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…

York Cookery School Sushi

It’d never occurred to me to attempt my own sushi until I happened to see some friends making a go of it on social media a few weeks back. I wasn’t quite organised enough to get hold of the ingredients and kit needed but in a fortunate twist of fate, I was invited to try out…

2018 in Review

I can scarcely believe another year has gone by and that we’re already set to drop into 2019. 2018 was another year of growth for the food scene in York with high profile new openings and expansions from established locals complementing one another. New development Spark also broadened the city’s horizons. On a personal level,…

The Cutlery Works Sheffield

Food halls seem to be popping up all over Yorkshire these days. In York, we have Spark to host a range of street food vendors at the moment and the promise of another food hall in the recently refurbished Stonebow House to come in 2019. In Leeds, Assembly Underground has just opened with 50 beer lines…

Assembly Underground Leeds

The newest big name on the food scene in Leeds is Assembly Underground Leeds, an appealingly subterranean food hall that features (predictably enough) great street food and a huge range of beers to choose from. The space that it inhabits, I’m reliably informed, used to house a nightclub and has been artfully distressed into a comfortable space…

Dough in the City

The Vice & Virtue team are on a bit of a roll at the moment. The titular bar continues to win plaudits for its cocktails and fine dining and it’s only a few short weeks since I was there to attend the preview for their new Pudsey based restaurant and coffee shop, Feed. That impressive…

Whippet Inn Pies

Lunchtime is precious in the world of office work. It’s an opportunity to stamp your authority on a small element of the days you spend earning a living in return for a precious slice of that remuneration. While you may or may not be lucky enough to have a subsidised work canteen (and “lucky” is…