The Wood Oven

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Main Road 

Wylam 

Northumberland 

NE41 8DN 

01661 852552 

Accessibility: Yes 

This place doesn’t exactly look like a chic new pizza restaurant. Less sleek Italian, more village hall. 

There’s no frontage, just a sign strung over the railings outside, as if advertising the annual fête, and you dive down into a simply furnished little room with just 30 covers. 

At one end is a wall lined with “wood log” wallpaper, which is not nearly as naff as it sounds, but at the far end is the real thing: a colourfully decorated Italian wood oven roaring away in the middle of a busy kitchen. And the friendliest, most enthusiastic of owners, surrounded by a great smell of pizza.

The Raby Hunt

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The Raby Hunt Restaurant & Rooms 

Summerhouse 

Nr. Darlington 

Co. Durham 

DL2 3UD 

01325 374237 

www.rabyhuntrestaurant.co.uk 

Wed to Sat only: 12-2pm 6-9.30pm 

Accessibility: Yes

***NORTH EAST RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2013***

***BEST FINE DINING 2013***

This place is no flash in the frying pan. 

Even though James Close is virtually self-taught, and has only been cooking for a few years, his food is confident, passionate, flawless. That’s why his Michelin star was renewed last month, still the only one in the North East, and why he has won our 2013 North East Restaurant of the Year and Best Fine Dining awards.

Ernest

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1 Boyd Street 

Ouseburn 

Newcastle 

NE2 1AP 

0191 260 5216 

www.weareernest.com 

Food 10am – 9pm daily 

***BEST CAFE 2013***

Ernest is actually Gavin: Gavin Marshall, a local glass artist who started out life as an Ernest, but hated the name so much, he dumped it. Last year he resurrected it when he sold his kiln to open this excellent café bar. 

Next to the car repair shop under the arches of the Byker railway bridge, Ernest is certainly out of the way. The building used to house an indifferent Italian called La Gabbia, but Gavin has transformed it into a quirky gastrobar. 

It isn’t pretending to be a restaurant, it’s part of the new wave of café cuisine, attracting a creative community that really loves good food. 

In fact, the cooking is so good that, having enjoyed one lunch there, I went back again the following day to check it wasn’t a fluke. By the third visit I decided I could quite happily move in.

The Bridge Tavern

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7 Akenside Hill 
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 3UF 

0191 261 9966 
www.thebridgetavern.com 

Mon - Thurs noon to midnight 
Fri - Sat noon to 1am 
Sun - 12pm to 11pm 

Accessibility: No

***BEST NEWCOMER 2013***

My first Secret Diner review, back in 2011, was the newly-opened Town Wall pub. 

I’m afraid I was underwhelmed by both food and service, but I liked the exciting, modern conversion of an historic building. It had something that many Newcastle venues lack – style. 

This week the owners, Dave Stone and Rob Cameron, unveiled their second converted pub-cum-eatery, directly underneath the Tyne Bridge. It’s called The Bridge Tavern (although its old Newcastle Arms sign is still carved in the stone outside). I predict it will become a huge success.

Jesmond Dene House Hotel

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Jesmond Dene House Hotel 
Jesmond Dene Road 
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 2EY 
0191 212 3000 

www.jesmonddenehouse.co.uk

***BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT 2013***

Years before I went underground, I endured an underwhelming tasting menu at Jesmond Dene House Hotel. It was overpriced and overblown. 

I don’t think Michael Penaluna was in the kitchen back then. He earned his spurs as the understudy of Pierre Rigothier, the chef who brought this restaurant back on track after a period of pretension. When Mr Rogothier went off to Paris to work in a Michelin-starred establishment, instead of hiring from outside, the management promoted Michael. What a good decision that was.

The Broad Chare

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Mon - Sat 12 - 2.30pm (Sun to 4pm) 
Dinner: Mon - Sat 5.30 - 10pm 

25 Broad Chare
 
Quayside
 
NE1 3DQ 
0191 211 2144

www.thebroadchare.co.uk

***BEST GASTROPUB 2013***

Pub food embodies the best and worst of British cooking. While some are frozen in the 1980s with their scampi and chips – don’t dare invite me to review one of these – and others have been chintzed into gastropubs, which are not good enough to be called restaurants, of late there’s been a resurgence in places with traditional ales and simple, reliable fare. Real beer and real food: that’s what every pub should offer. If you find one in your area, tell me: I’ll be the secret stranger in the corner.

Rasa (CLOSED - now renamed as Ury)

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Mon-Sat 12-3pm and 6pm to 11pm 
Sunday: dinner only 

27 Queen Street, 
Newcastle Upon Tyne 
NE1 3UG 
0191 232 7799 
www.rasarestaurants.com 

***BEST ASIAN RESTAURANT 2013***

[NOTE: RASA shut its doors at the end of October 2015 and immediately reopened under new branding but the same team - it's now called URY.  Not an attractive name - it's derived from a traditional cooking pot, apparently.  Hopefully the food will be as attractive as Rasa's]

When Das Sreedharan opened his first vegetarian restaurant in Stoke Newington, a downmarket part of North London, he singlehandedly transformed Indian cooking in the capital. It’s still said to be Jamie Oliver’s favourite curry house.

Caffè Vivo

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Caffè Vivo
29 Broad Chare
Newcastle
NE1 3DQ
0191 232 1331
www.caffevivo.co.uk

***BEST EUROPEAN RESTAURANT 2013***

As Autumn freezes towards Winter, where better to seek solace than Italy? Its leisurely lunches, good wine and conversation are a perfect antidote to seasonal blues. 

Sadly one of my favourite Italian restaurants, Secco, has now closed. You can still find good, basic Sardinian cooking at Sabatini and Fratelli, but where can you go in Newcastle for exciting, modern, simple, authentic Italian food? Frankly there’s only one option left, and it’s getting better all the time.