The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Marlowe's Restaurant and Bar
Marlowe's is a Modern European restaurant on the Woodbridge quayside whose seafood-leaning, locally sourced kitchen is matched by a wine list far broader than the size of the room would suggest. The programme earns its standing on that breadth and on how much of it opens by the glass — a classic, well-travelled range from everyday whites to mature Bordeaux and Barolo, with a full sweet-and-fortified tail — held back only by the absence of a Sherry its own cured-fish plates plainly want. It will most reward the diner who comes for the local seafood and wants to drink widely and well by the glass without paying city prices.
The full assessment — the wine programme, the pairings that lift a plate, and how the room reads for a wine lover — is for subscribers.
Subscribe for full access Already subscribed? Sign inMore in Suffolk
Watson and Walpole
Framlingham, Suffolk
Neighbourhood Italian
Watson and Walpole is a small wood-fired Italian restaurant in Framlingham with a short, monthly-changing menu and an all-Italian wine list to match. The wine programme earns its place on coherent regional buying and an unusually generous by-the-glass and carafe offer that lets a diner follow the food plate by plate, held back only by the unprinted pairings and the modest sparkling and sustainability corners. It will most reward the diner who comes to eat Italian and wants to drink Italian by the glass, matching each plate as it arrives rather than committing to a single bottle.
Read the assessmentThe Black Lion
Long Melford, Suffolk
Contemporary British pub dining
The Black Lion is an ambitious contemporary pub in a handsome Suffolk village, with a wine list well above the usual pub offering. The wine programme has real character — thematic, curious buying with a low-intervention streak, a genuine sparkling offer and a by-the-glass shortlist that answers the hardest plates — held back mainly by the absence of any sweet or fortified wine. It will most reward the everyday drinker who likes a thoughtful list by the glass and does not need a dessert wine to finish.
Read the assessmentRegatta Restaurant
Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Seafood
Regatta is a long-running, family-run Aldeburgh seafood restaurant working closely with local suppliers and the day's catch. Its compact, own-selected wine list is built for easy matching rather than depth — strong on the unoaked, high-acid whites that fish wants and generous by the glass, though it stops short at sparkling and offers nothing sweet or fortified. It will suit anyone who wants approachable, fairly priced wine to drink with very good seafood, and asks little wine knowledge to enjoy.
Read the assessment