharing plates celebrate local growers, so much so that many of them are named on the menu. The cheese puff snacks are a must-order while reading through the rest of the menu, which might feature dishes such as grilled green beans with sauce gribiche or roasted carrots with whipped feta and salsa verde. Although it's all about the veg, there will be a couple of meat or fish dishes, with fish being a real standout, like the burly Cornish pollock fillet with a lightly spiced chickpea Madrileño and aioli.
Address: Root Wells, 12 Sadler Street, Wells BA5 2SE
Website: rootwells.co.ukThe Old Pharmacy, Bruton
Best for: Relaxed Sunday dinner
Dish to order: Westcombe saucisson
From the same team behind Osip – which is just next door – The Old Pharmacy is owner Merlin Labron-Johnson's more relaxed restaurant. Unsurprisingly, it's housed inside a 500-year-old former pharmacy and has been given a French bistro look with sage green and white tiled walls, where antique shelves house old medicine and wine bottles, cookbooks and Kilner jars fermenting all sorts. Little posy vases with dried flowers sit on the tables next to old candlestick holders, covered in piles of waxy drippings.
The menu is written on a chalkboard and follows Osip's farm-to-table ethos. On Sundays, the four-course set menu rounds off the weekend nicely for those who like the essence of a traditional roast but want something more exciting than your average fare; think chunky rare slices of roasted and supremely tender leg of lamb with chickpeas, chard and piquillo pepper, alongside a hefty bowl of crispy roasted new potatoes.
Address: The Old Pharmacy, 3 High Street, Bruton BA10 0AB
Website: oldpharmacybruton.comThe Three Horseshoes, Batcombe
Best for: Rustic pub cooking
Dish to order: halibut with chard and anchovy
Set among Batcombe's steep and narrow roads, The Three Horseshoes pub with rooms has been sympathetically restored. It now has chef Margot Henderson (co-owner of London's Rochelle Canteen) taking the reins. It's unmistakably retained its rural country pub feel, as large flagstone floors, beamed ceilings, dark wheelback wooden chairs and aged prints of fish or bird species anchor it to its location. The pumps reflect its rural position, too, with local ales and ciders. Margot's rustic cooking style feels so at home here, with a traditional menu that rarely steers too far from 'meat and two veg' with the likes of rabbit pie and cuts like pork collar or ox tongue, which has already earned it a Michelin-mention. The bar snacks menu embodies comfort food, from indulgent oozing cheese toasties, chunky pork pie wedges and mince on toast – a nod to Margot's Kiwi roots – and easily warrants a return visit.
Address: The Three Horseshoes, Batcombe BA4 6HE
Website: thethreehorseshoesbatcombe.co.uk- Faydit Photography
Casa, Bristol
Best for: Contemporary Italian
Dish to order: double agnolotti
Formerly Casamia, the Michelin-starred family-owned restaurant that reigned as Bristol's most awarded, owner Peter Sanchez-Iglesias has swapped its 20-course tasting menu, black painted walls and incredibly loud club music for a more relaxed contemporary Italian-style restaurant. Although the music still features heavily, the interior is now all about muted tones. The food comes in a more affordable a la carte Italian menu with small sharing plates at its heart. Happily, it has retained the impressive cooking of its predecessor, with plenty of daily specials scribbled on menus, and other dishes such as "not quite chicken Milanese" and 'nduja mussels, while its famed family-secret recipe tiramisu is a menu stalwart.
