4 Best Restaurants in East Anglia, England

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).

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.

Excellent value, this low-key brasserie with tightly packed wooden tables relies exclusively on local produce for its Modern British dishes, all imaginatively prepared. The menu focuses on seafood, including oysters and Cromer crabs. Desserts are particularly good.

Traditional British food with an imaginative twist is the draw at this former coaching inn. The hearty, house special fish pie is excellent, or you may opt for a plate of fresh local mussels. You can dine in the bar, the airy conservatory, or the more intimate Long Room. There are also recently refurbished guest rooms with sea views starting at around £129 for bed-and-breakfast in the high season.