Ten chefs choose their favourite UK restaurant dishes

Telegraph

6 days ago

The UK has one of the world's most vibrant, creative culinary scenes. Every day, chefs are dreaming up tantalising dishes with inventive flavour combinations, boundary-pushing techniques and eye-catching presentations.
It's impossible for any foodie to get bored.
But despite spending much of their lives in kitchens, great chefs never get bored of exploring what's on offer either, using rare days off to eat out and see what their fellow professionals are plating up. Who better, then, to have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to the most exciting dishes found across the UK currently?
Here, 10 of Britain's best-loved chefs, including Rick Stein, Michel Roux Jr and Adejoké Bakare, share the dishes which have got their tastebuds excited – from a crab soufflé to an 'absolutely epic' bowl of pasta…
Rick Stein knows a thing or two about seafood, having spent his life building his Cornwall restaurant empire, including The Seafood Restaurant, which is celebrating its 50 th anniversary this year.
The spot that's most impressed him recently, however, is Riley's Fish Shack in King Edward's Bay on England's north-east coast. 'With restaurant fit-outs often lavish, it was a delight to find oneself in two shipping containers on the beach lined with gnarly wood and bench seating with plank tables,' says Stein.
The atmosphere might be laidback, but the food at Adam and Lucy Riley's shack is serious business: turbot, squid, langoustines, oysters and more, mostly cooked over a wood and charcoal grill.
'The dish I loved was a twice-baked soufflé of crab with thermidor sauce served in battered red Le Creuset gratin dishes – brown and warming and fragrant with delicious crab,' says Stein.
The popular soufflé's made using brown and white crab meat, milk infused with clove, onion, garlic, bay, thyme and tarragon, with butter, flour, eggs and plenty of mustard and Cayenne pepper. Once cooked, they're covered with crab bisque and baked again until they're blistering and wobbly.
King Edward's Bay, Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, England, NE30 4BY
Mashed potato doesn't sound like something to get gourmands' hearts racing, but there's mash and then there's the mash served up at Makars Gourmet Mash Bar on The Mound in Edinburgh, where toppings range from wild boar sausages to lion's mane mushrooms.
'Makars' slow-cooked lamb shank with black pudding mash is my pick,' says London-based chef Ellen Chew, founder of the Chew On This restaurant group, including Singapulah on London's Shaftesbury Avenue.
'It's very impressive that they've managed to transform something as basic as mash into something so delectable by pairing it with their deeply flavourful meat, like their fall-off-the-bone hill lamb.'
The lamb shank is infused with a sauce made with local Leith Distillery's Tawny Port wine, rosemary and tomato sauce, while the mash contains Stornoway black pudding. 'This is comfort food at its finest,' says Chew.
9-12 Bank St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 2LN
Home to restaurants from the likes of Rick Stein, Paul Ainsworth and Nathan Outlaw, there's long been an abundance of reasons for foodies to visit Cornwall. Since 2024, there's been yet another one: Ardor, a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant from chef Dorian Janmaat, formerly of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, in the heart of St Ives.
'One of the best things I've eaten this year is the wild mushroom fideuà pasta with truffle aioli at Ardor – it's absolutely epic,' says Chris Eden, executive head chef of Cornwall's Watergate Bay Hotel.
'This Catalan-inspired dish replaces paella rice with broken pasta strands to create a real depth of earthy flavours and interesting texture. The intensity of mushrooms creates a rich umami base, while the silky truffle aioli adds luxurious depth. It's hearty, indulgent comfort food elevated through technique rather than fussiness. Dorian spent much of his childhood in Spain, and his influences shine through strongly.'
45 Fore St, Saint Ives, Cornwall, England, TR26 1HE
Sandwiches are not 'real food' and 'lunch is for wimps', according to Kemi Badenoch. These are not views shared by Nigerian-born British chef-owner Adejoké Bakare, who earned a Michelin star for her West African restaurant Chishuru.
Bakare likes to get her hands on a Bifana – 'a classic Portuguese sandwich' – at Quality Wines in Farringdon, London, whenever they're on the menu. 'Quality Wines is one of my favourite places to eat,' says Bakare of the restaurant, which serves a Mediterranean-inspired menu, from roast turbot to pig fat cannolo.
'I love Nick Bramham's food – taking down-home dishes and executing them brilliantly. The Bifana is one example. Nick marinates pork loin in paprika and bay, then simmers it in white wine and molten pork fat. The loin and sauce are shoved into a crusty roll, made in-house. It's anointed with Portuguese mustard and piri piri oil. For me, it's the ultimate sandwich.'
88, Farringdon Road, Farringdon, London, England, EC1R 3EA
The driving force behind renowned Lancashire restaurant Northcote and now the chef-owner of farm-to-table gastropub The Three Fishes in Clitheroe, Nigel Haworth is a veteran figure in northern England's culinary scene.
He's been particularly dazzled by the modern British dishes created by Ruth Hansom, who worked at The Ritz and Core by Clare Smyth before opening Hansom Restaurant in the North Yorkshire market town of Bedale in 2024. 'Ruth's lobster bisque chawanmushi is a standout dish: technically impressive, culturally rich, and absolutely delicious,' says Haworth. 'She's reimagined the classic lobster bisque by transforming it into a chawanmushi, a delicate Japanese-style steamed egg custard.
