16 Best Restaurants in The West Country, England

One of the town's most famous inns, the 17th-century Admiral Benbow was once a smugglers' pub—look for the figure of a smuggler on the roof, and (if it's not too busy) ask to see the tunnel used for contraband. There's a good selection of West Country ales, and in the family-friendly dining room, decorated to resemble a ship's officers' mess, you can enjoy pizzas, seafood, and steaks. Seafaring memorabilia, a brass cannon, model ships, and figureheads fill the place.

This tiny backstreet burger joint consistently draws enthusiastic crowds for its delicious burgers made of pure Cornish beef or vegan and vegetarian ingredients. The lightly toasted buns are baked with sesame seeds (there are gluten-free alternatives), toppings include field mushrooms and wilted spinach, and the skin-on fries are hand-cut. Organic wines and local beers and ciders are also available. There's normally a line outside, but you can phone ahead with your order, and if the limited seating outside is occupied, carry your burgers to the nearby beach—just watch out for the marauding gulls.

Despite the name, this laid-back and vaguely eccentric place is quintessentially English and ideal for a relaxed lunch away from the nearby rigors of the Park Street shopping scene. Generous salads, soups, and burgers are available, as are all-day breakfasts and brunches. Find your table first, note the number, and order at the bar—you can sit in the terraced backyard or in the two airy rooms upstairs, a secluded spot for a cup of tea with orange and almond cake. The restaurant opens at 8 am (9 am on Sunday) and closes at 5 pm.

Opposite the cathedral, this child-friendly tearoom and restaurant spread over two floors is ideal for lunch, coffee, or snacks while you're seeing the sights. You can also sample one of Devon's famous cream teas, served with jam, scones, and clotted cream, or show up earlier for eggs Benedict or a cooked English breakfast. For lunch, try the house salad (with lettuce, avocado, pickled shallots, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, and pomegranate seeds), a "Devon fire burger," or just a sandwich. There's a good range of vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free options, plus West Country beers and ciders. Tables are available outside in Cathedral Close in fine weather.

This friendly bistro with wooden floors and simple tables has been at the heart of Exeter's vegetarian and vegan scene for more than 30 years. It's an ideal spot for unwinding over leisurely conversation and enjoying such dishes as spinach and mushroom lasagna; a jackfruit, beet, and bean burger; kari sayur (a Malaysian-style curry with split peas, butternut squash, peppers, and sugar snaps); or carrot and cashew nutloaf with a wild mushroom sauce. Leave room for such scrumptious desserts as "Heaven in Devon" (fudge ice cream with chocolate brownie and a vanilla sauce). All the wines are organic, too.

Bristol's former stock exchange has found a new role as an atmospheric Indian eatery. It's the perfect setting for classic and innovative Indian dishes such as nilgiri korma (chicken or lamb in a creamy almond sauce with rose petals) and machi mazadaar (salmon with mustard seeds and tamarind water). All the opulent trimmings have been restored, including the mahogany paneling, rich drapes, tiled staircase, and elegant statuary.

This thatched pub on a creek 4 miles north of Falmouth is a great retreat, with both a patio and a moored pontoon for summer dining. The menu features standard pub grub—for example, a half-pint of prawns with lemon mayonnaise and pork and leek sausages—but you may be satisfied with just a local ale or a West Country organic wine by the waterside. Maritime memorabilia and fresh flowers provide decoration, and there's a blazing fire in winter. You can sit in the bar, in the oak-beamed room upstairs, or outside.

Around the corner from the cathedral, you can lift a tankard of bitter in the very rooms where Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh enjoyed their ale. The pub dishes out casual bar fare, from sandwiches and grills to steaks and ale pies, either in the bar or in the beamed and paneled upstairs restaurant. Drake, in fact, once wrote, "Next to mine own shippe, I do most love that old ‘Shippe' in Exon."

One of Cornwall's oldest pubs, the 1312 Sloop Inn serves simple lunches as well as evening meals in wood-beam rooms that display the work of local artists. The traditional menu includes fish pie, salads, and burgers as well as Cornish seafood paella. There's also a separate restaurant upstairs, and if the weather's good, you can eat at the tables outside at the front or on a rooftop terrace for excellent harbor views.

As the name implies, this casual eatery in the heart of Clifton village specializes in pork products, with special attention given to the humble British "banger." Sausages range from the traditional Gloucester Old Spot to Cotswold lamb, mint, and apricot; pork, leek, and stilton; and beef and ale, and all come with plain mashed potato or "champ" (mashed potato with spring onions). The menu also includes a tender slow-roast pork belly with plenty of crackling and gravy, mushroom, and spinach risotto, and a fish special featuring whatever seafood has been brought in from Cornish ports. The bright, modern restaurant is furnished with solid wooden benches and tables, and has outdoor seating, too. Local beers are served, and dishes are also available as take-outs.

This vegetarian café and restaurant is perfect for breakfast, coffee, or a light lunch. Order at the counter and find a space in one of the three rooms—all simply furnished with rustic-style benches and tables and local art on the pastel-colored walls—or in the walled garden. Apart from pizzas, quiches, jacket potatoes, and house-baked rolls and cakes, the chalkboard might include such dishes as cauliflower cheese with roast potatoes and red wine gravy or mixed grain salad with roasted carrot and fennel. The whole food shop next door offers a range of picnic ingredients, too.

This is the real deal, perfect for a light lunch or, even better, a cream tea served on bone china. Warm scones come in baskets, with black currant and other homemade jams and plenty of clotted cream. It's closed every afternoon and all day Sunday.

At this pub you can contemplate the quayside comings and goings over a pint of real ale and a sandwich, a pie, or a pasty. The nautical theme comes through in pictures and the ship's wheel hanging from the ceiling. There are tables outside on the quay.

The excellent café-restaurant upstairs at Watershed overlooks part of the harborside. Sandwiches and hot snacks are served all day, along with coffees, cakes, and beers.

As an antidote to the natural-food cafés of Glastonbury's High Street, try this traditional backstreet inn for some more down-to-earth fare. Bar classics such as beer-battered fish-and-chips and Somerset sausages appear alongside chicken curry, vegan dishes, and sizzling steaks, which you can wash down with local beers and ciders. The pub's quirky decor—including ancient radios, a red telephone box, and a bicycle on the ceiling—has a definite entertainment quotient, and there are tables in the paved garden.