Best Restaurants in West Sussex
Published 21 June 2026

‘Bauji bears comparison to places like Gunpowder, Kricket and Cinnamon Kitchen … I would absolutely kill to have it as my local,' is praise indeed for this charming neighbourhood restaurant, a five-minute walk west of Worthing town centre. The cooking reimagines the comfort food of Rajasthan, where chef-proprietor Dayashankar Sharma grew up, and he hits the target with a longish menu that delivers well-judged spicing and a kaleidoscope of flavours and textures. We like the mainstream dishes – the signature shatkora jhinga (huge shatkora citrus-infused grilled prawns), an ‘absolutely fantastic’ chicken biryani – more than the contemporary interpretations (we suggest swerving the cranberry-stuffed paneer). But a meal here will impress. Portions are generous, and prices are reasonable. As for drinks, the brief, spice-tolerant wine list opens at £33 for a bottle, £8 by the glass.

Farm dining rather than fine dining is the order of the day at Wiston Estate Winery's on-site restaurant. Situated in a restored 18th-century threshing barn and making use of ingredients from a walled kitchen garden on the estate (as well as bountiful foraged pickings), Chalk's short, regularly changing menu celebrates seasonal produce in a mostly unadorned fashion. The attractive, light-filled dining room's soaring, exposed roof space is hung with pendant lamps, while the whitewashed walls are decorated with original artworks – a pleasing (and often buzzy) backdrop for some equally pleasing food. Chef Tom Kemble has moved on, and the kitchen is now run by his number two, Jordan Powell. Little else has changed: lunch is a carte, while evening meals (Fri and Sat only) revolve around a slightly more elaborate fixed-price menu (aka the Estate Dinner). Either way, expect appealing, uncomplicated cooking with the accent on fresh up-front flavours. Proceedings open with superlative house-baked focaccia and cultured butter, while starters might bring South Coast mackerel – perhaps accompanied by salt-baked beetroot, cucumber, horseradish and a scattering of elderflowers from the estate. Mains also keep things local, from Sussex lamb ravioli to corn-fed chicken breast partnered by confit potato, estate courgettes and onions. To finish, excellent ice creams fragranced with meadowsweet or lemon verbena add the final gloss to desserts such as white peach and almond tart. Lovers of English wine (still as well as sparkling) will appreciate the selection from Wiston’s own cellars, enhanced by a short list of interesting bottles from around the globe. The owners also run wine tours, ‘sundowner safaris’ and tastings, which come highly recommended.

The house was bought in 1884 by William Robinson, renowned horticulturist and champion of 'natural gardening', and over the years its grounds have been lovingly nurtured by Gravetye's successive occupants. It's a glorious spot and well worth a wander; check out the magnificent Victorian kitchen garden if you want to see where many of the ingredients on your plate come from. Summer evenings are ripe to enjoy the grounds in all their glory, but throughout the winter a lunch is an equally striking opportunity to enjoy the glass-clad dining room that brings the outside in.

Since spring 2025, the kitchen has been in the hands of Martin Carabott, a Roux Scholar who offers formidable credentials: formerly head chef at Hide in Mayfair and previously at Luca, he brings a fresh, precise sensibility to the country house hotel format that feels invigorating. Having found his feet, Carabott is making the role his own with a sure-footed confidence.

Seasonal menus draw extensively on the kitchen garden's bounty, with modern ideas underpinned by classical good sense — expect immaculate saucing, technically accomplished fish cookery and desserts of real finesse. The wine list deals in excellence from around the world, though its first love remains the French classics, with English fizz from the southern counties well represented.

There are good things happening on this piece of charming Sussex terroir – a rural spot outside West Chiltington. Third-generation farmers took to viticulture in 2017 and are producing some classy wines, branded as KIN and all available in the restaurant –including a well-rounded fizz. The Farmhouse dining room takes up the first floor of a lofty and light-filled barn with views across the vines, but bag a space on the terrace if the weather permits.

The open kitchen turns out some perky modern food which aims to follow the seasons and keep things local and sustainable. Come here for breakfast, brunch or an easy-going lunch – we plumped for the latter. Sharing plates are delivered from the kitchen as and when they're ready (perhaps too many at once) and impress with their intelligent combinations and zesty flavours. A gentle touch with pickling lifts a colourful salad of beetroot and goat's curd with little hits of sweet acidity from mandarin gel, plus black olive crumb for texture, while a chicken liver ragù is punchy and rather sophisticated, with runny egg raviolo and pesto. Celeriac and potato terrine is deliciously rich with Comté and smoked garlic, while desserts such as rhubarb and custard soufflé show proper culinary skills. 

