This restaurant – part of a boutique hotel – takes an everyman approach to fine dining: within its serene walls, dishes of tip-top quality that champion local produce are served by staff who share the evident passion of the kitchen.
The dining room at Arbor works to bring the outside in with wooden accents and a life-sized tree at the centre of the room, while high-back purple chairs and specials written up on blackboards add a touch of cosiness. Although Arbor is without doubt a fine-dining establishment, every kind of diner is catered for here: office workers can speed through a 40-minute express weekday lunch (good value at three courses for £25), while the Pizza Buffet menu, which is available for parties of 20 and upwards, is great for family gatherings where you need to keep all ages satisfied.
If you do have more time on your hands though, we’d heartily recommend opting to enjoy Arbor’s traditional three-course format. The seasonal menus source as much as possible from Dorset and its neighbouring counties, for use in dishes such as blinis topped with salmon cured with local Black Cow vodka, and 28 day-aged Stokes Marsh steak served alongside twice-cooked chips and peppercorn sauce.
Before dessert, there is the option to enjoy a helping of Somerset cheeses, while sweet treats include treacle tart with roasted pumpkin ice cream, and salted caramel and Tonka bean arctic roll with candied peanuts.
On Sundays, stop by for a traditional roast with all of the trimmings, while those with time to spare during the day can pop in for a spot of afternoon tea, featuring scones fresh from the oven and an array of sweet and savoury treats that arrives on a three-tiered wooden tree.
Arbor’s resolutely unfussy atmosphere (and relatively restrained pricing for this level of cooking) have made it a firm favourite with locals as well as visitors.