Dining in Newcastle
Blackfriars Restaurant
Blackfriars Restaurant, dating back to 1239, is the oldest public dining room in Britain. With the main restaurant originally built to house the refectory for the Dominican Black Friars, and as a working inner-city former monastery, it's unique.
El Castano
El Castano is a relatively recent addition to Osborne Road's lively bar and restaurant scene. The Spanish theme starts as you walk through the door, well demonstrated by its bright entrance, new decor of terracotta tiles, prints of bullfights and background music, making it feel like a little piece of Spain in the heart of Jesmond.
Pan Haggerty Restaurant
Number 21 Queen Street, Newcastle has been home to some pretty exciting culinary experiences over the last few years, but longevity has tended not to be amongst their qualities. However, those with a taste for a bet on the side might well be considering that Pan Haggerty is all set to reverse this trend.
Starters and Puds
Down in the bowels of Newcastle upon Tyne, at 2-6 Shakespeare Street to be precise, are the vaults of the former Bank that once operated here. Nowadays they make an intriguing home for Starters and Puds, a restaurant which has brilliantly developed the spaces where the money used to be stashed away.
Bistro at Hotel du Vin - Newcastle
We hear a great deal about recycling these days - du Vin recycles attractive but un-loved buildings to restore real gems in the best tradition of British understated style. Complement that with all that is best in the French bistro ethos, bars that reach out to please, and you have a setting that provides an inspirational background for people to meet, do business, get married, provide a base for golf or fishing, somewhere you can call your own for a private celebration, a spa or - most engagingly - a wine school that breaks the mould.
Brasserie and Bar at Malmaison - Newcastle
Newcastle has changed, in some places almost beyond recognition, and it is not just the physical aspects of this vibrant city. Down on the riverfront within easy reach of the millennium bridge, Tate of the North, the Sage Music Centre and Baltic Mills contemporary Arts Centre is another major conversion, the award-winning Malmaison.
Fisherman's Lodge
Fisherman's Lodge has recently undergone a change of ownership and is now in the capable hands of award winning North East chef patron, Alan O'Kane and backer Jamie Howell. Fisherman's Lodge is a mystical and tranquil rural idyll surrounded by the bustling city of Newcastle.
Grainger Rooms
Within the burgeoning economy and growth that characterizes the North East these days, Grainger Rooms are very much a focal point, drawing their name and their inspiration from the spirit of Sir Richard Grainger, who transformed Newcastle, then the "coal hole of the North" into an example of enlightened municipal development in the early 19th century, effectively laying the foundations for the great city of today.