Happy Birthday to Mak Tok in Malton!

Chef’s table events are a great way to get up close and personal with your favourite chefs or producers. I’ve enjoyed a couple of these at Malton Cookery School over the last few years in its original home, but the School has recently shifted across town to a new location, so I was very happy…

Family Fork visit Almaz York

It can be hard to see the wood for the trees when I’m trying to choose which restaurant to head to next, such is the continuing proliferation of openings in York. Time is even more precious these days and now that Baby Fork is becoming tiringly ambulatory, some restaurants just aren’t appropriate for her to…

A foraged feast with Mr P (closed)

Any opportunity to eat food from a Michelin Starred chef is a thing to be grasped with both hands. A set menu for a very reasonable price with input from a well-reputed forager makes the occasion even more special, so the idea of dinner cooked under the watchful eye of Andrew Pern featuring ingredients from…

Lebanese with Comptoir Libanais Leeds

When I was invited to pop across to Leeds and try some Lebanese food in the Trinity Centre, I had to own up to not having heard of Comptoir Libanais Leeds. This chain has been working its way around the country for a while and is now making its presence felt in the North; this…

Sticky Walnut Chester

Sometimes the best parts of something new can feel comfortingly familiar. Sticky Walnut Chester has the reputation for dishes with a happily old fashioned basis but which are underpinned by a thoroughly modern commitment to engagement through social media thanks to chef patron Gary Usher. Usher has become a well known figure in the hospitality…

Family Fork visit Chester

It pays to do your research before going on holiday. That way you can make sure you pick a destination suitable for your family circumstances and appealingly different to your home town. Alternatively, you can choose a place to visit based on a hunch and find it both slightly impractical for your circumstances and spookily…

York’s Chocolate Story

York’s chocolate heritage is so rich and has contributed so much to the fabric of the city we now love, it’s only fitting that it gets its own tourist attraction. York’s Chocolate Story landed in Kings Square a few years ago with a mission to tell the story of how the chocolate industry shaped our…

A chance to explore Manchester

It’s funny how time slips by. I regard myself as pretty well travelled within the UK, but that doesn’t mean I’m without blind spots. Given its proximity to York it’s a little surprising that Manchester is one of those. Even more surprising was that, when I gave it some thought, I realised it was 21…

Meeting a cheerful Masterchef with Naked Noodles

It’s funny how some Masterchef contestants slip from your mind despite avidly having followed the show for years. Occasionally these days I’ll fall into a Wikipedia hole and realise that large numbers of the contestants I’ve followed on Masterchef over the years have escaped my memory entirely. One of the characters in last year’s edition…

The Grand Cookery School opens in York

The Grand Hotel is something of a landmark in the centre of York, occupying a prime location on the route from the train station to many of the city’s tourist attractions. It’s been worthy of a visit on its own merits for a number of years now, with two restaurants, relaxing space for drinks and…