Restaurant in Knowle, United Kingdom
Michelin plate, village price, real food.
Cheal's holds consecutive Michelin Plate recognition for modern British cooking that uses Cornish lobster, Aberdeen Angus beef, and prime British produce with real technical confidence. At £££ it sits well below London equivalent pricing, and a 4.9 Google score across 638 reviews suggests service that consistently matches the room. Book two to four weeks ahead; weekend slots go fast.
The most common assumption about Cheal's is that it's a village restaurant punching slightly above its weight in a sleepy Solihull suburb. That's wrong. The Michelin Plate recognitions in 2024 and 2025 position this as a serious modern British kitchen that competes on quality with restaurants in far larger cities. If you're coming from Birmingham, Coventry, or further afield, the drive is worth it. If you're already local and haven't booked yet, that's the real miscalculation.
The half-timbered exterior on Knowle's High Street reads as heritage, and that expectation follows you inside — until it doesn't. The interior is spacious and considered, mixing British cultural references (Union Jack curtains, a model Spitfire overhead) with a room that's polished enough for a milestone dinner but not so formal it creates distance. This is not a low-ceilinged country cottage; it's a proper dining room with enough scale to host a celebration and enough character to give the meal a sense of occasion. Warren's Bar, the adjoining space, is a genuinely useful addition: it functions as a pre-dinner holding area with some personality, and it doubles as a destination for a lighter meal via a dedicated small plates menu. That flexibility matters if you're in a group with mixed appetites or budgets.
Chef Matt Cheal's menu format gives you real choices: fixed-price and tasting options run alongside the bar menu, which means you can calibrate spend and commitment to the meal. The sourcing is deliberately British , Cornish lobster, Aberdeen Angus beef , and the cooking applies modern technique without obscuring what the produce actually is. This is not a kitchen interested in abstraction for its own sake. The Michelin Plate designation, awarded consecutively, signals consistent execution rather than a single flash of ambition. For the food explorer looking for depth: the tasting menu is the natural choice, but the fixed-price option gives you a clear read on the kitchen's fundamentals at a lower entry point.
At £££ in a village setting, the price point sits above casual dining and at the lower edge of what you'd pay at comparable Michelin-recognised restaurants in central Birmingham. The question is whether the service makes that premium feel justified. Based on the available evidence , a 4.9 Google rating across 638 reviews , the answer is yes, consistently. A score that high, sustained over a meaningful number of reviews, suggests service that meets the room's promise rather than undermining it. For comparison, restaurants at this price tier in city centres often carry more variance in service quality because of higher throughput and staff turnover. Cheal's, in a smaller-volume setting, appears to deliver a more reliable experience per visit. That's a practical reason to book here over a louder, busier alternative in Birmingham.
The small plates menu in Warren's Bar also reflects a service philosophy that doesn't force every visitor into the full dining room commitment. If you've been before and want something lighter, or if you're bringing someone who isn't sure about a tasting-length meal, the bar route is a legitimate option rather than a consolation prize.
Book two to three weeks in advance for a midweek table; four to six weeks for a Friday or Saturday. Weekend slots at Michelin-recognised restaurants in commutable distance from Birmingham and Coventry fill quickly, particularly around anniversaries, Valentine's Day, and the pre-Christmas window from mid-November onwards. Cheal's sits in a category where last-minute availability is possible on a quiet Tuesday, but treating it as a spontaneous choice on a Saturday is a reliable way to be disappointed. If a specific date matters , birthday, anniversary, or a visit timed to a stay in the area , book early and confirm. There is no published booking method in our database; check the restaurant directly via their website or by phone for current availability.
| Detail | Cheal's | Opheem, Birmingham | Midsummer House, Cambridge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price range | £££ | £££ | ££££ |
| Cuisine | Modern British | Modern Indian | Modern European |
| Michelin recognition | Plate (2024, 2025) | 1 Star | 2 Stars |
| Booking difficulty | Moderate | Moderate–Hard | Hard |
| Setting | Village High Street | City centre | Riverside, city |
| Bar/lighter option | Yes (Warren's Bar) | Limited | No |
Planning a full trip around the area? See our full Knowle restaurants guide, our full Knowle hotels guide, our full Knowle bars guide, our full Knowle wineries guide, and our full Knowle experiences guide.
For regional comparison, the closest serious modern British alternatives within reach include Opheem in Birmingham (one Michelin Star, modern Indian, slightly harder to book) and, further afield, Midsummer House in Cambridge (two Stars, £££££, harder to book, higher price tier). For tasting-menu benchmark comparisons in the wider UK, Moor Hall in Aughton, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, hide and fox in Saltwood, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Ynyshir Hall in Machynlleth, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie in Auchterarder, and Waterside Inn in Bray all represent the regional fine dining tier against which Cheal's sits credibly. In London, CORE by Clare Smyth, The Ritz Restaurant, and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay sit a full price tier above but offer a useful calibration point for what the leading of the Modern British category looks like.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheal's | Behind the half-timbered walls of this stylish building lies a spacious restaurant that pays tribute to British culture, be it the Union Jacks on the curtains or the model Spitfire hanging from the ceiling. Across a range of menus, including fixed-price and tasting options, Chef Matt Cheal uses prime British produce from Cornish lobster to Aberdeen Angus beef in dishes that showcase his adept modern technique. Start your evening in style in the smart Warren’s Bar or, for a lighter meal, stay there all night to enjoy the small plates menu.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | £££ | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| The Ledbury | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ££££ | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
The restaurant is described as spacious, so groups are workable, but check the venue's official channels at 1630 High St, Knowle, Solihull B93 0JU to confirm private or large-table arrangements. For groups who want a shared format, the tasting menu is the most cohesive option and avoids the decision fatigue of a la carte for a big table.
Yes. Warren's Bar has its own small plates menu, which makes it a genuine option for a lighter meal rather than just a waiting area. If you want to try Cheal's without committing to a full dining room booking, starting and staying in the bar is a practical way in.
The database confirms Cornish lobster and Aberdeen Angus beef feature as flagship British produce on the menu, so those are the anchors to look for across whichever format you choose. If you're eating at Warren's Bar, the small plates menu is the practical choice and keeps costs down without leaving the kitchen behind.
At £££ with a Michelin Plate for both 2024 and 2025, Cheal's delivers better value than most comparably recognised restaurants in central Birmingham, let alone London. The fixed-price format keeps the spend predictable, and the bar menu gives you a lighter option if the full dining room feels like too much commitment.
If you want the full range of Matt Cheal's cooking with prime British produce — Cornish lobster, Aberdeen Angus beef — the tasting menu is the format that shows it off. For a quicker or more flexible meal, the fixed-price menu covers the same kitchen without the commitment. Groups who want to share the experience tend to get more from the tasting format.
Yes — the combination of a Michelin Plate (2024 and 2025), a full tasting menu option, and Warren's Bar for pre-dinner drinks gives it the structure that special occasion meals need. It works for anniversaries and milestone dinners particularly well, where the fixed-price format keeps the evening from feeling rushed or open-ended on spend.
Cheal's is the only Michelin-recognised restaurant in Knowle itself, so there is no direct local equivalent at the same level. For comparable modern British cooking with Michelin recognition in the wider West Midlands, you'd need to look toward Birmingham city centre. Within Knowle, if the £££ price point is a stretch, the Warren's Bar small plates menu at Cheal's is effectively its own lower-commitment alternative.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
