The best restaurants serving British food in South East
5.377 Restaurants on GastroRanking
129 Opinions in 2 websites
7 High Street, England
i don’t know what happened but i was missing 2 dishes from my order, i called up to complain but it was very much “i don’t know what i can do about that” just feel like i’ve been ripped of £20 worth of food. check your order before you leave that’s all i can say reall…
4025 Opinions in 3 websites
1 Bath Square, EnglandOn what turned out to be a particularly cold, early January day, (and, oh boy, was it icy in a Force-whatever wind!), my fellow-retired pal suggested a long over-due visit down to the D-Day Museum sited on Southsea's long sea-front Promenade. After a 30 year hiatus, our trip was absorbing and well worth it..even freezing to death on the magnificent WW-II Landing Craft-Tank moored on dry-land outside the Museum, it was still a riveting visit, though so blustery was the very strong wind that visitors to the uppers decks of the craft were forbidden..just in case any hapless tourists pitched over the side! Not having felt such a wintery blast as that in this country for many a year, aforesaid mentioned pal & I decided we needed a 'serious' warm-up and so lunch beckoned in Old Portsmouth.. a location just half a mile or so hence as 'the crow flies' that I've been very fond of since my time as a young Royal Naval Petty Officer Cadet Instructor in the CFF at my old grammar school in Winchester in the 1970s, but somewhere that, alas, I've not often returned to in the intervening years. So parking up near the quayside in the old part of the city, (formerly home to Charles Dickens, born amidst these evocative cobbled streets in February 1812), we took a wander past some of the splendid ancient buildings, interspersed between more modern-looking properties that were, to all intents & purposes, built in the gaps of the former bombed-out houses, courtesy of the Luftwaffe visiting this most famous naval port numerous times during WW-II. As we rounded a right-hand bend on the cobbled pavement, and caught the icy blast again, there before us lay the impressive harbour, the Gun Wharf Keys shopping centre, the incredible Spinnaker Tower and just beyond that, our nation's two new, mighty aircraft carriers sitting quietly at their moorings and, standing under an old Victorian street lamp, a half-memory started to form. But keen to get out of the cold, we turned around and found ourselves in front of a gorgeous looking Inn called Spice Island..and happily it now being mid-day and stomachs begging to be filled, we opened the door, immediately revelled in the warmth therein..and headed to the attractive old wooden bar. The Inn itself is literally right on the quayside and the first thing that caught my eyes as I looked about me, were the wonderfully large picture windows overlooking the harbour.. and so the two of us immediately bagged a vacant window seat in front of one of them, grabbed a menu and, as is always our 'test eat', plumped for the battered fish & chips.. and for me, as the non-driver, a pint of my favourite Aspalls Cider..! Sitting on the comfortable bench seats looking out of the window with our pints in front of us, (all served by the lovely Freya), I gazed across at the docks and the, now, shopping centre on the opposite quay-side beyond,..and it suddenly came back to me as I happily sat there on this cold January day as I realised that Gun Wharf Keys was formerly Shore Establishment HMS Vernon back in the 1970s, (sadly closed down and built upon, I later ascertained, in 1995) The echo of the memory I was slowly recalling was because some 50 years ago I found myself sitting on the open bridge of a WW-II Minesweeper moored alongside HMS Vernon, undertaking the 3am watch, as a busy 24-hour a day naval harbour around me busied itself for the sailings due on the dawn tide..and at one point I had actually been looking across the water... at the very pub I was now sitting in..! It was probably called something different back then... but it was amazing to think that all those years on, here I was looking back in the opposite direction, recalling the ghost of HMS Vernon when, as a young naval cadet instructor, I was a temporary member of ship's company aboard the inshore mine-sweeper HMS Isis for a weekend of sea training..wishing back then that I could have popped into this very pub for a pint..! Safe to say the rest of our very enjoyable lunch in this fantastic old Inn, in a very historic part of Old Portsmouth, was a most happy journey down memory lane..allied to the fact the fish & chips were fantastic the cider spot on and the service & friendliness of the staff was most welcoming...and I think that a return trip to Spice Island is very much on... when the weather outside warms up a bit. So thank you for a smashing welcome, a delightful lunch and the rekindling for me of some happy Pompey memories from 50 years ago..😎
575 Opinions in 3 websites
The Green, EnglandWe had a Christmas Eve meal here and it was excellent. I'm vegetarian and so I really appreciate people who can cook vegetables well and this really was perfect. Not only that, the staff serving at the table and at the bar were really friendly and professional and to top it all the Dorset real ale was sublime. The whole evening was a joy, I can't wait to come back when I'm in the area again.