The ground floor is home to a first-class deli and café where you can grab wines such as their own Bacchus or Pinot Noir rosé, as well as a decent supply of foodstuffs.

Dating from the 19th-century and surrounded by 240 acres of Sussex gardens and woodlands, Italianate Grade II-listed Leonardslee House is now home to a distinctive and elegant fine-dining restaurant with rooms. Here, Jean Delport and his team forage for ingredients, though the chef also looks to his South African culinary heritage, which lends a very distinctive flavour to his 16-course ‘Estate Experience’. Slices of biltong formed part of our array of canapés served in the bar, alongside breadsticks glazed with homemade ‘Marmite’ and topped with a refined version of slaphakskeentjies (a South African onion salad with a cooked egg and mustard dressing).

A first course of lobster with cauliflower and kombu-washed Exmoor caviar, served with a glass of excellent Blanc de Blancs from Leonardslee’s own vineyard, was almost upstaged by the accompanying vertoek – an ethereally light, savoury doughnut finished with lardo and crispy pork skin. The mosbolletjies bread course was a highlight. Made with wine must from the vineyard, the traditional anise-flavoured brioche-like loaf was served in a mini cast iron casserole with home-churned butter ceremoniously melted tableside in a pan into which biltong spices, mushroom garum, red-wine onions and herbs from the estate were added.

‘Rabbit eats carrot’ showcased another estate ingredient in an impressively elaborate signature dish of many parts: a terrine of rabbit, duck liver, pork and rabbit jelly sandwiched between wafers of 'feuilles de brick' pastry, paired with carrot mayonnaise; buttermilk- and vodka-marinated deep-fried rabbit leg, presented in a smoke-filled cloche; pastry boats of confit rabbit and chilli jam, topped with rabbit mousse, cured egg yolk and marinated carrots. The dish was completed with crisp carrot 'leather' tartlets filled with rabbit offal and presented on a moss-topped log from the garden – a bravura exhibition of culinary technique and nose-to-tail cooking that was a delight to eat.

There were a few hiccups during the three-and-a-half-hour marathon, but despite the extended duration, the pace of the meal never flagged and the service remained engaged and genuinely friendly throughout. Each course was accompanied by an information card, a clever way to avoid overly long dish descriptions at the table. Wines from Leonardslee and sister South African winery Benguela Cove offer particular value on a varied and interesting list where two-thirds of the bottles are priced at less than three figures – a pleasant surprise given the ambition of the restaurant.

Pretty Hurstpierpoint on the edge of the South Downs National Park has been home to James and Jodie Dearden's restaurant since 2016, and if all looks charmingly traditional from the outside, rest assured, James' cooking brings things right up to date. It's a tasting menu format in the evening, six courses (seven if you add a plate of British cheeses), with choice offered only at lunch (from a fixed-price carte). Regional produce plays its part across the board, and things get going with some genuinely contemporary amuse-bouches – tandoori monkfish taco, salt-beef cracker. There's classical good sense in combinations such as fresh crab with lemon and dill or the scent of truffle cutting through a quail dish with celeriac. Seafood is a strength – sea bass, say, with parsnip and tarragon, or turbot with more of that crab. A vegetarian tasting menu is packed with flavour too, perhaps fiery horseradish with beetroot and celeriac or tender leeks in crispy puff pastry, while rhubarb and custard makes a comforting finale. English sparkling wine gets its due on the drinks list, where the Coravin preservation system ensures plenty of cut-above offerings by the glass. Bottle prices open at £26.    

With three dining options, a spa and a vineyard tucked into 93 acres of gardens and woodland, this sprawling Victorian mansion is confident in its role as a modern-day country house hotel. The Pass attracts all the accolades, playing up to its name by extending the idea of a chef’s table to an entire (if small) dining area. Raised-up banquettes (you do feel a little perched) and incredibly plush swivel stools come with kitchen views, while a tucked-away, normal-height table misses the culinary theatrics but sees increased tableside chef action. Best of all, a de-luxe glow-up has infused The Pass with a 'special occasion' feel that was seriously lacking previously – which is just as well, because Ben Wilkinson's cooking is a tour de force, delivering the right combination of luxurious ingredients, modern juxtapositions and classical technique. His seven-course tasting menu (dinner only) segues from snacks to a sea-earth sequence of exquisite, produce-led, painterly dishes. Exemplary courteous service helps no end, led by Wilkinson’s partner Monika Zurawska and supported by a top-tier sommelier who is not only unpretentiously helpful but also gives good vinous bants.