The UK's best fine dining restaurants

UMU, Mayfair

Opening in 2004 and thriving 20 years later is testament to UMU’s unique offering – inspired by Kyoto cuisine, using British ingredients such as fish sourced from Cornwall and Welsh lamb. Behind a discreet doorway in Mayfair’s Bruton Place, the dark wood-panelled room is lit to emphasise the sushi masters at work at the counter, carving, chopping and grating fresh wasabi. There is more theatre on the plate with premium ingredients like high-grade wagyu served à la minute, which arrives smoking at the table; the salty-sweet and glistening eel kabayaki, and a cute dessert: Charamisu Mayfair garden Japanese seasonal tiramisu, with a mini watering can to sprinkle over sake. Select a wine or sake pairing for the full experience. umurestaurant.com

Restaurant Pine, Northumberland

Housed in a handsome barn by Hadrian’s Wall in an area where chef-owner Cal Byerley’s family has farmed for generations, Pine is firmly rooted in rural Northumberland. Foraged and local ingredients complement those grown in Pine’s no-dig, organically managed kitchen garden and orchard, feeding into exceptional dishes of garum-cured beef or plaice, smoked scallop roe, horseradish and magnolia. Cal creates Pine’s tasting menu with fellow head chef Ian Waller, while their respective partners, Siân Buchan and sommelier Vanessa Stoltz, handle front of house. “We’ve all got different skills and it just gels,” says Cal of this collaboration. Sustainability is key and is visible in Pine’s preservation of abundant ingredients and whole-animal butchery. “Trim is used for charcuterie, animal bones to make stocks,” says Cal. “Someone’s taken time to produce the ingredient, why waste any?” restaurantpine.co.uk

Hide and Fox, Kent

Chef Allister Barsby (Gidleigh Park) and wine expert Alice Bussi (Bath Priory) held top jobs at incredible restaurants before moving to coastal Saltwood to create this one-Michelin-starred restaurant. Allister loves autumn and winter, as he works his way through mallard, partridge, pheasant and venison: “Game, root vegetables and autumn fruits go together in almost any combination imaginable. I pair venison with pear poached in mulled wine spices, and this year I’ll add sweet parsnip and the herby, almost medicinal aroma of pine.” A seasonal dessert of black figs will feature, too, in a set custard with fig compote and fig leaf-infused ice cream. hideandfox.co.uk

The Lanesborough Grill, London

Previously at The Bingham and The Goring, chef Shay Cooper knows how to blend the modish and traditional to breathe new life into London’s grandest dining rooms. Last spring, he landed at The Lanesborough where (of course!) dover sole is a mainstay, and key dishes, such as the beef wellington, are plated tableside from guéridon trolleys. But Shay’s buttermilk-fried quail, ricotta gnocchi or brioche pudding with burnt orange purée and milk ice cream very much look beyond Hyde Park to wider London restaurant trends. From the Grill’s domed glass ceiling and contemporary art collection, to its use of fine seasonal ingredients, Shay wants the experience to deliver a “sense of high glamour”. oetkercollection.com

Moor Hall, Lancashire

The key draw of this two-Michelin-starred destination remains Mark Birchall’s astonishing food. With its stylish use of natural materials, the modish dining room visually represents Mark’s aesthetic: seasonally driven, high-quality and technically accomplished. Over winter, he plans to pair turbot with a curried organic squash purée, sea vegetables and, as the sauce, his take on a Catalan suquet fish stew. Sika deer will appear, too, possibly with beetroot and elderberry. “I love the deep flavour,” says Mark, “and the little bit of intramuscular fat you get running through the meat.” moorhall.com

Meadowsweet, Norfolk

Rebecca Williams and Greg Anderson’s small, Grade II-listed restaurant with rooms in Holt has been a big addition to North Norfolk’s vibrant food scene, gaining a Michelin star in its first year. Greg applies the sharp, classical technique he honed as head chef at Morston Hall to contemporary, produce-driven dishes. He is a chef happily at the mercy of the seasons: “In winter, there’ll be roe deer served with ceps, celeriac and a black truffle sauce, maybe a steamed roe deer ragout bun on the side. My good friend Henry will fish for lobster, crabs and sea bass until mother nature tells him to stop. I love making lobster ravioli, and deep-fried Brancaster oysters with jalapeño and citrus are never far from the menu. Every new season is exciting.” meadowsweetholt.com

Outlaw's New Road, Cornwall

In September, Nathan Outlaw’s Port Isaac flagship reset as a single-sitting tasting menu experience for up to 30 people. “This will allow us to include a wider range of luxurious ingredients and more time to embrace a variety of techniques,” says Nathan. “I’m eager to present dishes we can confidently say contain the best seafood you’ll ever try.” The dining room has been spruced up with new furnishings and warm, wintry décor. Dishes include plancha-cooked gurnard with a sauce made daily from tiny Porthilly crabs (“no batch is the same”), and lemon sole in an oyster and cucumber sauce. “This dish epitomises our cooking,” says Nathan. It requires immaculate raw product and expert timing to ensure “it hits the table in peak condition. We apply the scrutiny required to do this fish and the fishermen who caught it justice”. outlaws.co.uk

Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, London

While some Michelin-starred restaurants go all out to create a relaxed vibe (see Humo, below) Alex Dilling, as befitting its home in the five-star Hotel Café Royal, is unashamedly formal, both on the plate and in its level of service. Tasting menus only, crisply starched tablecloths, cream leather booths, its wall of wine glasses punctuated by Michelin guides acting as a clear reminder of its two-star status. Many dishes look like tiny works of art. In recognition of returning guests who have followed the chef’s career from leading restaurants in New York and London, Alex has created a menu of his defining dishes, including clam chowder, a nod to growing up in San Francisco – with Dorset clams and caviar in a light clam velouté, and hunter’s chicken – Les Landes chicken in albufera sauce. Across the five- to eight-course menus offered, 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 own 5 Puffins gin. alexdilling.com

Humo

Sit at the counter – effectively the pass – for prime interaction with Colombian chef Miller Prada, whose cooking combines his South American roots with the skills and passion he gained for Japanese techniques and ingredients working with mentor Endo Kazutoshi. Fire cooking and dry ageing of fish and meat are at the heart of the restaurant. The laid-back team will introduce you to new discoveries which might include eight-day-aged yellowtail with citrus sauce and the more surprising addition of a Castillo coffee sauce from Miller’s family farm; subtle smoky flavours in everything from the refreshing house salad of smoked Cornish Agria potatoes, wild rocket, Tokyo turnips, miso to Orkney scallop in 20-year-old oaked rum and 31-day-aged Cornish lamb in beetroot sauce. Thrillingly unique. humolondon.com

Dream drop-ins & casual classics

Good food and wine needn’t always be a big commitment – here are five hangouts you can rely on for a last-minute lift

• The Jane Eyre, Manchester

A self-styled “neighbourhood bar” serving serious small plates. Don’t miss the (substantial) pork chop with spiced apple and truffled mash. thejaneeyre.co.uk

• Smith & Gertrude, Edinburgh

An expertly assembled choice of cheeses, charcuterie and exciting wines. Awesome grilled cheese sandwiches, too. smithandgertrude.com

• Eat Your Greens, Leeds

Natural wine, seasonal cocktails and clever plates of corn ribs or salt-baked beetroot pastrami, dill aïoli and ginger-apple sauerkraut. eatyourgreensleeds.co.uk

• Noble Rot, London

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

• Long Friday, Newcastle

A Jesmond area joint known for interesting wines, great cocktails and plates of sweet ’n’ sour chicken hearts or beetroot-cured trout with citrus kosho. longfriday.co.uk