8 Best Restaurants in The West Country, England

One of England's foremost country-house hotels, Gidleigh Park occupies an enclave of landscaped gardens and streams, reached via a lengthy, winding country lane and private drive at the edge of Dartmoor. The pricey contemporary restaurant, directed by chef Chris Eden, has been showered with culinary awards, including two Michelin stars. You may see why when you dig into the steamed turbot served with squash, caviar, and seaweed, or aged fillet of beef cooked over coals, with smoked bone marrow, garlic, and spinach—two of the choices you might find on the three-course prix-fixe dinner menu (£125). There's also a "lounge menu," served in the lounges or on the terrace, which includes such starters as cheese soufflé and smoked salmon, and beef sirloin and gnocchi as main courses. The wine list is formidable, and the locally pumped spring water is like no other. If you're not up to a full meal, wholesome sandwiches are offered all day. You can also order a luxury picnic hamper (£125 for two) containing an array of cold meats, cheeses, bread, salad, sweet treats, and wine, which can be enjoyed at any time and anywhere in the house, within the grounds of Gidleigh Park, or further afield. Inside the long, half-timber building, built in 1928 in Tudor style, you'll find antiques in the public rooms and in the 24 luxurious guest rooms. Note, however, that the hotel and restaurant are currently closed on Sundays and Mondays.

This dining-focused pub with bright, homey furnishings and a relaxed ambience looks past green fields to the ocean beyond. The frequently changing fixed-price menus (£35 or £42) feature fresh, inventively prepared meat and seafood dishes; look for plaice and brown shrimps with capers in a samphire butter sauce or rump of beef with asparagus and polenta. Leave room for some enticing desserts. Eight smallish rooms provide guest accommodations. The inn sits near the curvy coast road 6 miles west of St. Ives.

Set in a sea-facing Georgian building on one of the West Country's most enchanting stretches of coast, this restaurant with rooms run by an Anglo-Italian husband-and-wife team offers modern reinventions of classic Italian dishes executed with consummate artistry and originality. The four-course set menu (£70; booking essential) might include such antipasti as beef carpaccio with ginger, toasted sesame, and caramelized tomato, which you might follow with risotto alla Milanese or rigatoni amatriciana, and such mains as cedar-smoked salmon or cherry wood-smoked lamb cutlets. The desserts are equally enticing, such as the raspberry sorbet and chocolate mousse. All dietary preferences are catered for, and there's a fine Italian wine list. The dining rooms are hung with flamboyant modern art, while upstairs, the four guest rooms display the same flair, combining a traditional style with modern design and restful hues.

Paul Ainsworth is gradually expanding his culinary presence in Padstow to rival that of Rick Stein, and for many foodies, Ainsworth offers the better experience. His innovative creations can best be sampled at this intimate bistro that was his original foothold in the town, where diners seated in a series of small, stylish rooms feast on ingeniously concocted dishes that make the most of local and seasonal produce. The four-course set-price menus (£135) for lunch and dinner might include scallop with acorn-fed ham and white wine velouté for starters, and for the main course, you might try the tallow aged beef fillet with short rib savarin and stuffed morels or wild turbot with mashed potato and onion gravy, as well as some astounding desserts. The atmosphere is warm and lively, with swift, amiable service.

Exeter-born master chef Michael Caines has breathed new life into this elegant Georgian mansion overlooking the Exe estuary 5 miles south of Exeter, where he has installed three separate dining rooms to showcase his highly original recipes. The wow-factor starts the moment you arrive, with unforgettable estuary views forming a fitting prelude to the gastronomic feast to follow. The seasonal four-course lunch menu (£95), à la carte fixed-price menu (£155), and multicourse tasting menus (£180 and £195) might include such dishes as shellfish ravioli with langoustine bisque, salted Newlyn cod with lemon purée, Lyme Bay crab, samphire, and chorizo, and poached chicken with Wye Valley asparagus and wild garlic. There is a separate vegetarian and vegan menu that has choices like herb and nettle risotto with aged Parmesan cheese, while typical desserts include apple mousse with green apple jelly, apple sorbet, and vanilla foam, and mango and lime soufflé. Luxurious accommodations are also available on site.

Intimate and elegant, this restaurant located within a luxury guesthouse is an ideal hideaway if you want some respite from the crowds swirling around St. Ives. Everything on the seven-course tasting menu (£49 or £69) is locally sourced and seasonal, and the chef will take the time to talk you through each dish; the menu's highlights might include lobster bolognese cannelloni with a caramelly lobster sauce, duck with Puy lentils and smoked carrot, or guinea fowl terrine with celeriac and pickled mushroom. With its boldly patterned wallpaper, the restaurant enlivens its classic style with modern decor, and there are superb views over Porthminster beach and the sea.

One of the country's foremost chefs, Nathan Outlaw, has established a base in Port Isaac, where he has two top-notch seafood restaurants. The Fish Kitchen, right on the quay, is the more casual of the two, occupying a 15th-century fisherman’s cottage with just eight tables and the three-course fixed-price menu (£88 per person) features the freshest seafood available, all creatively prepared and sustainably sourced. Your meal might include monkfish satay with peanuts and lime or cured gurnard with sweet potato, chili, and coriander. The smarter, roomier, and pricier Outlaw's New Road at the top of the village also serves a set seafood menu for lunch and dinner at £105 per person (Tuesday through Saturday). No children under 10 are allowed in either restaurant.

Set back from Torquay's harbor, this elegant eatery offers sophisticated but relaxed dining, with views over Torbay from its Georgian windows. The innovative menus offer such starters as Brixham crab with sour apple jelly or hand-dived scallops with whey-butter sauce and pickled grapes, and, among the mains, you might find rump of lamb with Provençal-style vegetables or roasted monkfish with ravioli of salsify and fennel. The highly skilled kitchen is matched by the pleasant and attentive wait staff. At lunch, you can choose between the set menu (£28–£32) or a set-price à la carte menu (£53 or £68), which is also available in the evening alongside a multicourse tasting menu (£90).