'The base is made from bisque stock and eggs, creating a silky custard infused with the deep, roasted flavour of lobster. It's topped with lobster tail, pickled fennel, heritage tomatoes and carrots. The textures, colours, and flavours sing in harmony. This is seasonal British produce meeting global technique, a great example of the thoughtful, progressive cooking defining 2025's dining scene.'
'Neighbourhood Nourishment' is the order of business at Vittle Bakeshop, a small bakery and café on The Promenade of the seaside town of Portstewart, County Londonderry, though they may have to get used to travelling gastronomes from far and wide turning up.
Opened in 2020, David Loughran and his partner Sarah specialise in naturally leavened bread and pastries, as well as 'Freaky Ferments,' winning awards for their Irish custard tart and wild garlic sausage roll. But it's their nduja and wild garlic pain suisse that's been drawing Stevie McCarry, chef-owner at LIR seafood restaurant in nearby Coleraine, for repeat visits.
'Days off in hospitality are sacred – ours always include a trip to Vittle Bakeshop, a small-but-mighty space for creativity and community,' says McCarry. 'Their most recent masterpiece, the nduja and wild garlic pain suisse, is the greatest thing I've put into my mouth in years. It's cross-laminated sourdough croissant pastry filled with The Curly Pigs nduja [spreadable salami] from County Fermanagh, and a duo of in-house ferments: one a by-product from making fermented chilli hot sauce and the other a lacto-fermented wild garlic paste. It's finished with hot honey and finely shaved Cáis na Tíre, an Irish sheep's milk cheese reminiscent of Pecorino. It's heaven.'
66, The Promenade, Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, BT55 7AF
Brother Thai began life 10 years ago as a Cardiff street food stall, chef and owner Andrew Chongsathien earning a reputation for his innovative approach to Thai street food. It's an approach he continued when he opened his restaurant in the heart of the Welsh capital.
'One of the most exciting things I've eaten recently is the sticky spicy beef roti at Brother Thai,' says Lewis Dwyer, head chef and owner at the creative Hiraeth restaurant, opposite Cardiff's Victoria Park. 'It's Thai-style stir-fried beef with a generous amount of lime leaf through it, sat on top of flaky paratha.'
The dish is inspired by the paratha-like breads, known as roti, commonly sold from street food stands in southern Thailand's Muslim-populated areas, usually eaten with beef, lamb or fish curry.
Brother Thai's dish also features a Thai-inspired ajat 'slaw'. 'It's a simple and unassuming plate of food, but I don't see the Kaffir lime leaf played up so vibrantly ever, and the addition of the buttery, pastry-like paratha is a brilliant combination. It's up there with the best food you can get in Cardiff.'
35, Whitchurch Rd, Cardiff, CF14 3JN
One of the most influential figures on the British culinary scene, Michel Roux Jr, formerly the chef-owner of Le Gavroche, is the culinary director of Chez Roux at The Langham hotel in London's West End.
Not the easiest man to impress, he was enamoured with an elegant salmon dish at Trinity, chef-owner Adam Byatt's Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant in Clapham Old Town, London.
'The dish I've most enjoyed recently is one served at Trinity,' says Roux Jr, singling out the warm semi-smoked salmon, which is poached in a beurre monté.
'The salmon's served on a classic beurre blanc but made with Chardonnay and white onion for depth of flavour. It's finished with trout roe, dill and dulce for lip-smacking deliciousness. The final touch of pickled cucumber brings the whole dish together – a joy to the senses. The presentation is striking in its simplicity – it's a statement brimming with confidence.'
4, The Polygon, London, England, SW4 0JG
'It's amazing to see how the curry has assimilated itself into British cuisine,' says Nina Matsunaga, chef-owner of the award-winning The Black Bull in the Yorkshire Dales market town of Sedbergh.
'Kevin Tickle at Heft is through-and-through a Cumbrian chef, yet the most exciting dish that I've eaten recently – monkfish, mussel and cauliflower curry – sits very comfortably on his menu.'
Heft opened in 2022 in a 17th-century inn in the south of the Lake District National Park, a few minutes away from Lake Windermere. His monkfish curry was a particularly memorable experience for Matsunaga. 'The monkfish is blushed on the Konro (Japanese BBQ),' she says. 'He also uses poached mussels, cauliflower browned in butter and fermented cauliflower hearts with shoestring fries for an added playful crunch. His 'special blend' of curry sauce is not too spicy but has good depth. It's a different take on a curry, and an exciting, standout dish.'
High Newton, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, England, LA11 6JH
Scottish chef Pamela Brunton trained at Noma in Copenhagen and Fäviken in Sweden before opening Inver in 2015, a cosy restaurant in the village of Strachur overlooking Loch Fyne in the Scottish Highlands. Her menus combine modern techniques with local wild and farmed ingredients – langoustines, lamb, berries and seashore greens.
Unsurprisingly, it's high on the to-do list for in-the-know foodies. Rosie Healey, chef-owner of Mediterranean-influenced Gloriosa in Glasgow (gloriosaglasgow.com), was bowled over.
'I had the most wonderful meal recently at Inver,' she says. 'The standout dish was so beautifully presented and a joy to eat: thinly sliced, raw, hand-dived scallops from the loch, white asparagus alongside, and a white scallop sauce flavoured with vanilla and miso poured all around, finished with a tiny amount of hazelnut oil. Everything was pale and harmonious.'