The best fine dining restaurants in the UK

Pine Restaurant, Northumberland

Housed in a beautiful barn beside Hadrian’s Wall, in an area where chef and owner Cal Byerley’s family have farmed for generations, Pine has its roots in rural Northumberland. Local and foraged ingredients complement those grown in Pine’s organically managed no-dig kitchen garden and orchard, and are used to prepare exceptional dishes of garum-cured beef or plaice, smoked scallop roe, horseradish and magnolia. Cal creates Pine’s tasting menu with his cooking partner, chef Ian Waller, while their respective partners, Siân Buchan and sommelier Vanessa Stoltz, cater the front of house. “We all have different skills and it all comes together,” says Cal of this collaboration. Sustainability is key and is seen in the preservation of Pine’s abundant ingredients and whole-animal butchery. “Trimmings are used for charcuterie, animal bones are used for stock,” says Cal. “Someone has taken the time to produce the ingredient, why waste it?” restaurantpine.co.uk

Hide and Seek and the Fox, Kent

Chef Allister Barsby (Gidleigh Park) and wine expert Alice Bussi (Bath Priory) both held senior positions at amazing restaurants before moving to the coast at Saltwood to create this Michelin-starred restaurant. Allister loves autumn and winter, cooking his cuisine around wild duck, partridge, pheasant and venison: “Game, root vegetables and autumn fruits go in almost any combination imaginable. I combine venison with poached pear in mulled wine spices and this year I’m adding sweet parsnip and the herbaceous, almost medicinal aroma of pine.” There will also be a seasonal dessert of black figs, in a cream with fig compote and fig leaf-infused ice cream. hideandfox.co.uk

The Lanesborough Grill, London

Chef Shay Cooper, who has worked at The Bingham and The Goring, knows how to combine modern with traditional to breathe new life into London’s top dining rooms. Last spring, he landed at The Lanesborough, where (of course!) sole is a mainstay and key dishes such as beef wellington are served on guéridon trolleys. But Shay’s buttermilk-fried quail, ricotta gnocchi or brioche pudding with burnt orange purée and milk ice cream go beyond Hyde Park and speak to London dining trends more broadly. From the Grill’s domed glass ceiling and contemporary art collection to its use of quality seasonal ingredients, Shay wants the experience to have a “highly glamorous feel.” Oetker Collection

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Moor Hall, Lancashire

The main draw at this two-Michelin-starred destination remains Mark Birchall’s striking food. With its elegant use of natural materials, the modern dining room visually represents Mark’s aesthetic: seasonally driven, high-quality and technically accomplished. Over the winter, he plans to pair turbot with a curried organic pumpkin purée, seaweed and, as a sauce, his take on a Catalan suquet fish stew. Sika deer will also make an appearance, possibly with beetroot and elderberries. “I love the intense flavour,” says Mark, “and the bit of intramuscular fat that forms through the meat.” moorhall.com

Meadowsweet, Norfolk

Rebecca Williams and Greg Anderson’s Grade II-listed little restaurant with rooms in Holt has been a great addition to North Norfolk’s vibrant food scene, earning a Michelin star in its first year. Greg applies the sharp, classic technique he honed as head chef at Morston Hall to contemporary produce-based dishes. He’s a chef happily at the mercy of the seasons: “In winter, there’ll be venison served with porcini, celeriac and a black truffle sauce, perhaps a steamed venison ragout roll on the side. My good friend Henry fishes for lobster, crabs and sea bass until Mother Nature tells him to stop. I love making lobster ravioli, and fried Brancaster oysters with jalapeño and citrus are never far from the menu. Every new season is exciting.” reinadelpradoholt.com

The new outlaws’ highway, Cornwall

In September, Nathan Outlaw’s flagship restaurant in Port Isaac reopened as a single-person tasting menu experience that seats up to 30 people. “This will allow us to include a wider range of luxury ingredients and more time to embrace a variety of techniques,” says Nathan. “I’m looking forward to introducing dishes that we can confidently say contain the best seafood you’ve ever tasted.” The dining room has been spruced up with new furniture and warm, wintery decor. Dishes include pan-seared gurnardo with a sauce made daily from tiny Porthilly crabs (“no batch is the same”) and lemon sole in oyster and cucumber sauce. “This dish epitomises our cuisine,” says Nathan. It requires pristine raw produce and expert timing to ensure “it arrives at the table in peak condition. We apply the necessary scrutiny to do justice to this fish and the fishermen who caught it.” outlaws.co.uk

Alex Dilling at the Hotel Café Royal, London

While some Michelin-starred restaurants go out of their way to create a relaxed atmosphere (see Humo, below), Alex Dilling, as befits his five-star Hotel Café Royal headquarters, is unabashedly formal, both on the plate and in his level of service. Tasting menus only, starched tablecloths, cream leather booths, his wall of wine glasses scored by Michelin guides acting as a stark reminder of his two-star status. Many dishes look like little works of art. In recognition of returning customers who have followed the chef’s career from top restaurants in New York and London, Alex has created a menu of his signature dishes, including clam chowder – a nod to a childhood in San Francisco, with Dorset clams and caviar in a light clam velouté – and chicken à la chasse – chicken from Les Landes in a lagoon sauce. On offer on the five- to eight-course menus are lighter dishes including red mullet (or mackerel when in season) with burrata and peas; and brown crab with shiso and smoked cream topped with aged Kaluga caviar. Start with a martini made with the chef’s 5 Puffins gin. alexdilling.com

There

Take a seat at the counter (the pass) for first-class interaction with Colombian chef Miller Prada, whose cuisine combines his South American roots with the skills and passion he acquired for Japanese techniques and ingredients working with mentor Endo Kazutoshi. Fire-baking and dry-aging of fish and meat are at the heart of the restaurant. The relaxed team will introduce you to new discoveries that may include eight-day aged horse mackerel with citrus sauce and the most surprising addition of a Castillo coffee sauce from Miller’s family farm; subtle smoky flavours in everything from the refreshing house salad of Cornish Agria smoked potatoes, wild arugula, Tokyo turnips, miso to Orkney scallops in 20-year-old oak rum and 31-day aged Cornish lamb in beetroot sauce. Excitingly unique. humolondon.com

Dreamy places and casual classics

Good food and wine don’t always have to be a big compromise: here are five hangouts you can rely on for a last-minute trip

• Jane Eyre, Manchester

A stylish “neighborhood bar” serving serious small plates. Don’t miss the (substantial) pork chop with spiced apple and truffle mash. thejaneeyre.co.uk

• Smith & Gertrude, Edinburgh

A selection of carefully selected cheeses, charcuterie and exquisite wines. There are also some spectacular grilled cheese sandwiches. smithandgertrude.com

Natural wine, seasonal cocktails and inventive dishes like corn ribs or salt-baked beet pastrami, dill aioli and ginger-apple sauerkraut. cometusverdurasleeds.co.uk

Head to the bar at Lamb’s Conduit Street venue for comté fritters, Colchester oysters, morteau sausages with lentils and fine wines. noblerot.co.uk

A Jesmond-area venue known for its interesting wines, excellent cocktails and dishes of sweet and sour chicken hearts or beetroot-cured trout with citrus kosho. longfriday.co.uk