Restaurants we would like to work with

The independent kitchens we have shortlisted for dinners, and what we look for in a room.

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What makes a room right for this

A dinner is twelve people at one table, early in the week, when a good kitchen is at its quietest. We take a fixed menu, we tell you the numbers in advance, and we pay per head on the night. No room hire, no minimum spend, no deposit. These are the things that tend to make an evening like that work.

Yak Yeti Yak

Pierrepont Street

60 covers

Corkage

Chapel Row

48 covers

Chez Dominique

Argyle Street, Pulteney Weir

? covers

The Circus

Brock Street

50 covers

Photograph: Oak (formerly Acorn)

Oak (formerly Acorn)

Oak (formerly Acorn)

North Parade Passage

? covers

Oak works as two things on North Parade Passage: a small plant based restaurant and a natural wine grocer. The cooking leans on organic, biodynamic and low intervention produce, much of it from the restaurant's own chemical free market garden outside Bath and from Middle Ground Growers at Bathampton. Lunch and dinner are served every day, either from the carte, where dishes such as tomato panzanella and homemade ricotta ravioli sit between £4.95 and £15.95, or as a five course evening feast at £55 with an optional wine flight. The dining room is panelled and painted, with mismatched wooden chairs and old red floorboards.

La Terra

John Street

40 covers

Sotto Sotto

North Parade

? covers

Photograph: Baba's Mezze

Baba's Mezze

Baba's Mezze

Barton Street

35 covers

Baba's Mezze is a Persian restaurant on Barton Street, started by two friends both called Ben, one Persian and one Greek. Chef Mehdi Parastesh, who cooked Persian food in Tehran for fifteen years, runs the kitchen. Eating here means sharing: hot and cold mezze from £5.95, charcoal grilled kababs off the mangal, slow cooked stews and saffron rice, all halal and built on seasonal British produce. The room holds about 35, with dark wood, banquette seating and low lamps. The kitchen opens 5pm to 10pm Monday to Thursday, and from midday at the weekend.

Photograph: Hudson Steakhouse

Hudson Steakhouse

Hudson Steakhouse

London Street

? covers

Hudson Steakhouse occupies a converted Victorian pub on London Street and is run by its owner, Richard Fenton. The beef is dry aged Angus and Limousin from a farm assured cooperative in Staffordshire, served with béarnaise. Downstairs is a cocktail bar under chandeliers serving the full menu; upstairs is a grill room with an open kitchen, Victorian fireplaces and views over the park. Steaks start at £30, and a shorter classics list runs to steak and frites at £25 and a steak burger at £19. Between 5pm and 7pm, Tuesday to Friday, £29 buys sirloin, fries and a glass of wine.

Beckford Bottle Shop

Saville Row

? covers

Beckford Canteen

Bartlett Street

? covers

Clayton's Kitchen

George Street

70 covers

Pintxo

Barton Street

? covers

Robun

George Street

? covers

Photograph: Marlborough Tavern

Marlborough Tavern

Marlborough Buildings

85 covers

The Marlborough Tavern stands behind the Royal Crescent and has been a pub for over two hundred years. It holds two AA Rosettes, the kitchen is British and seasonal, and the dining room seats about eighty-five. It is part of St Austell Brewery's leased and tenanted estate, run by a tenant operator, so it is not the young founder-owned single site this series usually looks for. The food is not in question; the fit is a judgement rather than a screen result.

Emberwood

Queen Square

? covers

The Olive Tree

Queensberry Hotel

? covers

Sanremo / Edesia / Antica / Square Grill

High St / Argyle St / Saw Close

? covers

Woods

Alfred Street

140 covers

Root Bath

Shires Yard

95 covers