Address: Casa, The General, 9 Lower Guinea Street, City of Bristol BS1 6FU
Website: casabristol.co.uk
Exmoor Inn, Simonsbath
Best for: Organic, locally sourced meat
Dish to order: Exmoor pheasant, roasted figs, lentils and Swiss chard
This country pub with rooms sits in the village of Simonsbath on the edge of the Somerset border within Exmoor's National Park. It lives and breathes all things agriculture, not only in the form of the interiors but also by using the land it sits on to its full advantage. Inside, antlers hang above fireplaces and angling, rambling and shooting paraphernalia throughout set the tone for the pub, which the three Greenall brothers brought back to life in 2021. Food is sourced from the moors, kitchen garden, and the huge organic hill farm on which the pub sits. It rears native breeds, supplying grass-fed beef, lamb and venison without incurring many food miles for head chef Ben Ogden to turn into dishes such as sumptuous crispy glazed hogget shoulder or a hearty organic slow-cooked Simonsbath beef cottage pie.
Address: Exmoor Inn, Simonsbath, Minehead TA24 7SH
Website: exmoorforestinn.comBeckford Bottle Shop, Bath
Best for: Eating alongside drinking wine
Dish to order: Bath chaps (pork cheek croquettes) with Bramley apple sauce
Half bottle shop, half bistro – pick up a bottle to while away an afternoon on the red Chesterfields at the back of the shop. Or pick a table in the adjoining bistro and find something to accompany your bottle or two, whether that's a charcuterie or cheese platter or a more substantial lunch of sharing plates. In the kitchen, chef James Harris' well-balanced dishes champion thoughtful flavour pairings and use what's in season. Think courgette fritti with aioli, crisp runner beans topped with pearlescent strips of lardo and a touch of elderberry or meaty chunks of Cornish mackerel with new potatoes doused in a buttery beurre blanc sauce. The little square croquettes of pig cheek and dollops of Bramley apple sauce, known as the Bath chaps, are not to be missed at any cost.
Address: Beckford Bottle Shop, 5-8 Saville Row, Bath BA1 2QP
Website: beckfordbottleshop.comHorrell & Horrell, Sparkford
Best for: Rural dinner party
Dish to order: it's always a set menu
After years of mastering their craft at Michelin-acclaimed Roth Bar & Grill, At The Chapel and Babington House, Jules & Steve Horrell's first solo venture is this relaxed dinner party in a magical barn at the end of their garden. The barn is brought to life with vintage dressers housing candles, baskets, seasonal veg and other trinkets, while the hefty log burner and blankets keep the evening chill at bay. The speciality here is fire cooking. There's no menu, and instead, the four-course supper is led by the availability of local producers, who are noted on a first-name basis on the menu. "Cam's courgettes" in the focaccia with garden tomatoes and Westcombe cheddar and "salad leaves from Tia at Wild Garden" are topped with edible flowers. The rest of the menu is full of produce from their kitchen garden, fruit trees and hedgerows, steps away.
Address: Horrell & Horrell, Brooklands Barn, Brains Lane, Sparkford BA22 7LA
Website: horrellandhorrell.co.ukLord Poulett Arms, Hinton Saint George
Best for: Elevated pub classics
Dish to order: cider battered fish and chips with chip shop curry sauce
The Lord Poulett Arms is another outpost from the Beckford Group (Talbot Inn, Beckford Arms etc.) and excels at bringing classic pubs in the southwest back to their former glory, with just the lightest touch of modernising and truly great food. The 17th-century picture-perfect pub ticks all the right boxes with its honey-coloured exterior and thatched roof, while its thoughtfully reclaimed interiors let the exposed stone walls and heavy wood shine. Wood-burning fires add to its cosiness, along with a proper pub area where dogs patiently wait for their local owners to drink up. Chef Philip Verden pays homage to all it benefits from thanks to its rural Somerset location. Hearty pub mains like cider battered fish and chips are livened up, and make sure to take advantage of all of the condiments, adding chip shop curry sauce to sides of crushed peas and tartare sauce.
