Restaurant in Mountsorrel, United Kingdom
Farm-sourced tasting menus at fair prices.
John's House holds a Michelin Star and an OAD ranking, and its £49 set lunch is among the most credible value propositions in English fine dining. Dinner runs £100–£120 per person across five or seven courses, all grounded in produce from the family's 400-acre farm. Book several weeks ahead: the restaurant operates Wednesday to Saturday only, with single lunch and dinner sittings each day.
Book John's House if you want a Michelin-starred tasting menu grounded in genuine farm-to-table provenance, at a price point that undercuts most comparable one-star operations in England. The £49 set lunch is one of the most credible value propositions in the East Midlands fine dining category, and the evening menus at £100 (five courses) or £120 (seven courses) sit well below what you would pay at city-based equivalents with similar credentials. The catch: this is a hard booking. Seats fill weeks in advance, hours are tightly restricted to lunch and dinner sittings Wednesday through Saturday only, and the restaurant is closed Sunday through Tuesday entirely. If those constraints work for your schedule, it is worth the planning.
John's House opened in 2014 inside a 16th-century farmhouse on Stonehurst Farm in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire. The farm runs to 400 acres and supplies the kitchen directly with herbs, vegetables, fruits, and multiple meats. That supply chain is not marketing language — it materially shapes what appears on the menu each season, and it is the clearest reason to make the trip. Chef John Duffin trained under Claude Bosi and Simon Rogan before returning to the farm where he grew up, and that background shows in the technical confidence of his cooking. His brother Tom manages the estate, which means the sourcing relationship is unusually tight and consistent.
The dining room sits on the first floor: exposed brick walls, timber beams, wooden floors, and white-clad tables spaced generously. Drinks are served downstairs before guests move up to eat. The atmosphere reads as rustic but considered, not precious. You can hear the farm around you, which is either the point or a minor inconvenience depending on your expectations. Two self-contained cottages are available for overnight stays, making this a practical option if you want to commit to an evening menu without a long drive back.
Because the kitchen draws directly from a working farm, the menus at John's House rotate with genuine seasonal logic rather than symbolic gestures toward locality. Dishes documented in independent reviews span hogget from home-reared Leicester Longwool sheep served with Jersey Royals and wild garlic; poached halibut with asparagus and morels; and a truffle pudding alongside a wild garlic soup with Beauvale Blue cheese. These are not menu items that persist year-round — they reflect what the farm and the surrounding region are producing at a given moment.
Wild garlic appears prominently in spring dishes, asparagus and morels mark late spring into early summer, and game and root vegetables anchor the autumn menus. If you have a seasonal preference or a specific ingredient you want to eat at its leading, it is worth contacting the restaurant before booking to understand the current menu direction. The seven-course evening menu in autumn, when the farm's meat production is at its fullest, is likely to be the most representative expression of what Duffin is trying to do here. That said, the five-course option gives you a solid read on the kitchen at lower cost, and the set lunch at £49 covers enough ground to assess whether the evening menu warrants a return.
The wine list is built to match this seasonal approach. Bottles start from £35 and extend to a 2005 Pingus at £1,200. Around three dozen wines are available by the glass, including Coravin selections, and the list carries notes described by reviewers as helpful and specific rather than generic. Wine pairings for both tasting menus are offered and are reported to be well-matched to the food. The World of Fine Wine 2-Star Accreditation , one of the more credible independent wine programme rankings in the UK , supports that assessment.
John's House holds a Michelin Star (awarded 2024). It was ranked 354th in the Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in Europe in 2024, moving to 386th in 2025, and received an OAD Highly Recommended designation for Leading New Restaurants in Europe in 2023. The Google rating sits at 4.8 from 556 reviews, which is a reliable signal of consistent execution across a broad range of visits rather than a peak-only reputation. The restaurant also carries a World of Fine Wine 2-Star Accreditation for its wine programme. For a venue operating four lunches and four dinners per week in a village of this size, that is a concentrated set of credentials.
See the comparison section below for how John's House positions against other ££££ Modern British restaurants.
For more options in the area, see our full Mountsorrel restaurants guide, our Mountsorrel hotels guide, and our Mountsorrel bars guide. You can also explore wineries near Mountsorrel and experiences in Mountsorrel.
If you are building a rural fine dining itinerary around England, the venues most comparable in approach to John's House , farm-rooted, chef-led, tightly controlled service hours , include L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and Gidleigh Park in Chagford. For city-based Modern British at a similar quality level, Kitchen Table in London and Evelyn's Table in London are the closest counterparts in format. Further afield, Ynyshir Hall in Machynlleth, Midsummer House in Cambridge, Opheem in Birmingham, hide and fox in Saltwood, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie in Auchterarder, Waterside Inn in Bray, and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London round out the reference set for this price tier.
Yes, at both price points. The five-course dinner at £100 and the seven-course at £120 are priced below most Michelin-starred tasting menus in England, particularly given the direct farm sourcing and the technical skill documented by OAD reviewers and Michelin inspectors. The seven-course menu in autumn , when the farm's meat and root vegetable supply is at full production , is the more complete expression of what the kitchen does. If you are visiting for the first time, the five-course option gives you enough range to assess whether the format suits you before committing to the longer menu.
