The Cross

The epitome of a classy rural restaurant-with-rooms, The Cross is a comfortably smart, but low-key set-up supported by a really decent kitchen. Easy skill & confident sourcing are on display throughout the dinner menu, from home-baked breads & pressed organic Highland chicken & young grouse terrine, to a dish of pork comprising seared loin, braised cheek & slow-roast belly served with curly kale, caramelised onion, potato & truffle gratin. But the food almost plays second fiddle to the wine list – an engaging selection shrewdly chosen by owner David Young.

Small Restaurant List Of The Year

You’ll struggle to find a wine list that combines imagination, quirkiness, information and sheer joie de vivre in such quantities as David Young’s list from The Cross. There are very few wines here above £50, but this list – which features 190 wines, 35 halves, 40+ dessert wines and a majestic whisky selection – has scoured the world in search of value and interest at the more affordable end. Add on the exuberant tasting notes, boxed-out musings on organic versus biodynamic, plus the witty use of symbols (an ambulance for wines with high alcohol, for instance), and you have a winner on your hands.