Norwich eat · Eating in Norwich
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Eating in Norwich
Eating in Norwich
Restaurants in Norwich are getting better.
There is a Malaysian buffet on Timber Hill called Malaysian Delights. The food is good but rather toned down for the average British palate. It has a reasonable range for lunch and a bigger range for dinner. The best thing though is that you can eat as much as you want for £5.50 for lunch and £9.99 for dinner.
There is a range of Chinese restaurants in the city. Mainly they seem to be run by one family under the banner of Lucky Star. They run two well-priced 'all-you-can-eat' buffets (Riverside and above a car park at the top of St Stephens Street). They are all much of a muchness but Riverside is the most popular and therefore busiest. There are some others (mainly of Prince of Wales Road).
Near the market, between Gentlemans Walk and Rampant Horse Street is a small Lebanese restaurant that does excellent lunchtime falafels or evening meals.
There seem to be loads of Thai restaurants in Norwich. Not sure why it has more than its fair share but since most of them are good we shouldn’t complain. The best are Sugar Hut, Silk Thai and Lam Thai. Sugar Hut is owned by a couple who have 3 restaurants in the city and this one is the original and best. Good menu and choice of wines, lovely staff and well prepared food. Quite busy on the weekend for dinner so book in advance. Thai Silk on the other had seems to always be quiet. Very well decorated with lovely fixtures and fittings. It has a good range of food and but is slightly more expensive than Sugar Hut. Lam Thai is located slightly out of the city centre on Upper St. Giles Street, and although not cheap, the quality of food is very good.
Indian restaurants in Norwich have, over the past decade or so, been engaged in a fierce price war which has seen menu prices stay low - sometimes, it has to be said, at the expense of quality.
A very good Indian restaurant called Oasis is on Queens Road. It is in a converted church so it has big high ceilings and lots of space. There are quiet little enclaves off to the side where they seem to put couples which is a nice idea as the main restaurant can be noisy with a band. If you want fun and a lively atmosphere then it is great. Well decorated with a very modern style so as different as you will get from the stereotypical Indian restaurant. Food is medium hot by English standards so if you are used to Asian or Indian food then you need to ask them to spice it up a bit (which they seem happy to do). The staff seem helpful and friendly if not the most traditional of service.
There are several other Indian restaurants on Magdalene Street, including Ali Tandoori, Spice Lounge just down the road on Wensum Street, a good place on St Benedict’s called Bengal Spice and just to the west of the inner ring road there is City Spice located on Dereham Road.
The standard Cafe Uno, Pizza Express etc are all present but are of a fairly chain restaurant standard so go if you want but there are some better choices. Zizzis in Tomblands is nicer than average with a traditional big wood burning oven so they do some nice flavoured pizzas and baked pastas. The best value for money is probably Figaro's. Pizzas around £6-£7 and generous toppings and some very good calzone.
There is one other place to mention as you should avoid it. Italia Nostra. It is just off Tombland and looks really authentic from the outside. That is about all it has going for it though. It is dark inside, the staff are fairly arrogant and forgetful and the food is disappointing.
Two worth trying are Pedro’s (Mexican)in Chapelfield gardens and Mambo Jambo’s. Pedro’s is more about the quantity than the qaulity, but it's still a good restaurant. Mambo Jambo’s on the other hand is great. Don’t go expecting great food but you get loads of it. It also has a cheap bar and is always full of groups of friends, work parties and birthday parties. This may be because for a reasonably price you get loads of drinks and huge portions of food.
The Belgian Monk on Pottergate in the city centre is fantastic for mussels and does very good food at reasonable prices. They also do a variety of different beers: cherry beer is definitely worth a try.
If you enjoy pub fare, there are two excellent locations on Ipswich Road in the South end of the city. Both Maid Marion's and the Marsh Harrier will fill you to the brim. For a quintessential dinner of fish and chips, the Marsh Harrier cannot be beat, with their "whale of a fish". Selection of beer was also excellent. Staff is courteous and service is excellent. The Golden Triangle area to the west of the city centre has more than it's fair share on pubs serving good quality food, probably in no small part to the large student population of the areas. The Unthank Arms and The Mad Moose serve good quality though not inexpensive food, whilst the likes of The Belle Vue and The Garden House sell decent pub fare.
For vegetarian restaurants try The Greenhouse, an environmentally friendly cafe and shop on Bethel Street, or Pulse on Guildhall Hill. Also on Guildhall Hill is The Waffle House, , a daytime and late-opening classy, but low priced, waffle emporium, offering a variety of sweet and savoury Belgian waffles. Some are vegetarian, some not, but the produce used is almost all organic. There's great coffee there too, and the service is generally quick.
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Norwich Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.