Ask most people where to eat in Cambridgeshire and they will name three or four places in central Cambridge. That leaves out a seafood kitchen in a Peterborough village pub, a thatched inn on the Northamptonshire border, a hotel dining room a short walk from Ely Cathedral and a 1700s pub in Eaton Socon where the Sunday roast is the big draw.
This guide covers fourteen sit-down restaurants, split between Cambridge and the south, Huntingdonshire and the Nene valley, and Ely, the Fens and Peterborough. We have mixed special-occasion tasting menus with set lunches, family pubs and a couple of places where the room is half the reason to go. Every one was checked as trading in November 2026, and we have noted booking rules, closures and anything that might catch you out.
Details were accurate at the time of research in November 2026. Menus, prices and opening times change often, so please check each restaurant’s own website before you book.
Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire
Cambridge has more good restaurants per street than anywhere else in the county, and Mill Road and Chesterton Road now carry as much weight as the streets around the colleges. We have kept the city to four picks and added one village kitchen just over the A14 at Fen Ditton.
Margaret’s, Chesterton Road
Indoor activity
- A modern British bistro at 18 Chesterton Road, opened in 2025 by Sam Carter and Alex Olivier, the couple behind Michelin-starred Restaurant Twenty-Two two doors along
- It is listed in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide, whose inspectors single out the breads and dips that open the meal and the engaging, knowledgeable service
- The menu is a seasonal set menu, partly chef’s choice, that changes regularly, so the restaurant asks you to email for the current version
- The room is a former furniture shop on two levels, with the upper floor looking down into the open kitchen
- Lunch runs Tuesday to Saturday, dinner Monday to Saturday, and Sunday lunch from noon to 5:30pm, which makes it one of the few serious kitchens in Cambridge open on a Monday night
- Tables are held for two hours and all guests must leave by 10:30pm
- Online booking covers groups of up to six and opens 60 days ahead; larger parties email the restaurant
- Cancelling within 48 hours of your booking costs £35 per person, so check your plans before you commit
- Every cocktail on the list comes in an alcohol-free version, and the wine is sourced through local merchants
Address: 18 Chesterton Road, Cambridge CB4 3AX
Website: margaretscambridge.co.uk
Phone: 01223 375071
How to book: Online through the restaurant’s website, or email for groups of more than six
Margaret’s is the place to book when you want Restaurant Twenty-Two cooking standards without committing to a long tasting menu. The room is calm and pale, all oak and clay-coloured walls, and the window bench is the seat to ask for. Cooking leans on British fish and vegetables in season, and an early Good Food Guide visit picked out cod in parsley sauce and a duck-egg custard tart. It is a short walk over the river from Jesus Green, so a walk along the Cam before or after works well. Book a few weeks out for Friday or Saturday.
Fancett’s, Mill Road
Indoor activity
- A French bistro on Mill Road run by Holly and Dan Fancett, who previously ran North Street Bistro in Burnham Market, Norfolk
- The 2026 MICHELIN Guide lists it for classic French cooking, picking out the twice-baked cheddar soufflé and the pear tarte Tatin
- Menus are prix fixe and seasonal: lunch is £32 for two courses or £38 for three, and dinner is £48 or £62
- Lunch runs Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 4pm, dinner Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm, and it is closed on Sundays and Mondays
- The restaurant no longer takes cash, so bring a card
- Christmas Eve is dinner only, and it is closed on 25 and 26 December and on 1 January 2027
- The waiting area by the door is small, and Harden’s reviewers advise booking well ahead
- It is one of the most talked-about restaurants in Cambridge in Harden’s annual diner survey
Address: 96a Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 2BD
Website: fancetts.com
Phone: 01223 354093
How to book: Online through the restaurant’s website, or by phone
Fancett’s is the best-value serious meal in the city at lunchtime, when three courses come in well under the price of most Cambridge tasting menus. The room is small and busy, and Harden’s reviewers single out the moules marinières. Cooking is properly French rather than French-ish. Mill Road itself is worth a wander before you eat, with its grocers, bakeries and independent shops. Lunch here followed by a walk up to Parker’s Piece makes an easy half day.
