The story
Tucked away on the oak tree-lined Oakbrook Road in Nethergreen, Rafters Restaurant is a 26-seater dining room that brings together Sheffield hospitality and meticulous cooking. The restaurant’s ethos is grounded in a simple invitation: “Please feel at home in our home.” It’s a place where the team genuinely cares about the food they serve and the experience they create.
Head Chef Dan Conlon crafts tasting menus with a sharp focus on Modern British cuisine. Seasonality, locality, and sustainability drive the kitchen, with a commitment to sourcing as many top-quality ingredients as possible from the British Isles. The result is a menu that changes with the seasons, reflecting the best of what the land and waters around Sheffield have to offer.
The setting itself is a tribute to the city’s heritage. Bespoke solid oak tables are made by local craftsmen Richard & Andrew Carr at Carrs Sheffield, while the steak knives are handcrafted by one of Sheffield’s last remaining Little Mesters at Portland Works near Bramall Lane. Sheffield Cutlery completes the tables, making the restaurant a true reflection of what the city has to offer.
The restaurant’s thoughtful, ingredient-led approach has earned it a Michelin Recommended status, a recognition that speaks to the consistency and care in every dish. Whether you choose the 6-course or 10-course menu, the experience is built around the best of British produce, served by a team that makes you feel at home.
Recognition
Details
History
3 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence
Alistair Myers and Tom Lawson's Sheffield restaurant is now reaping the benefits of some constructive refurbing: an open kitchen adds to the visual allure, and the room has been fitted with new solid oak tables, made locally. The whole operation radiates enthusiasm: 'it is very rare to find this level of service, combined with personability, in a restaurant,' mused one diner, as the waiter wrote out the recipe for the miso Martini, before vacuum-packing some of the coffee beans. In between, the kitchen essays a fine-dining spin on classic home-style dishes, truffling up cauliflower cheese into something aromatically beguiling, transforming an Indian-spiced serving of Cornish cod with chip-shop scraps and caviar. Elsewhere, dishes are about the intelligent matching of core ingredients to their accompaniments: beetroot, blood orange and buttermilk with Loch Duart salmon; parsnip, blackcurrant and kale with Scottish venison. Indulgences of another era are evoked in the refined takes on rum-and-raisin ice cream, or Yorkshire rhubarb enriched with white chocolate, ginger and sorrel. A spectacular wine list is arranged by style, depending on whether you want some body but without mouth-drying tannins, or would actually quite like your socks knocking off. The small-glass options that accompany the tasting menu are well worth the extra investment for both gastronomic fit and imagination.
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