Where to Eat in Cambridge: From a Century-Old Chelsea Bun to Two Michelin Stars

Cambridge eats better than its reputation as a tourist trap suggests, once you get a street or two off King's Parade. The two ends of the spectrum, a century-old bun shop and a two-Michelin-starred tasting menu, both genuinely belong on any visitor's list, and the middle ground between them is worth just as much attention.

The bun everyone should try

Fitzbillies has baked the Chelsea bun to the same recipe since 1920, and the flagship branch on Trumpington Street, a few doors from the Fitzwilliam Museum, still runs a walk-in bakery counter and cafe rather than anything that needs booking. Seating is limited enough that a queue at peak times is normal; treat it as part of the experience rather than a problem. The bun itself, a large, sticky, spiral pastry, is the thing to order, though the cafe also runs a full breakfast and lunch menu and afternoon tea for anyone who wants to sit longer.

Mill Road: the less collegiate side of the city

Mill Road, east of the railway station, is where Cambridge eats when it is not performing for visitors. Vanderlyle, at 38 to 40 Mill Road, runs an entirely plant-based tasting menu built around what regional farmers and growers actually have that week, served over four evening sittings rather than nightly by deliberate choice. Tables release a month at a time through Tock from the first Tuesday of each month at midday, and popular dates go within that window, so this needs planning rather than a same-week decision. Hot Numbers, the specialty coffee roaster with its original branch on Gwydir Street off Mill Road, is the other reason to make the trip: a former Victorian brewery building turned into a jazz-filled cafe with a proper brunch menu, not just coffee.

Sicilian pizza a minute from the Market Square

Aromi, on Bene't Street a few steps from King's Parade and the Corpus Clock, sells Sicilian-style sourdough pizza and focaccia by the slice alongside pastries and gelato, walk-in only across two floors, open until 10pm most nights. It is as much a genuine local lunch spot as a tourist stop given how close it sits to the busiest corner of the city, which says something about the quality holding up under that kind of footfall.

Riverside pubs with a purpose

Two pubs earn their place on any Cambridge list for reasons beyond the beer. The Eagle, on Bene't Street, is a 17th-century coaching inn where Francis Crick and James Watson announced their discovery of the structure of DNA in February 1953, and its RAF Bar still carries wartime graffiti burned into the ceiling by airmen based nearby during the Second World War. It does not take bookings from May through the end of September, the busiest tourist months, so plan to queue at the bar in that window. The Anchor, on Silver Street directly beside the Mill Lane punt station, has a terrace over the water looking straight at the Mathematical Bridge, and works equally well as a pre-punt pint or a post-punt meal; it does take bookings, worth using on a warm weekend.

The occasion meal

Midsummer House, on Midsummer Common a short walk from the centre, is Cambridge's only two-Michelin-starred restaurant, running a set surprise-format tasting menu across three tiers that changes with the seasons. Reservations open three months ahead on the first of each month at 9am, and the popular dates go quickly; a waiting list exists for anything fully booked. It closes for seasonal breaks through the year, so check current dates before planning a trip specifically around it.

Self-catering and picnics

The general market on Market Hill trades Monday to Saturday with a smaller Sunday market, and The Cambridge Cheese Company on All Saints Passage, a minute from Trinity Street, is the obvious stop for a proper picnic: British and European farmhouse cheese cut to order, alongside crackers, charcuterie and chutneys. Provisions in hand, the Backs' lawns near King's or, further out, Grantchester Meadows near the Orchard Tea Garden, are the two best places in the city to actually eat them outdoors.