Mercado Central, Green Street
Indoor activity
- An independent Spanish restaurant in a brightly decorated townhouse on Green Street, close to Trinity College
- The menu draws heavily on northern Spain, especially Galicia and the Basque Country, according to the 2026 MICHELIN Guide
- The ground floor is built around open-flame cooking, while the upstairs rooms are quieter and suit groups or business dinners
- Wild Cornish fish, acorn-fed Iberico pork and grass-fed British beef are always on the menu, mostly bought from small suppliers
- The wine list is Spanish, and most bodegas are offered by the glass
- A set lunch menu runs alongside the à la carte, which was updated in October 2026
- Lunch is served Tuesday to Sunday and dinner Monday to Saturday, with the kitchen closing at 2:30pm and 9:30pm
- A few outdoor tables are set out on Green Street when the weather allows, and parties of more than eight should email
Address: 24 Green Street, Cambridge CB2 3JX
Website: mercadocentral.co.uk
Phone: 07904 195165
How to book: Online through the restaurant’s website; email for groups of more than eight
Mercado Central is the city-centre pick for a long, loud lunch with friends. Order a few plates from the grill, a bottle of something Galician and leave room for the tarta de Santiago, the almond cake the Michelin inspectors told readers not to skip. Harden’s reviewers note the menu is short and can add up, so it is better for a treat than a quick bite. Downstairs is where the cooking theatre is; ask for upstairs if you want to hear each other. It is a two minute walk from the Market Square, which makes it easy to fit around a day in town.
Navadhanya, Newmarket Road
Indoor activity
- A contemporary Indian restaurant on Newmarket Road, opened in 2014
- It moved across the road into a former pub in late 2021, giving it a larger and more modern dining room
- The Signature Expedition tasting menu comes in standard, vegetarian and vegan versions, each updated in summer 2026
- An early bird menu and an à la carte menu run alongside the tasting menus
- A Diwali menu ran from 2 to 7 November 2026, and the Christmas menu runs from 16 November to 24 December 2026
- Collection-only takeaway is available Monday to Thursday through its online ordering service
- Recent diners praise the staff for handling gluten-free and vegetarian guests and for celebration meals
Address: 70 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8DZ
Website: navadhanya.co.uk
Phone: 01223 300583
How to book: Through the reservation page on the restaurant’s website, by phone or by email
Navadhanya is the Indian restaurant Cambridge people take visitors to when they want to show off. The tasting menu is the way in, a run of small courses that moves through regional dishes most high street curry houses never touch. It is equally good as a sensible weeknight dinner from the à la carte, and the early bird menu keeps the bill down. Not every review is glowing, with one diner in December 2025 unhappy with the chicken, but the long-run scores are consistently high. It is a short walk from the Grafton Centre.
Ancient Shepherds by Mark Poynton, Fen Ditton
Indoor activity
- A restaurant with rooms in a former village pub dating from 1580, on the High Street in Fen Ditton on the north eastern edge of Cambridge
- Chef Mark Poynton trained under Daniel Clifford at Midsummer House and opened Alimentum in Cambridge in 2009
- The restaurant relaunched in July 2025 under its new name, and it is listed in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide
- Food is served as tasting menus of three, five or seven courses at £40, £60 or £85 per person, and the whole table must choose the same length
- Matching wine flights cost £30, £50 or £70, and a cheese course can be added
- Sunday lunch is two courses for £37 or three for £45, served from noon
- It opens Thursday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and on Sundays for lunch only, and is closed Monday to Wednesday
- Children are welcome but there is no children’s menu, and the kitchen cannot cater for coeliac disease or other severe allergies
- Five bedrooms upstairs mean you can stay over, with availability checked by email
Address: 5 High Street, Fen Ditton, Cambridge CB5 8ST
Website: ancientshepherds.com
Phone: 01223 293280
How to book: Online through the restaurant’s website or OpenTable; vegetarian and pescatarian diets must be flagged when booking
Ancient Shepherds is the special-occasion choice for anyone who wants tasting-menu cooking without the Cambridge city prices. The three-course menu at £40 is one of the more affordable ways into Michelin-listed cooking in the county. With only around 35 covers in a 16th century building, it feels more like a dinner party than a restaurant. Menus follow the kitchen garden and long-standing suppliers, and summer menus at the relaunch included cod with elder ponzu and hogget loin. Fen Ditton is a pleasant walk from the city along the Cam towpath past the college boathouses, so you can walk out for lunch and get a taxi back.