Address: Lord Poulett Arms, High Street Hinton Saint George TA17 8SE
Website: lordpoulettarms.com
Holm, South Petherton
Best for: organic and biodynamic wines
Dish to order: Westcombe cheddar fries with pickled walnut
A Natwest cashpoint might tentatively flash outside this former bank, but things have got a little livelier inside since its clerical days. Stepping through the grand pillared doorway, you’ll find yourself a world away from the rambling honey-coloured village street you left behind. Pull up a stool at the counter overlooking the kitchen, where chefs serve the tasting menu as it’s cooked; perhaps in-season vegetables (from nearby Pitney Farm or the quarter acre garden outside) with herb mayonnaise, ricotta agnolotti with peas and Somerset pecorino or beef with beef fat hollandaise, all perfectly portioned to leave you raring for the British cheese finale. In the dining room (more urban than deep Somerset, with abstract art and lime plaster walls), the former bank vault has been turned into a walk-through wine cellar, packed with organic and biodynamic wines from small producers which can be paired with the tasting or a la carte menus. Making it even more of a destination is the seven rooms upstairs, opening in early November 2023. Decorated in similar honeyed hues and leafy green tones, there's plenty of contrasting oak wood and pieces from local artists.
Address: Holm, 28 St James's Street, South Petherton TA13 5BW
Website: holmsomerset.co.ukOsip, Bruton
Best for: a tasting menu
Dish to order: Jerusalem artichokes, roast chicken juice and scallop tartare
Lit up behind two bay windows on Bruton’s high street is the town’s tiny hotspot Osip, attached to hotel Number One Bruton and next to its sister wine bar The Old Pharmacy. Chef Merlin Labron-Johnson, whose portfolio includes Portland, Clipstone and The Conduit, opened the doors in Somerset at the end of 2019, realising his dream of returning to the West Country (he grew up in Devon) and his vision of a farm-to-table restaurant, for which he was awarded a Michelin Star for in 2021. Dried flowers hang behind the tables, shelves are filled with jars of pickles and white tiles sit alongside exposed brick walls. An a la carte menu is available at lunchtime – try the tourte de gibier to share – but it is the unpretentious, seven-course, evening tasting menu that is the showstopper. Pumpkin financiers are part of a quartet of small bites, the spelt and mushrooms come with local Westcombe cheddar and the hazelnut praline éclair is so pretty you will (briefly) think twice before diving your fork in.
Address: Osip, 1 High Street, Bruton, Somerset, BA10 0AB
Website: osiprestaurant.comAt the Chapel, Bruton
Best for: a romantic dinner
Dish to order: South coast hake, chickpeas, chorizo and aioli
When At the Chapel opened in a former 17th-century chapel in 2008, it put Bruton on the foodie map. With its restaurant, bakery and wine store, it’s the kind of place where people can meet for a quick breakfast (beetroot and apple juice with an almond croissant from the bakery perhaps), or settle in for a three-course dinner in which West Country ingredients take centre stage; Dorset crab with fennel, chilli and lemon and Somerset chargrilled chicken with lemon, thyme and aioli are regulars on the menu. Wander down the high street and the waft of wood-fired pizza and freshly baked bread coming from its ovens will lead you to the door.
Address: At the Chapel, 28 High Street, Bruton BA10 0AE
Website: atthechapel.co.uk- Jess Carter
Castle Farm, Midford
Best for: lunch on a farm
Dish to order: red lentil dhal with chapati
You could easily drive past the scruffy-looking entrance to Castle Farm without realising that inside the steel-framed barn, husband and wife Pravin and Leah Nayar are harbouring a hidden jewel. The organic farm dictates the menu; salad with chicory, radishes, lentils and goat’s cheese, perhaps, or potato and wild garlic soup. Friday curry nights draw on Pravin’s mixed Asian and Scandinavian heritage (the menu might include chalk stream trout, radish, orange and spicy fermented rhubarb vinaigrette or slow-roasted lamb in Malaysian coconut curry) and the candlelit weekly supper clubs are in high-demand. Seven courses with cocktails are devised along a theme for each, from ‘harvest’ to ‘Middle East’.
