5 Best Restaurants in East Anglia, England

This excellent "restaurant with rooms" on the medieval Market Square takes deeply traditional flavors of the British countryside and updates them with a slight French twist. Served in an elegant, whitewashed dining room, the five-course, fixed-price dinner menus use a reassuring amount of local and regional ingredients. The selection might include breast of pigeon with caramelized endive or halibut with ginger foam and parsley sauce. The five spacious guest rooms have sloping floors, beamed ceilings, well-appointed bathrooms, and antique furnishings.

This intimate restaurant is one of Lincoln's oldest buildings, a rare survivor of 12th-century Norman domestic architecture and worth a visit even if the cosmopolitan menu wasn't so outstanding. Typical main dishes include roasted rack of lamb with rosemary confit carrots or wild turbot with caviar hollandaise. For dessert, you might be offered pistachio sponge with mixed berries. The restaurant is a much more sedate place than its colorful and sometimes dark history suggests (the name is medieval—check out the story while you're here).

This stylish French restaurant, with the same owners as the Great House in nearby Lavenham, specializes in locally caught seafood. Typical choices include king scallops with squid ink and saddle of lamb with parsley and mushroom stuffing. Leave room for dessert, such as the indulgent Opera gateau, a rich chocolate and almond pudding. The three-course £39.95 lunch offers good value.

This sophisticated restaurant serving excellent seasonal British fare is set in a Tudor house beside the idyllic River Stour. Outside, there are lighted terraces where food and drinks are served on warm evenings; inside, original beams, leaded-glass windows, and a brick fireplace add to the sense of history. The menu at lunch and dinner may include thyme-roasted partridge with salsify and grapes, or John Dory with razor clam chowder. For dessert, try the fresh fruit pavlova. In summer, evening barbecues are occasionally held on the terrace.

Across the river from Magdalene College, this popular waterfront bar and grill serves delicious steak, burgers, and pies, plus specialties such as lobster mac and cheese or salmon steak with molasses and spices. There's an extensive cocktail menu as well. Try a Frisky Vixen (rum with pineapple juice, lychee, and passion fruit) or head up to the roof terrace for a glass of champagne. When dining, perhaps leave room for a classic sticky toffee pudding for dessert.