5 Best Restaurants in Bath, Bath and the Cotswolds

Since the 1990s, this sleek modern space in the basement of the Queensberry Hotel has served top-notch English and Mediterranean dishes, finally being recognized with a Michelin star (the only one in town) in 2018. Head chef Chris Cleghorn creates a seductive, sophisticated selection of three-, five-, and seven-course tasting menus featuring delights such as smoked Devon eel with Isle of Wight tomatoes and tarragon; Cornish monkfish cooked over coal and served with leek and ginger; and raspberries accompanied by sheep curd and lemon verbena.

The Bath outpost of the growing Pig empire is a funky but chic restaurant with rooms in a converted country house in the Mendip Hills. It's all about the local and seasonal here (everything famously comes from within a 25-mile radius): kale, arugula, and other leaves and veggies are sourced from the Pig’s kitchen garden; apples, pears, and apricots come from its orchard; and pork, chicken, quail, and venison are provided by animals raised on the property. Salmon, pancetta, and bacon are smoked on-site. The results are exceptionally fresh and flavorsome dishes like loin of home-reared venison or “Kentucky-fried” wild rabbit. Dining alfresco in summer, when the wood-fired oven gets going, is a delight. The 29 comfortable and reasonably priced rooms are decorated with an elegant simplicity and have glorious views. It's located about 8 miles from Bath, off the A368. 

The enticing prix-fixe lunch menu and a wide-ranging à la carte dinner menu featuring French and European fare attract diners to this award-winning restaurant, which is renowned for its signature dishes like onglet (hanger) steak with tarragon and sea bass with clams and samphire. It's also a great place to stop for afternoon tea or coffee after a walk by nearby Pulteney Weir.

Step away from the center of town to sample the ingenious cuisine that Michelin-trained chef Gordon Jones conjures up in his open kitchen. There is no set menu, but you choose between seven and nine courses and every dish will be a surprise; choices might include smoked eel with maple syrup and purple potatoes, a crisp haggis, roasted turbot with giant raisins and caper dressing, and blackberry sorbet with marinated cucumber. You can also choose a wine flight to accompany the tasting menus. The location is unprepossessing and the decor plain, enlivened by a few antlers and vials of oil, but the service is friendly and unstuffy; if you want to talk with the chef about your food, he will willingly do so. Book well in advance; lunch is easier to reserve than dinner.

The 18th-century Pump Room, with views over the Roman baths, serves morning pastries and brunch, as well as afternoon tea (from noon until late afternoon), to music by a pianist or string trio who play every day. The stately setting is the selling point rather than the food, but do sample the the house-made cakes and pastries, including scrumptious scones.