Sometimes (oftentimes), the best dining experiences happen at places that are off the beaten path. In this case, the beaten path is London. Writer Julie Hatfield ventured outside the city and found where to eat outside of London.

Piano Dave playing for lunch guests at Tiny Tim’s Tearoom in Canterbury.

Having recently eaten my way through four towns in England, I’ve come back impressed with the variety, inventiveness, beautiful surroundings, and imagination of the restaurants visited there. Everyone knows that London holds four-star restaurants in great numbers, but none of these particular restaurants where I enjoyed English cuisine were anywhere near London.

Fitzbillies, a beloved brunch, lunch, and tea establishment in Cambridge, for example, 64 miles north of London, was recently brought back from bankruptcy by a woman who loved it when she was a student at the university and couldn’t bear to think of its demise. The little Trumpington Street shop, which began in 1920, was known, still is, for its sticky sweet Chelsea buns, $4 each, which are so popular you can even have a Chelsea Bun Sundae with pieces of the famed rolls topping vanilla ice cream and cinnamon syrup. Many other pastries, birthday and occasion cakes, and full egg breakfasts and salads and sandwiches keep this shop humming.

The famous Chelsea Bun at Fitzbillies in Cambridge, England.

For a romantic dinner in the heart of the student center of town, or an elegant parent-paid dinner for one’s hungry student-child, The Ivy is a great choice in Cambridge for dinner (although it’s open for all three meals and teatime, too.) Monkfish Curry, chicken Milanaise and tempura squid are some of the specialties, in addition to duck liver parfait with caramelized hazelnut, truffle, tamarind glaze with pear and ginger compote, or a delightful and light Crab and Avocado Tian: pickled white crab with soft herbs, watercress and a Bloody Mary sauce, Shepherd’s Pie, and the popular Ivy hamburger.

We just wish that Hatch, in St. Albans, could open a little earlier than 9am as it’s the best breakfast in town and we’re early risers. But lunches suffice very nicely, with delicious salmon and avocado toast, “dirty” Reuben sandwiches with fried egg cooked in caper butter and served with hash brown bites. Or a full veggie breakfast with halloumi cheese, avocado, two eggs, mushroom, roasted tomato and toast. Each day the smiling, caring staff offers its special vegetable or fruit juice-of-the-day; we had refreshing cucumber/lemon. If you stay at nearby Torrington Hall, a historic home turned B&B, you have the choice of six exclusive set brunches for $10 to $14, including fresh juice and specialty coffee. But come early (9am to The Hatch people) because the restaurant is tiny.

Perfect avocado-smoked salmon, egg, and tomato toast at Hatch.

The cozy Shakespeare Canterbury pub and wine bar has a great view of nearby World Heritage Site Canterbury Cathedral (and the monks there in ancient times maybe took advantage of the closeness; it is rumored that the tunnel in this basement wine cellar leads directly to the basement of the Cathedral.) The heart symbol in front of certain menu items means each is under 600 calories. Great pub food and beer and wines. (a wine bar is connected to the pub). Some of the menu items, such as Posh fish fingers and the Ruben burger, come with beverage suggestions: the fish fingers are “perfectly paired with Bear Island East Coast Pale Ale or Whitstable Boy Blonde Lager.” And the Ruben burger suggests “Best enjoyed with Bear Island East Coast Pale Ale or Spitfire Lager.”

(Full disclosure: Do NOT order the Potted Crab Pate. I won’t go into painful detail, just giving fair warning to those who dare; don’t.)

The sweetest baked goods, plus light sandwiches and 30 kinds of tea, await you on entering Tiny Tim’s Tearoom at 34 St. Margaret’s Street in Canterbury. The restaurant boasts it is the “quintessential tearoom of Canterbury,” and the only one in Kent that offers Dave Derry, “Piano Dave,” the pianist, playing live tunes from the 1930’s and 40’s while you take lunch or tea.

Tiny Tim’s Tearoom, in Canterbury.

The Jetty is a restaurant set in a former banking hall, now the front of Bristol’s Harbour Hotel, in an area of active nightlife with clubs and bars nearby, and lots of weekend activity. In addition to the usual steaks and seafood, the pretty restaurant (with parquet floors and comfortable banquette seating) offers plenty of vegetarian and vegan options: try the wild garlic and kale tagliatelle with goat cheese and nutty pesto, for $18, or chunky rich fish and shellfish bisque for $10.50. Desserts include a creamy clementine pudding or panna cotta covered in mulled winter berries for $8. Dramatic fish mobiles hang from the ceiling, pointing out the restaurant’s strength in seafood and crustaceans, and its setting in the City Center near the harbor.

Fish mobiles hanging at The Jetty Restaurant in Bristol.

The 1766 Bar & Kitchen in Bristol takes its name from its setting, beside the Old Vic Theatre, the oldest continually running theatre in the English-speaking world, which opened in 1766. The theatre has been renovated and the restaurant offers a typically English Sunday roast dinner with beef and Yorkshire pudding and horseradish cream, or a 14-hour overnight slow roast shoulder of lamb with mint sauce. Those dishes cost $21 and come with seasonal vegetables, oil and garlic roast potatoes and gravy in addition to the Yorkshire pudding staple.

But you can get nice small plates at 1766 if you wish, such as the delicious potato, onion and caraway soup, with raspberry vinaigrette and chives. Or a dish of roasted corn kernels and fried broad beans. Or a selection of British cheeses, chutney and crackers in addition to sticky toffee pudding and red wine poached pear with blackcurrant sorbet and coconut crumb for dessert.

Candlelit wine dinner at The Lido in Bristol.

A lot of swim clubs have casual sandwich restaurants or bars situated around the pool, but the Lido, in Bristol, takes the idea to a more luxurious level by raising the restaurant two floors above the renovated pool and turning it into dining heaven with candlelight, fine wines, and a tempting menu of Basque style fish stew, whole mackerel with pine nut and raisin pilaf, or warm North African mezze with falafel, tahini sauce and warm flatbread. Those dishes run from $20 to $26 while a raw rhubarb, fennel and almond salad with goat’s curd is $10.  It’s difficult, and especially decadent, to order a dessert dish of espresso and brandy ice cream while watching the swimmers below going dutifully back and forth doing their laps. But you can feel better if you share the dish with at least one other diner. It’s priced at $20.

You can still find the traditional English eel pies and black pudding, fish and chips and “mash” with everything in the older British restaurants. But why would you want them when, today, you have so many lovely, healthier, choices in towns all over England?

All of these restaurants are connected to a large-scale collaboration between 13 destinations in the UK led by Destination Plymouth, showcasing cultural and historical connections between the US and the UK. Destination Plymouth includes the celebration of the 400^th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower from Plymouth, England, to America, which will be observed in 2020. The website for US Connections and Destination Plymouth is https://trade.visitbritain.com/destination-uk/discover-england-fund/connections/

— Story by Julie Hatfield. Photos by Timothy Leland

Hungry for more? Read about some of Julie’s other culinary journeys in England, like this one at the unique The Goods Shed, and a special afternoon tea experience at the Royal Lancaster London.