The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
The Wykeham Arms
The Wykeham Arms is a historic Winchester pub-with-rooms serving an ambitious, seasonal modern-British menu. Its wine list is the real event — a long, serious and characterful collection, honestly priced from a deep drinking middle up to grand cru and classed growth, with an unusually generous by-the-glass range and a proper sweet-and-fortified close. It will reward the curious wine lover above all, but the well-priced glasses and warm, plain-spoken notes make it just as welcoming to someone finding their feet.
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 South East England
Blue Sardinia
Guildford, South East England
Italian (Sardinian)
Blue Sardinia is an independent Italian restaurant in central Guildford whose kitchen cooks the classics of Sardinia and whose cellar, curated by a certified sommelier, is far more serious than the easy setting suggests. The wine programme earns its standing on a rare Sardinian depth, a by-the-glass shortlist that spans every colour and reaches into the sweet and fortified wines, and a list that answers the menu's hardest plates — the cured-roe pasta and the smoked fish — in its own island idiom. It will most reward the curious drinker who wants to explore the wines of one country in real depth and let a well-made list lead the way.
Read the assessmentLondon Street Brasserie
Reading, South East England
French-influenced brasserie
London Street Brasserie is an ambitious, long-established Reading brasserie whose France-led list and full Champagne page punch well above the town's average. The wine programme earns its keep through genuine curation, warm plainly-written notes and a real by-the-glass spread, held back only by a missing fortified shelf and by the awkwardest plates needing bottles rather than glasses. It will suit a diner who wants proper cooking with a list deep enough to explore but friendly enough to drink from by the glass.
Read the assessmentKyoto Kitchen
Winchester, South East England
Japanese
Kyoto Kitchen is an authentic Japanese restaurant by the river in Winchester, serving sashimi, sushi and a robata grill. Its compact but genuinely curated wine list, backed by a proper sake programme, is unusually well set up to drink with a cuisine that defeats most lists, meeting the raw and cured fish with high-acid unoaked whites and the umami with low-tannin reds. It will suit the curious drinker who wants to pair thoughtfully with Japanese food, whether by the glass or from a considered bottle.
Read the assessmentThe Old Vine
Winchester, South East England
British gastropub
The Old Vine is a historic Winchester gastropub serving all-day British food a step above its pub setting. Its compact, France-led list is honestly bought and fairly priced, with a genuinely strong sparkling shelf and enough crisp whites and juicy reds to meet the kitchen, let down only by the complete absence of any dessert or fortified wine. It will suit the visitor who wants a dependable, well-described glass alongside a good plate, rather than a deep cellar to explore.
Read the assessmentThe Courtyard Bar and Restaurant
Deal, South East England
Modern British and European bar-restaurant
The Courtyard is a modern British-and-European bar and restaurant in Deal serving tapas, an evening a la carte and a Sunday roast from a genuine kitchen. Its wine programme is a well-structured, region-led list lifted by a real Kent still-and-sparkling section and a generous by-the-glass offer, honestly priced, though it shows no vintages and stops short at the sweet end with no dessert or fortified wine to close a meal. It will most reward the diner who comes for the local seafood and the roasts and is happy to drink Kent by the glass and let the bottle follow the food.
Read the assessmentV Gastro and Bar
Deal, South East England
Gastro bar, British and Asian-leaning small plates
V Gastro and Bar is a gastro-bar in Deal serving a broad British-and-Asian menu from a monthly-changing card. Its wine programme is a familiar international list lifted by a genuinely local Kent English section, offered generously by the glass and honestly priced, though it stops short at the sweet end with no dessert or fortified wine to close a meal. It will most reward the diner who comes for the seafood and the local plates and is happy to drink Kent by the glass and let the bottle follow the food.
Read the assessmentTen Tables
Guildford, South East England
Modern British (fine dining)
Ten Tables is an ambitious two-Rosette dining room on the edge of Guildford whose short hotel wine list does not yet keep pace with the kitchen. The programme's strengths are a good little sparkling showing and a thoughtful handful of fine French bottles, but its narrow by-the-glass, classical bias and absent dessert wine leave many of the most characterful plates without the match they deserve. It will most reward the diner who comes for the cooking and picks carefully from the better bottles, rather than one who expects the cellar to lead.
Read the assessment