To ask what the best restaurant in the UK you've eaten at is

[JonSnowsCloak]

Both high end and small/ local and Why?

I'll start- number one at the Balmoral in Edinburgh. Treated ourselves due to celebrating new house and job and it was simply amazing. We did the taster menu and it was beautiful from start to finish, tried loads of food I wouldn't normally try and the service was top notch (was expensive!). Small and local to me, Bistro Franc in Liverpool, does a Sunday wine and dine offer and every time we've been is spot on in terms of the food and really good value. Me and DP are big foodies and usually have a good read of TripAdvisor before we go.

One Aldwych in Covent Garden - taster menu exquisite, service impeccable, we weren't made to feel like the plebs we really are. I was very at the two people at the next table. Glamorous 20 something lady with kind faced quite elderly gentleman. Conversation was very much of two people that had never met before that night and if my presumptions were correct I felt quite sorry for both for them.
A bit lower budget but still a treat is Randall and Aubin in Soho. In fact I can't think if a better way to spend a summers evening than with a ice cold glass of white wine perusing the menu on the pavement watching the food prep going on and observing the world going by knowing I'll be eating something amazing very soon

Oh and The Hinds Head in Bray was nice but not worth the hype or the price.Walked passed The Fat Duck and was glad I could never afford it as it had no kerb appeal at all!

Also love Bistro Franc OP, and Marat is amazing. The Art School don’t seem to understand that vegetarian hard Italian cheese cannot be described as Parmesan. I had the joy of dining at Texture recently, simply amazing

^Maray

L’enclume for a very special occasion. I’ve eaten there twice and loved it.

The Cardford Inn at Little Eccleston in Lancashire. We eat there a lot. Also The Bay Horse at Bay Horse near Lancaster. They are both upper middle range for me.

Then budget, but great. Trof in Manchester.

Glad someone has already mentioned Frederics in Maidstone. It’s a total gem of a local bistro.

The French Horn in Sonning, Berkshire, more for the total experience of lovely service, beautiful setting and classic cuisine rather than top notch cooking.

Ooh and Clos Maggiore in Covent Garden is wonderful.

Also the original Loch Fyne restaurant beside the loch although we last went there fifteen years ago.

The Balmoral in Edinburgh a few years ago, I read about it in Ian Rankin’s books. Near Winchester clos du Marquis no pretentious really excellent!

Went to a Gordon Ramsey restaurant in the Savoy - terrible!

I live so rurally now my nearest place to eat that isn't my kitchen or my local pub is 35 miles away in Cambridge. Years ago when i lived in London (in 1997!) I loved St John and ate there regularly. Never had a bad meal and often had a sublime one. That area of London was where I worked. I had the best arrabiata of my life in a cafe which was open all night and all day and was always stuffed full of cab drivers. I ate there 3 or 4 times a week and the pasta and standard Italian dishes were always bloody lovely. You could buy cheap wine or bring your own. Have 3 courses or 1. Sit there all day or for twenty minutes. Fantastic coffee too. I loved it. It got forced out by Starbucks when Farringdon was poshed up. We had a campaign but got nowhere.

Where i live now there is nothing but a lovely butcher and grocer pitch up once a week in their vans. And a pizza truck comes once a month!

The restaurant I have the fondest memories of, and most want to go back to, is the Agacan in Dundee. I first went there as a student, dragged along by some friends in... 1993? 1994? I didn't want to go because I had previously been a very fussy eater and I'd never had Turkish food, but OH MY GOD I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I remember garlicy yoghurty chickeny OHMYGODNESS that was delicious. It's a tiny restaurant, triangular, with about 6 tables squeezed in, and every available surface is painted with bonkers oil painting, including the toilet cistern which was painted as a goldfish tank.

I went back many times as a student, but having moved away from Dundee in 1996, I haven't been in over 20 years. I know it's still there, and I've started planning a nostalgia trip for next summer, where I will definitely eat there again.

Jam Jar in Newcastle, food and service was amazing. Only one negative and that was the service charge added on. Asked the waitress and it doesn't go to the staff apparently. Had it removed and then went and got cash out and left the people who'd served me an actual tip. They deserved it.

Came back to read today’s contributions and realise it’s a zombie thread

The Witchery in Edinburgh

The Clove Club in Shoreditch London. Tasting menu and premium wine pairing was incredible. As was the company!

Rules in Covent Garden.

Roka in Canary Wharf

Tharavadu in Leeds. The most fantastic Keralan food. The seafood curry with lemon rice is a thing of beauty.

A few standouts - The Hand and Flowers in Marlow; food and service were amazing and made real effort for my Fiancè's birthday. Simpsons in Birmingham is beautifool food (has a great cookery school too). Coya Peruvian restaurant on Mayfair was pretty good for a fun relaxed NYE lunch in London (but cost us around a grand for 4 people, including drinks, eeeek). Had the worlds most amazing fishcakes in a little local pub by the sea in Cornwall about 20 years ago; wish I could remember where - still think about those fishcakes now!

Ooh forgot local places - Al Andalus in Oxford is an amazing tapas place that's been going for years, and The Flowing Well pub in South Oxfordshire - fantastic pub food.