Wentworth Golf Club

Wentworth sits on the edge of Virginia Water, in the wooded, low-traffic stretch of Surrey where the county starts to feel more like private estate than commuter belt. It is a golf club first and foremost, one of the best known in the world, and the host of the BMW PGA Championship. Everything else it offers, including the dining, sits inside that.

That matters for anyone reading this as a restaurant recommendation. The category here is fine dining and the price band is ££££, the top of our scale. Both are accurate, but neither is the most important thing to understand. The clubhouse dining is described as an exclusive members experience, and that is the operative word. This is not a restaurant you drive to on a whim, park outside and walk into. Access, dress and booking arrangements at clubs of this kind are set by the club and can change; if you are not a member, check directly what is possible before you make plans. We are not going to guess at the rules on your behalf.

For members and their guests, the appeal is obvious enough. A clubhouse on grounds of this quality, a spa on site, and the standard of cooking that a ££££ band implies. It suits the occasions that golf clubs have always suited: a long lunch after a round, a business conversation that needs somewhere quiet and unhurried, a milestone that justifies the spend. It is not a weeknight-supper sort of place, and it does not pretend to be.

Two practical points. First, the championship. When the BMW PGA is on, the whole estate operates differently, access, traffic on the approach roads and availability of anything inside the club will all be affected. Plan around it. Second, we do not hold details of the menu, opening hours or how the dining rooms are arranged, so nothing on that front is stated here. Ask the club.

The address is Wentworth Drive, GU25 4LS. Virginia Water itself is a small, quiet, affluent place with a mainline station, and the club is a large part of why anyone outside Surrey has heard of it.

Honest position: within its town, Wentworth is the landmark, not one option among many. Within Surrey's dining scene, it is a club that serves fine dining to its members rather than a public restaurant competing for your Saturday night. Judge it on that basis.