Huntingdonshire and the Nene Valley
West of Cambridge the restaurants thin out and the good ones tend to sit in old buildings: a coaching-era pub in Eaton Socon, a 15th century house on St Ives Market Hill and a thatched inn on the Northamptonshire border. We have added the Haycock at Wansford, a short drive north up the A1 where the Nene crosses into Peterborough’s countryside.
Waggon and Horses, Eaton Socon
Indoor activity
- A traditional pub on the Great North Road in Eaton Socon, St Neots, built in the early 1700s as two cottages and licensed since before 1799
- Inside there is a large open inglenook fireplace and exposed oak beams, with more casual dining near the bar
- The menu is traditional pub food from seasonal menus, and the family Sunday menu lets each person choose their roast meat with all the trimmings
- Small plates on the menu are aimed at younger children, and recent diners describe the staff as family oriented
- Real ales include Sharp’s Doom Bar and a changing guest beer
- Christmas 2026 menus are published on the pub’s website
- One recent review notes the kitchen can be slow on busy nights, so allow time at Sunday lunch
Address: 184 Great North Road, Eaton Socon, St Neots PE19 8EF
Website: waggonandhorseseatonsocon.co.uk
Phone: 01480 274002
How to book: Online through OpenTable or by phone
The Waggon and Horses is our St Neots pick because it does the thing families actually need: a proper roast, a warm room and nobody minding a toddler. It is not trying to be a restaurant with ambitions, and that is the point. Diners in October 2026 called it an old-school pub with a good atmosphere, and the reviews are steady rather than spiky. Eaton Socon sits on the west bank of the Great Ouse, so a walk along the river into St Neots before lunch makes a decent Sunday. Book for Sunday lunch, as the tables go.
The Whisky Café, St Ives
Indoor activity
- A restaurant and cocktail bar on Market Hill in St Ives, in a renovated 15th century building
- It was awarded two AA Rosettes in January 2026
- The menu is globally inspired, with small plates to share and larger plates, built around fresh local produce
- The restaurant serves lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays and Mondays
- Bookings are for dining only; tables for drinks are given out on arrival
- Groups of seven or more need to contact the restaurant directly
- A 14-seat private dining room, a larger function room and an outdoor patio suit parties and celebrations
- The downstairs room can get noisy when busy, according to one diner review
Address: 11 Market Hill, St Ives PE27 5AL
Website: thewhiskycafe.co.uk
Phone: 01480 776177
How to book: Online through the restaurant’s website, by phone or by email
The Whisky Café is the most interesting kitchen in St Ives right now, and the AA’s two rosettes in January 2026 back that up. The name undersells it: this is a full restaurant where the cocktail list happens to be serious too. Sharing plates make it a good choice for a group of four who like to try a bit of everything. Market Hill is the heart of the town, with the Great Ouse and the chapel bridge a couple of minutes’ walk away. Come early on a Friday or Saturday and walk the riverside before your table.
