Hotel du Vin York

(Ad – PR visit) Whether or not a Sunday roast needs elevating can be a contentious point. The view that, if eating out, a roast is best enjoyed in a pub by a roaring fire with a couple of pints of good Yorkshire beer is broadly held and with good reason. If you want to…

Forest at Galtres Lodge Sunday Feast

A Sunday roast, done properly, should present more opportunities than for just eating. It should be an enabling factor in letting your Sunday afternoon expand toward early evening as you go through a few courses and graze on leftovers. I’ve always been of the view that having a Sunday roast in a restaurant can be…

The Bay Tree Stillington

Generally when I’m invited to check out a new spot I have a fair idea of what I’m in for, either through prior association, general reputation or obvious pointers toward quality (or the opposite on occasion). It’s a bit harder to form a judgement at the moment though without access to quite the same level…

Sunday Lunch from Kennedy’s

One thing I didn’t expect to be doing too much of throughout lockdown was trying new places to eat, but the way this year has panned out has been far from expected to say the least. With the most restrictive part of the lockdown hopefully in the past, we can start to dare to make…

Hog and Apple Sunday Lunch

What’s the best environment for a Sunday roast? A pub gives you ample opportunity to relax into the Sunday papers with a decent pint while coming to terms with the number of calories consumed; a restaurant can feel a touch formal for what should be one of the week’s most relaxing feasts; and the home…

EightyEight at Grantley Hall

I’ve occasionally pontificated on the assumptions made about restaurants situated within hotels. They seem to be inevitably seen purely as an adjunct to the hotel rather than a destination in their own right, an unearned slight that I’ve seen unfairly impact on the trade of some superb restaurants. Grantley Hall is a luxury destination that…

Sunday lunch at The Refectory

Location is an element that can really add a sense of occasion to a meal and the Principal Hotel is without doubt one of the most striking places to dine in York since its refurbishment some years ago which elevated it from faded glory to contemporary relevance. There’s a smartly decorated bar to relax in which has a rather…