Fine Dining with Middlethorpe Hall

York has some extremely striking places to eat. Memorable buildings such as The Grand, The Star inn the City, Grays Court and Goldsborough Hall all represent memorable locations for a meal, while there are plenty of amazing restaurants homed in more conventional buildings of course. One landmark building on the outskirts of the city that’s…

Hyper local bread with One Mile Bakery (Closed)

Bread pays a significant role (roll?) in this household. Trips to Bluebird Bakery and Haxby Bakehouse are both frequent and regarded as a necessity, generally resulting in a wrestling match with the freezer to ensure that nothing goes to waste thanks to our over enthusiasm. Home baking is something I’ve never taken the time to…

Chef’s Table at Le Duèze Cahors

People can get a bit sniffy about tasting menus these days. I thought we were past the backlash of a couple of years ago when luminaries such as Daniel Clifford declared that they were over and that a la carte was the way forward. That said, there still seems to be some background noise murmuring…

Comptoir Libanais Leeds Vegan menu

I’m not sure I can ever see myself taking up veganism, but I’m always up for trying something new and not the type to insist that a meal isn’t a meal unless it contains something that’s been killed. I’ve heard various viewpoints and arguments over the years, notably a speech from William Sitwell who came…

Dinner at The Twine & Barrel York

There are many, many challenges associated with opening a new food business. The process can be a perfect storm of colossal public expectation, monstrous workload, huge capital expenditure and a massively competitive market. I’ve been to more restaurant launches that smell of wet paint than I can count and it’s not uncommon to be sat…

Mademoiselle’s Whitby

As much as Baby/Toddler Fork represents a wonderful addition to our life and family, we do occasionally fancy a meal that involves us eating concurrently and not chasing around after a small child determined to say hello to as many of the furnishings as possible. To that end, we’ve recently found ourselves leaning on family…

Some highlights of French Gastronomy

Sometimes it’s a struggle to decide what to feature on this site. I frequently receive offers of novelty crockery and dubious dietary supplements that are easily dismissed along with some of the invitations to less salubrious restaurants – if I wouldn’t be tempted to eat somewhere on my own money then why would I invest…

Looking back at 2019

Not only is it the end of another year packed with food and family adventures but it’s the end of a decade which is ending rather differently for me to how it began. Back then I was a Business Analyst (ISEB qualified and everything) in financial services rather than whatever I am now (which feels…

Chef Lu’s Chinese

I still get a frisson of excitement when finding a new gem in our lovely city. There’ve certainly been some hidden gems that I’ve tried my best to share with the wider community which have subsequently found their feet, so when I started to hear whispers of a new restaurant in a less desirable location…

Malton Cookery School

What better place could there be to learn to prepare some Yorkshire produce than a cookery school attached to the county’s self-styled Food Capital? Malton Cookery School has been a fixture in the town for some years under the leadership of experienced tutor Gilly Robinson and has recently moved to a new location just between…