The Pheasant at Keyston
Indoor and outdoor
- A restored thatched country pub and restaurant in the farming village of Keyston, close to the A14 and the Northamptonshire border
- The kitchen cooks modern British food around seasonal ingredients, and food has been served here since 1964
- A set lunch menu, a set Sunday lunch menu and an à la carte run through the week, with menus updated for October 2026
- Monday is pie night and Thursday is steak night
- The wine list runs to 21 wines by the glass and nearly 100 by the bottle, supplied by sister wine shop Broadway Cellars
- Food is served from noon every day, until 8pm Monday and Tuesday, 9pm Wednesday to Saturday and 4pm on Sunday; it is closed on Sunday evenings
- Well-behaved dogs are welcome in the bar and garden
- The south-facing garden has patio tables you can reserve when booking, plus unreserved picnic tables
- Christmas 2026 menus are published in a booklet on the website
Address: Loop Road, Keyston, Huntingdon PE28 0RE
Website: thepheasantkeyston.co.uk
Phone: 01832 710303
How to book: Online through the website or by phone; request a patio table when you book
The Pheasant is the classic Huntingdonshire Sunday lunch drive, and it has been for decades. The restaurant has three separate dining areas and a bright Garden Room looking over the herb garden, so it never feels like one big hall. Harden’s reviewers are mostly positive, though a few recent reports found the food inconsistent, so stick to the dishes the kitchen is known for. Pie night on a Monday is the most relaxed way to try it. Keyston is about 12 miles west of Huntingdon, and the lanes around it are good for a walk before lunch.
Prévost at Haycock Manor, Wansford
Indoor activity
- The fine dining restaurant at the Haycock Manor hotel in Wansford, just off the A1 west of Peterborough, with its main dining room in a converted orangery
- Prévost is listed in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide
- Dinner centres on five-course and eight-course tasting menus, each with an optional wine pairing
- Harden’s 2026 survey rates the food and service as very good and notes a recent change of head chef, with standards still high
- The hotel also has a newer brasserie, The Haycock Kitchen, which is the simpler option for a family meal
- Prévost has its own online booking system, separate from the hotel’s
- Christmas menus for the hotel are published in a festive brochure on its website
Address: Haycock Manor, Wansford, Peterborough PE8 6JA
Website: haycock.co.uk
Phone: 01780 782223
How to book: Online through the Prévost booking link on the Haycock website
Prévost is the county’s main tasting-menu restaurant outside Cambridge, and it is worth the drive for an anniversary or a big birthday. The orangery dining room makes lunch feel like an event. With a new head chef in place in 2026, the menu is in a period of change, so read the current menu before you book if you have favourite dishes from past visits. Wansford’s old stone bridge over the Nene is a few minutes’ walk away, and the Nene Valley Railway’s Wansford station is close by. Book the eight courses if you are staying at the hotel and nobody needs to drive.
Ely, the Fens and Peterborough
The north of the county puts its restaurants in very different places: a cathedral city hotel, a freehouse on a fenland lane near Wisbech, a barge on the Nene and two village kitchens on Peterborough’s edge. Prices here are generally kinder than in Cambridge.
The Dining Room at Poets House, Ely
Indoor and outdoor
- The restaurant at Poets House, a boutique hotel in three Edwardian Grade II listed houses on St Mary’s Street, a short walk from Ely Cathedral
- Food is served all day, from breakfast at 9am through lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, until 8:30pm on weekdays and 8:45pm on Fridays and Saturdays
- Set lunch, à la carte and Sunday lunch menus are published as autumn and winter 2026 editions
- Sunday lunch runs from noon to 3pm
- Afternoon tea starts at £35 per person, must be booked 24 hours ahead and paid in full in advance
- Diners can eat in the Dining Room, the Writing Room, the Sonnet Lounge and Bar, or the Courtyard Garden in warmer weather
- Dietary requirements must be declared at the time of booking
- It holds an average of 4.5 out of 5 from more than 600 OpenTable reviews, with reviews posted through October 2026
Address: 40-44 St Mary’s Street, Ely CB7 4EY
Website: poetshouse.co.uk
Phone: 01353 887777
How to book: Online through OpenTable or directly with the hotel
Poets House is the most polished place to eat in Ely, and it works for a long lunch after the cathedral or a dinner when you are staying in the city. The decor is the thing diners mention most, and it makes an ordinary Tuesday feel like an occasion. Most recent reviews are glowing, though there were a couple of lower scores in October 2026, so allow time. The courtyard garden is a good spot for a drink before dinner from late spring. Ely station is about a 15 minute walk away.
