Windsor

Dining in Windsor — The Essential Guide

The Most Michelin-Dense Village in the World

Windsor and its immediately adjacent village of Bray constitute the highest concentration of Michelin stars per square kilometre in the world. Bray alone contains two three-Michelin-star restaurants — The Waterside Inn and The Fat Duck — both operating within a few hundred metres of each other in a village of fewer than 3,000 residents. Add The Hind’s Head (one star) and the surrounding area (Woven at Coworth Park, Ascot), and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has accumulated a Michelin constellation that puts most major European cities to shame.

The two three-star restaurants represent the opposite poles of what fine dining can be: The Waterside Inn is the classical tradition at its most refined and enduring; The Fat Duck is the experimental frontier at its most theatrical and inventive. Experiencing both on the same visit — The Waterside for dinner on one evening, The Fat Duck on another — is the most complete survey of what British fine dining has achieved in the last half century.

Booking Strategy

Both three-star restaurants in Bray are heavily over-subscribed and require booking at least three to six months in advance. Woven at Coworth Park is more accessible at three to four weeks. The Hind’s Head is the most accessible of the Bray kitchens and should be booked two to three weeks ahead for weekends. The Ivy Windsor is the easiest reservation and can often accommodate same-week bookings.