Augustus

A Courtyard Bistro and the Argument for Local

The approach to Augustus sets up the meal accurately. Tucked into a quiet courtyard off St James Street, a short walk from Taunton's landmark Castle Hotel, the restaurant operates at a remove from the town's main thoroughfare — not through obscurity but through choice. The dining room divides between a cosy, intimate interior and a bright conservatory with sliding glass doors and a retractable roof, the kind of architectural detail that signals a kitchen serious about seasonality: when the produce is right, you open the room to match it.

This is the template that redefined provincial British dining over the past two decades. The leading local bistros in England — and Augustus sits firmly in that conversation , stopped trying to replicate the formal register of places like Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons or The Ritz Restaurant and started asking a simpler question: what grows, swims, or grazes within a few miles of here? The answer, in Somerset, is extensive.

Sourcing as Discipline, Not Marketing

Ingredients at Augustus are, by longstanding practice, often collected on foot from nearby butchers, bakers, and fishmongers. Somerset's orchards and smallholdings provide a seasonal harvest that shapes the menu around the calendar rather than the other way round. That model , hyper-local, low-distance, supplier-led , has become a standard claim for aspirational restaurants across the country, but at Augustus it functions as genuine operational discipline rather than positioning language.

The result is a repertoire that moves through British and French registers with occasional Asian forays, grounded in what's available rather than what's fashionable. Duck cassoulet reads as properly Gallic and properly rustic. Seared Brixham scallops arrive with curry cream, raisins, and pommes gaufrettes , a combination that places West Country seafood inside a broader European toolkit without straining the logic. An autumnal vegetable tart with light pastry, a cheese soufflé paired with a well-constructed salad, and a seafood stew round out a repertoire that holds its range without losing coherence.

The willingness to also serve sirloin steak with cauliflower cheese and French fries , straightforwardly, without irony , is precisely the kind of editorial confidence that marks out a kitchen comfortable in its own register. Tarte tatin and Bakewell tart with custard operate in the same register: classic, correctly executed, not over-explained. The cheese course, paraded on a perambulating butcher's block around a relaxed dining room, is the kind of floor-level hospitality detail that a more self-conscious restaurant would over-engineer and a less attentive one would abandon.

Where Augustus Sits in the Wider British Dining Conversation

Reinvention of British pub and bistro cooking over the past generation produced a wide spectrum of outcomes. At the high end, places like Hand and Flowers in Marlow and Moor Hall in Aughton demonstrated that serious technique and local sourcing could coexist with approachable formats. At the other end, the gastropub revolution produced a lot of dressed-up mediocrity. Augustus occupies the productive middle ground: a Michelin Plate recipient in both 2024 and 2025, recognised specifically for hearty, unfussy cooking that mixes French-influenced dishes with updated British classics.

That Michelin framing is worth parsing. The Plate designation signals food worth a detour, cooking that meets a defined standard without necessarily reaching for the starred tier. It places Augustus in a peer set that includes tight, well-run neighbourhood restaurants rather than destination tasting-menu operations. Compared to the ££££ register of CORE by Clare Smyth or The Ledbury, Augustus operates in a fundamentally different register , and makes no pretence otherwise. The ££ price point is the honest expression of that position.

For context on what serious regional cooking looks like across the UK, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, and hide and fox in Saltwood each represent the higher-ambition end of what provincial restaurants can achieve. Augustus is not competing in that category , its ambition is more legible and arguably more useful to Taunton's regular dining population.

Service and the Wine List

Service at Augustus is described as pleasant and efficient, which in context means attentive without being intrusive and paced to match a relaxed but animated room. The wine list is workmanlike and fairly priced , a considered international selection that includes a trio of West Country wines, with enough options by the glass and carafe to accommodate a table drinking at different speeds or in different volumes. The West Country wine inclusion reflects the same local-first logic that governs the kitchen, and three producers suggests a genuine engagement with Somerset's growing wine output rather than a token gesture.

That combination , accessible pricing, glass and carafe options, local representation , is the signature of a wine program built for regulars rather than wine tourists. It fits the room.

Planning a Visit

Augustus is at 3 St James Street, Taunton TA1 1JR, a short walk from the town centre and close to the Castle Hotel. The ££ pricing makes it accessible for a midweek dinner or a relaxed weekend lunch, and the conservatory format with a retractable roof means the room works across seasons. The Google rating of 4.9 from 436 reviews points to a consistent experience rather than a one-off peak. Booking ahead is advisable for dinner, particularly on weekends, given the size of the room. For everything else happening in Taunton, see our full Taunton restaurants guide, our full Taunton hotels guide, our full Taunton bars guide, our full Taunton wineries guide, and our full Taunton experiences guide.