The Elm Tree Inn, Elm, near Wisbech
Indoor and outdoor
- A village freehouse inn on Low Road in Elm, just south of Wisbech, which describes its cooking as farm to fork
- Lunch is served every day and dinner Monday to Saturday from 5pm, with Sunday food running from noon to 7pm
- The menu is British comfort food and Sunday lunches, at the more affordable end of this guide
- There is a garden, a terrace and a children’s playground, which makes it an easy choice with young children
- Parking is free on site
- The inn has bedrooms, including an accessible double room, so it works as a base for exploring Wisbech
- It scores 4.6 out of 5 from more than 200 OpenTable reviews, including family meals in 2026
- One August 2026 review reported slow mains and poor service on a busy night, so book ahead at weekends
Address: Low Road, Elm, Wisbech PE14 0DD
Phone: 01945 587009
How to book: Online through OpenTable or by phone
The Elm Tree is the kind of place Fenland families use for birthdays, Sunday lunch and the night nobody wants to cook. The playground and garden mean children can disappear for ten minutes between courses. Food is generous and straightforward, and the value scores from diners are among the best in this guide. Elm sits in flat farmland a couple of miles from Wisbech, so pair it with Peckover House or the town’s Georgian Brinks along the Nene. Most diners arrive by car.
East at Charters, Peterborough
Indoor activity
- An Asian restaurant on the upper deck of Charters, a 1907 Dutch barge moored on the River Nene beside Town Bridge in Peterborough
- The menu is a fusion of Asian styles drawn mainly from South-East Asian cooking
- It opens for lunch and dinner every day, with Sunday lunch running to 3:30pm and last Sunday lunch booking at 2pm
- A Sunday buffet is served on the upper deck
- Charters, the real ale bar on the deck below, has been trading on the barge since September 1991 and is a regular in the Good Beer Guide
- The barge has a large beer garden with covered areas, which Charters describes as the biggest in Peterborough
- Takeaway can be ordered online for collection
- The barge is about 15 minutes’ walk from Peterborough station and close to the city centre and cathedral
Address: Upper Deck, Charters, Town Bridge, Peterborough PE1 1FP
Website: east-restaurant.co.uk
How to book: Through the reservations page on the restaurant’s website
Eating on a barge on the Nene is a novelty that never quite wears off, and East has been doing it long enough to have the logistics sorted. You eat on the river with Town Bridge alongside, and the Sunday buffet is a good fit for a family that cannot agree on what to order. Downstairs, Charters keeps eight real ales and eight ciders on, so the drinkers in the party are happy. It is an easy walk from Cathedral Square. Book ahead on Sundays.
Cherry House at Werrington, Peterborough
Indoor activity
- A fine dining restaurant in a roughly 400-year-old cottage built of local stone on Church Street in Werrington village, north of Peterborough city centre
- Chef patron Andrew Corrick, formerly head chef at The Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair, runs the kitchen
- The cooking is classic British with French influences, served from fixed-price menus
- The table d’hôte menu changes every fortnight and the Sunday lunch menu changes monthly
- The food hygiene inspection in July 2025 gave the lowest risk scores for food hygiene and management
Address: 125 Church Street, Werrington, Peterborough PE4 6QF
Website: cherryhouserestaurant.co.uk
Phone: 01733 571721
How to book: Through the reservations page on the restaurant’s website, or by phone
Cherry House is Peterborough’s long-standing special-occasion restaurant, the place locals book for an anniversary or a parent’s big birthday. The cooking is classical rather than fashionable, and that suits its regulars fine. Because the table d’hôte changes every fortnight, repeat visits rarely look the same. It sits in the old village centre of Werrington.
