Where to eat in Worcester today?
easily find independent restaurants
Use the interactive map to find a restaurant, café or pub near you. Pubs marked purple, restaurants yellow and cafés green.
finding restaurants near me
When I search the internet for restaurants near me, I am greeted by a couple of Trip Advisor pages, table-booking websites and a national pub/restaurant chain or two. Moving on to page two of the results and we start to see the odd result for local independent restaurants. However, trying to find somewhere to eat can be a laborious process of scrolling through the results pages. I wanted to change that. So I created this interactive restaurant finder map to aid your search. All restaurants, cafés and pubs that I have reviewed and liked are listed on the map.
There are, currently, the odd gaps in the map. However, I plan to right this wrong. Over to the south east of Worcester I plan to visit the Swan Inn in the beautiful village of Hanley Swan, and the Royal Oak in Kinnersley. I recently added the Jockey Inn at Earl’s Croome to my list of reviews. Read about the excellent food we had in this beautiful country pub.
It is disappointing that two restaurants I have reviewed have recently closed. Spice Cuisine in St John’s has shut up shop and will no longer serve those beautifully authentic dishes at such reasonable prices. A regular haunt of mine now gone. The owners of Saffrons Bistro in Worcester’s city centre have decided to retire and, thus, Saffrons is no more. The building is now used by Be The Change as a cafe and bakery.
Despite the name of this website, I shall be venturing further out of the Faithful City. The neighbouring spa towns of Droitwich and Malvern are high on the list. However, there are still plenty of menus to try nearer to Worcester and I shall make it my task to get to as many as I can over the coming months.
why independent restaurants?
Why do I review only independent restaurants? Because I value difference and individuality. The national chains, Harvester, Marston’s, etc, offer good food and service, but I find that it tends to be so similar. There are, to my mind, no national chains that even begin to offer the charm of the Hangar Café in Worcester’s Reindeer Court. Can a chain ever replicate the genuinely traditional feel of the Galton Arms? How about the uniqueness of the Meeting Place?
I recently returned from a short trip away. For convenience, I ate at a national chain restaurant. Tempura prawns to start. The presentation was bland. The menu stated spicy mayo dip. However, it was actually served with a chilli sauce. A combination of the batter and chilli sauce meant that I could not taste the prawns at all. Even without the sauce I couldn’t taste the prawns. I chose haddock, chips and peas for the main course. It was OK. The batter was not crispy enough and the chips were mediocre. Not all chain restaurants are this mediocre, but this one certainly was.
Disappointingly, there are independent restaurants in Worcester whose menus do not inspire. When a pub’s choice of starters is prawn cocktail, garlic mushrooms, soup, or garlic bread, you may be better off in a national chain restaurant. But those places are few and far between. Thankfully, the majority of eateries offer more variety. I jump for joy – or smile briefly at least – when I see a menu with a dish I haven’t tried before. So why not give them a try, and use the map to find them!
why just Worcester and not Worcestershire?
Why review only independent restaurants near me in Worcester and not the whole county? Because it’s too big. Too many restaurants. I live in Worcester and feel it is better to stay local. If we include the surrounding countryside and restaurants in Malvern and Droitwich, the list of independent restaurants is more than enough. Also, as menus and staff change the reviews become out of date. Thus, new reviews will always be necessary. Add to that the various categories I have and some restaurants could be reviewed for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So much eating to be done!
my blog posts
And don’t forget to check out my blog posts. Restaurants mentioned in the posts are all restaurants near me!
vegan food in Worcester – identity crisis
What dishes should our vegan cafés and restaurants be offering?
Christmas dinner in Worcester
Who is offering a Christmas menu in the pubs and restaurants of the Faithful City?
locally sourced restaurant food
locally sourced food
A look at where our restaurants source their ingredients.
ham hock terrine in Worcester
The best ham hock terrine in Worcester? This is my quest to find which restaurant serves the tastiest ham hock terrine in our beautiful city.