Celebrate In Style In Newcastle

While there’s often nothing better than hunkering down over some ramen or pasta in a busy, noisy canteen style café, from time to time there’s cause to push the boat out with a meal somewhere really special. It could be an anniversary, a landmark birthday or a graduation celebration, or perhaps you just want to treat yourself for once.

For when only the finest will do we’ve pulled together a selection of some of Newcastle’s best fine dining experiences across a range of cuisines, guaranteed to provide something to suit all tastes and occasions.

21 – Trinity Gardens

21 is a gem hidden away just off the Quayside. Set up by Terry Laybourne in 1988 and still regarded as among the best Newcastle has to offer, 21 is devoted to classic French cuisine and is the sort of restaurant that invites adjectives like simple, classic and flavourful. Their menus are fairly concise but still offer plenty of variety, with a strong vegetarian / vegan selection. But there’s also a 600g Chateaubriand if you want to go full-tilt.

Kaltur – Dean Street / High Bridge

Kaltur is unusual for developing from a family-owned and run olive oil business, which in turn led to a distribution company, a Spanish food wholesalers based in Newcastle and then, luckily for us, to a pair of excellent restaurants in the city centre specialising in the best the Iberian peninsula has to offer.
The concept was to use the restaurant in High Bridge (opened in 2017 and followed two years later by its Dean Street partner) as a laboratory for innovative Spanish cuisine which is why alongside more traditional tapas and cheese and charcuterie boards, you’ll find beautifully prepared and presented unique offerings like macerated octopus in a flavour-explosion mille feuille or a Spanish seafood sashimi dish. All this plus an intelligent wine list and some fantastic sherries.

Hugo’s – Side

Hugo’s is a comparatively new arrival on the Newcastle fine dining scene, and this small but perfectly formed bistro radiates ‘classic’ from its décor to its menu. As well as the tempting a la carte menu, Hugo’s offers light bites, as well as breakfast and Sunday lunch. But for your big night out, the a la carte is where it’s at.

Chaophraya – Grey's Quarter, Eldon Square

This highly regarded, high-end Thai restaurant perched on top of Eldon Square is the Newcastle outpost of a six-strong chain that grew from a pad thai cart in Bangkok. They offer a range of ‘celebratory set menus’ for special occasions and also offer private dining, alongside a truly mouthwatering a la carte menu (there are allergen-friendly and kids menus available too.)

Dishes range from the comparatively familiar such as tod man pla (spicy fish cakes) and massaman curry to the more unusual, like hoy shell yang (king scallops on a bed of black pudding). There are plenty of veggie options too, and the views out onto Grey's Monument are simply stunning, as is their outdoor terrace when the sun shines.

Route – Side

Route places a lot of emphasis on a regularly changing, seasonally-aware menu of fresh British food influenced by cosmopolitan flavours, so your aged rump of Hereford beef might be served with soy glazed oyster mushrooms and your crispy ling might be accompanied by pickled jalapenos. The menu makes for a properly interesting and inspirational read and is accompanied by a similarly thoughtful wine list. They offer a range of private / celebratory options for 15-40 guests, starting at £30pp.

Dobson & Parnell – Queen Street

Another fine restaurant joining the Quayside throng, Dobson & Parnell is part of a group that also includes Hinnies and Blackfriars. They offer exemplary tasting and set menus from £45pp and £21pp respectively and a particularly tempting Sunday lunch menu from £24pp, all of which display a quality and attention to detail that garners the kind of notices they’ve been amassing.

Hibou Blanc - High Bridge

Much is said about the visually pleasing setting of Hibou Blanc and its Sunlight Chambers location, but ultimately it’s all about the food. There are six menus to choose from (including vegan and gluten free options) and they have an exquisite private dining room available if you want to make things extra special. There’s a focus on the freshest seafood, starting with Lindisfarne oysters through to lobster and Dover sole meunière. There’s a strong wine list and some excellent cocktails on offer too.

House Of Tides – The Close

Tempting us in with ‘casual, informal fine dining’, a series of awards including a Michelin star and a really lovely building, House Of Tides is a definite destination restaurant for a big night. The menus change frequently and are brief, which is always a sign a restaurant is confident about what they’re offering. The focus is on simple, quality British food, with an inventive vegetarian menu (Kohlrabi Ravioli, Pine Nuts, Pak Choi & Chive sounds delicious) and if you’re really pushing the boat out, there’s a tasting menu for £125pp.

3Sixty – Hadrian’s Tower

Just dining at 3Sixty, with its amazing views cross the city, is enough to turn a meal into an event. But everything about this recent addition to the Newcastle skyline screams “SPECIAL OCCASION” too. Aside from an indulgent afternoon tea and an extensive Sunday lunch, 3Sixty specialises in small plates with an emphasis on fusion, ranging from duck tacos to lamb koftas, with a selection of vegetarian and vegan options. (Please check the website for details regarding dress codes).

The Vermont – Castle Garth

There aren’t many more impressive locations and buildings in Newcastle than The Vermont (formerly home to County Hall) and this 4-star hotel complex is as impressive inside as out. It offers a range of bars to suit all tastes but we recommend The Maven for your special meal. The Maven has the range of menus you’d expect (vegan, a la carte, Sunday lunch etc) but it’s the Signature Menu that really impresses, a short but appealing selection of international dishes (the Seabass Aqua Pazza looks especially tempting).

Pleased To Meet You – High Bridge

Pleased To Meet You has a lauded reputation for its gin bar (and its fairly new late night cocktail bar The Viceroy is apparently no slouch) but let’s head for the restaurant, a ‘modern British brasserie’ that emphasises local, seasonal produce. The sharing and starters game is strong, with a lot of seafood on offer, and it’s always good to see Lindisfarne oysters on a menu. The big ticket dishes like their Fruits of The Sea Summer Broth or Chateaubriand are special occasions in themselves.

Blackfriars – Friars Street

Blackfriars has been serving excellent food to the people of Newcastle for more than twenty years, and that food combined with an atmospheric location and the way it has branched out into other offerings (cookery schools, events, a tasting room) has made it a fixture of Newcastle life. They describe the restaurant’s food as ‘gutsy, traditional British food’ and that’s definitely what you’ll find. There’s a variety of menus but it's the set menu that fits the bill, a selection of dishes that keep it simple and let the ingredients shine.

Miller & Carter – Mosley Street

Mosley Street’s Miller & Carter is part of a chain of quality steakhouses, and they obviously take their meat very seriously. Their chefs are officially accredited ‘Masters of Steak’ and they offer more cuts and options than most restaurants offer dishes. But while the focus is on perfectly cooked (or barely cooked!) cuts of prime beef, there’s a surprisingly extensive list of veggie and seafood options and plenty of  burgers and sides.

Landmark Oriental – Stowell Street

Tucked away on Stowell Street, the unprepossessing location of Landmark Oriental is forgotten as you enter the impressive restaurant, with further booths and banquet tables on the upper floor. Landmark specialises in high quality Chinese food across an array of menus including a la carte lunch and evening menus and a series of banqueting options. While the dishes on offer are mostly familiar, this is all about quality.