Adam Nobles Seafood Brasserie, Newborough
Indoor activity
- An all-seafood brasserie inside The Bull pub on Guntons Road in Newborough, in the fen country north east of Peterborough
- Chef Adam Noble is a Spalding chef who also works as a private chef, and the brasserie sold out its first six weeks after opening
- The cooking is modern British seafood, with a few meat and vegetarian dishes for anyone who does not eat fish
- Wednesday is Moules and Frites night from 5:30pm, with mussels in a creamy garlic sauce and fries for £12, or a burger alternative at the same price
- Thursday is Tapas night from 5:30pm, with bottomless small plates for £29 from a menu written on the day
- Seafood boil nights are run as separate events and have sold out regularly
- It opens Wednesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner and on Sundays from noon to 5pm, and is closed Mondays and Tuesdays
- Christmas 2026 menus are listed on its website
Address: The Bull, Guntons Road, Newborough, Peterborough PE6 7QW
Website: adamnoblesseafoodbrasserie.com
Phone: 01733 641208
How to book: Online through the website’s SevenRooms booking button, by phone or by email
A serious seafood restaurant in a fen village pub is not what most people expect a short drive from Peterborough, which is why it fills up. The Wednesday mussels night is the bargain, and diners were booking their next visit before they left in the first weeks of opening. The rest of The Bull carries on as a village pub next door, so non-seafood eaters can still have a pint and a burger. Newborough is surrounded by open fen and long straight drove roads, so allow for dark, unlit lanes on winter evenings. Book well ahead for seafood boil nights.
Seasonal Highlights
Spring: Mother’s Day falls on 7 March 2027 and Easter Sunday follows later in the spring, and both fill Sunday lunch tables at the Pheasant at Keyston, the Waggon and Horses and Ancient Shepherds weeks ahead; the courtyard garden at Poets House comes back into use as the evenings warm up.
Summer: Outdoor tables come out on Green Street at Mercado Central, the south-facing garden and patio at the Pheasant come into their own, the Elm Tree Inn’s garden and playground are busy at weekends, and Margaret’s closes for a week’s summer break, which in 2026 ran from 6 to 12 July.
Autumn: The Pheasant’s set lunch menu and Mercado Central’s à la carte were both refreshed for October 2026, and Navadhanya’s Diwali menu ran from 2 to 7 November 2026.
Winter: Navadhanya’s Christmas menu runs from 16 November to 24 December 2026, Fancett’s is dinner only on Christmas Eve and closed on 25 and 26 December and 1 January 2027, and Christmas 2026 menus are published by the Pheasant, the Waggon and Horses, Adam Nobles Seafood Brasserie and the Haycock.
A Note From Inside Cambridge
We wrote this because the question we hear most is not where the best restaurant in Cambridge is, but where is good near us. Fourteen is a starting point, and our separate guides to fine dining, pubs and afternoon teas go further.
Restaurants change chefs, menus and opening days all the time. If you run one of these places, or ate at one recently and something has changed, please tell us and we will update the guide.
Before You Go
- Book ahead for Friday and Saturday dinners and every Sunday lunch, especially at Margaret’s, Fancett’s, Ancient Shepherds and Adam Nobles Seafood Brasserie, which are small rooms
- Read cancellation rules before booking: Margaret’s charges £35 per person for cancellations inside 48 hours
- Several restaurants close early in the week: Fancett’s on Sunday and Monday, Ancient Shepherds Monday to Wednesday, and Adam Nobles on Monday and Tuesday
- Ancient Shepherds cannot cater for coeliac disease or other severe allergies, so anyone with serious allergies should call any restaurant before booking
- Tasting menus at Ancient Shepherds are served to the whole table, so agree on a menu length before you arrive
- Fancett’s is card only and does not take cash
- Central Cambridge parking is limited and expensive, so use the park and ride for Mercado Central and walk or cycle to Chesterton Road and Mill Road
- Fen roads around Newborough and Elm are dark, narrow and unlit at night, and can be icy or flooded in winter, so allow extra time after dark
- Prices and menus change through the year, so treat any price in this guide as a guide and check the restaurant’s own website for the current version