Address: Castle Farm, Midford Road, Midford, Bath BA2 7PU
Website: castlefarmmidford.co.uk
The Talbot Inn, Mells
Best for: Sunday lunch
Dish to order: 42 day-aged beef with horseradish sauce
The Talbot Inn is a masterclass in the gastropub formula of scrubbed wooden tables, Farrow & Ball walls and flagstone floors, which isn’t often pulled off with such aplomb. The menu is refreshingly straightforward; ham-hock terrine with piccalilli for starter might be followed by sea trout with rainbow chard and baby beets, and the puddings (including Eton mess) will bring back memories of childhood. The Coach House Grill Room, off the cobbled courtyard, opens on Saturday nights and for Sunday lunch, with meat cooking over a charcoal and wood fire.
Address: The Talbot Inn, Mells BA11 3PN
Website: talbotinn.comThe Garden Café at The Newt in Somerset, Castle Cary
Best for: garden lovers
Dish to order: spelt, artichoke and Cheddar risottoThe panoramic view from the Garden Café at The Newt is mesmerising: acres of formal gardens designed or retouched by architect Patrice Taravella, with your eyes flitting between a baroque maze and a Victorian fragrance garden. Inside, head chef Dale Pilton oversees the garden-to-table menu, where big sharing boards of cured meats and Somerset cheeses are accompanied by a rainbow of pickles. The beef shin with chilli, tomato and braised lettuce melts off the bone, and works very well washed down with a glass of ‘cyder’ from the onsite press.
Address: The Garden Café at The Newt in Somerset, Hadspen, Castle Cary BA7 7NG
Website: thenewtinsomerset.com- Joshua Dylan Redfearn
Rye Bakery, Frome
Best for: noisy children
Dish to order: sausage, broccoli and chilli pizza
When young parents Amy and Owen opened the Rye Bakery in an old chapel in Frome in Spring 2017, entertaining their son Alf was at the forefront of their mind. The result? A community hub with a bakery, café and play space. Bread is the showstopper rather than a vehicle for ingredients; fried egg, kale and labneh for breakfast comes on sourdough and the lamb flatbread with tahini dressing is a lunchtime hit. It’s deep in dairy farming territory, and cheese for the pizzas is sourced from nearby farms, while fruit and vegetables are grown in the bakery’s walled garden outside Frome.
Address: Rye Bakery, Hubnub Centre, Whittox Lane, Frome BA11 3BY
Website: rye-bakery.com The Pig near Bath, Pensford
Best for: a laid-back lunch
Dish to order: duck leg with butter beans, tomatoes and spicy oregano
The Pig empire is expanding, but its restaurant with rooms in the Mendip Hills still has the biggest of its kitchen gardens. This forms the crux of its promise to source food from within a 25-mile radius of the honey-coloured Georgian house, with a smoke house and beehives also in the mix. The emphasis here is on simple food, done well; ‘piggy bits’ such as hock eggs can be followed by beef brisket with tenderstem broccoli or a comforting garlicky chicken Kiev.
Address: The Pig near Bath, Hunstrete House, Pensford, BS39 4NS
Website: thepighotel.com
- Sim Canetty-Clarke
Roth Bar & Grill, Bruton
Best for: art buffs
Dish to order: roast hake with fennel, brown shrimp and tomato
Sitting at the bar attached to Bruton’s Hauser & Wirth gallery, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that you were amongst Somerset’s patchwork hills. There is a buzz – and cocktail menu – here that wouldn’t be out of place in the capital. Designed by Björn and Oddur Roth, the son and grandson of the late artist Dieter Roth, the bar is treated as an ongoing installation, made from scavenged materials. Meat is dry-aged in the restaurant’s own salt room, and kitchen salads such as the raw kohlrabi and apple slaw with tarragon and crème fraîche are noteworthy in their own right.
Address: Roth Bar & Grill, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton BA10 0NL
Website: rothbarandgrill.co.uk