There is no bar seating in the traditional sense at John's House. Drinks are served on the ground floor before guests move upstairs to the dining room for the meal. The restaurant operates a fixed-sitting tasting menu format, so the experience is structured from arrival. If you are looking for a more casual drop-in option, the on-site café at Stonehurst Farm is available and does not require advance booking.
That depends on your budget. The set lunch at £49 per person is the strongest value proposition at John's House and represents genuine access to Michelin-starred cooking at a price that few comparable restaurants can match. Dinner at £100 or £120 offers more courses and is the fuller representation of the kitchen's range. If this is your first visit and you want to manage risk, book lunch. If you want the complete version of what John Duffin is doing , particularly with the farm's seasonal produce across more dishes , book the seven-course dinner and consider staying in one of the on-site cottages.
The database does not confirm a specific seat count or private dining arrangement, so contact the restaurant directly before booking for groups larger than four. Given the restaurant's limited weekly operating hours and the fact that it books out weeks in advance, group bookings should be arranged as early as possible. The farm shop and café on site can absorb pre-dinner or post-lunch time for larger parties.
Book early , several weeks at minimum. The restaurant operates only Wednesday to Saturday, with a single lunch sitting (12PM–1:30PM) and a single dinner sitting (6PM–7:30PM) each day. That is a narrow window. Start with the set lunch at £49 if you want to test the format before committing to the evening menus. The farm shop and café at Stonehurst Farm are worth arriving early for, especially for a lunch visit. Accommodation on site removes the logistics of a return journey after the evening meal, which is worth considering if you are travelling from outside Leicestershire.
At lunch, yes, without much qualification. £49 for a Michelin-starred, OAD-ranked tasting menu using farm-grown produce is a price point that is difficult to match in this category anywhere in England. At dinner, the answer depends on context: £100–£120 per person before wine is serious money, but it compares well against equivalents like Midsummer House in Cambridge or Kitchen Table in London, where the sourcing story is less direct and the setting less distinctive. The farm context adds genuine value here, not just aesthetic differentiation.
Yes, particularly for food-focused occasions where the setting and sourcing story matter as much as the meal. The combination of a 16th-century farmhouse, direct farm provenance, a Michelin-starred kitchen, and on-site cottage accommodation makes it a complete destination rather than just a restaurant booking. For a milestone dinner, the seven-course evening menu with wine pairing is the right call. If your group includes people less interested in the tasting menu format, the lunch sitting is easier to navigate and still delivers the essential experience of the kitchen.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| John's House | Modern British, Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Hard |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | ££££ | Unknown |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | ££££ | Unknown |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Unknown |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | ££££ | Unknown |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | ££££ | Unknown |
How John's House stacks up against the competition.
Yes, particularly the five-course dinner at £100 per person, which delivers Michelin-starred cooking from produce grown on the adjacent 400-acre Stonehurst Farm. The seven-course option at £120 is the fuller picture of what John Duffin's kitchen can do. For the price, few Michelin-starred venues in England offer this level of direct farm provenance alongside cooking that has earned a place in the Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in Europe rankings.
The venue data does not confirm a bar-seating dining option. Guests begin with drinks on the ground floor before moving upstairs to the restaurant, which suggests the experience is structured around the dining room rather than a flexible bar counter. Book a table if you want to eat here.
Lunch is the sharper value play: a set menu at £49 per person with Michelin-starred cooking behind it. Dinner at £100 to £120 for five or seven courses gives you a more complete tasting menu format and more of Duffin's range. If budget is a factor, lunch is the call. If you want the full experience the kitchen is capable of, come for dinner and allow the evening.
The restaurant occupies a farmhouse dining room with well-spaced tables rather than a large event space, so this is not a venue built around large group bookings. Two self-contained cottages are available on-site, which makes John's House a practical option for a small group staying overnight. For parties of more than six, confirm availability directly when booking, as the intimate scale of the room limits capacity.
Book well in advance: the venue operates on tightly windowed sittings from Wednesday to Saturday (lunch 12–1:30pm, dinner 6–7:30pm), and reports consistently note it fills weeks out. The format is tasting menus only, so this is not a spot for à la carte browsing. Arrive knowing that drinks are served downstairs before you move up to the restaurant, and factor in the farm setting: Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire, so you will need a car or a plan for getting there.
At £49 for the set lunch, it is one of the more defensible value propositions at Michelin-starred level in the UK. Dinner at £100 to £120 is a serious spend, but the farm-to-fork provenance here is genuine rather than a marketing angle: John Duffin's brother manages the estate that supplies the kitchen. The OAD ranking (354th in Europe in 2024, rising to 386th in 2025) places it among restaurants charging considerably more. For a ££££ tasting menu outside London, the case for value holds.
It works well for a small-group celebration where the setting and cooking matter more than a city-centre buzz. The 16th-century farmhouse dining room, the farm backstory, and the on-site cottage accommodation make it easy to extend into an overnight trip. The format is formal enough to mark an occasion without being stiff: Michelin-starred, but grounded in a family farm rather than a hotel dining room.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
