Hipping Hall

"Hipping Hall 2 July 2022 Snacks Beef tartare with onion and whiped beef fat. Tasted a little "burger" like. Fine Tartletof summer vegetables, champagne jelly and cucumber gel. OK but to big a hit of cucumber for me. Bread and butter Excellent sourdough, nice just right thin crust. Smoked salt topped butter good, herb butter needed a touch of seasoning or some chopped chive or garlic. Starter Salad of tomatoes, with whipped goats cheese. What I thought was a green tomato seemed to be melon that was bit lacking. Dish needed a crunch. Fish Excellent perfectly poached cod, tasty (I think had been lightly brined). Sea vegetables ok, nice few brown shrimp, the potato balls were nothing special. Felt could have been enhanced if potato balls had been sauteed? The bowl was too deep and narrow, making it difficult to eat the dish. Pork Excellent and perfectly cooked piece of suckling belly pork, lovely thin crackling on it. The cep pwder rolled loin a little firmer but again good and well cooked. King oyster mushroom nicely done, along with the roasted spring onion. Celeriac tasty and moist, smoked potato puree could have a little more smoke flavour, but overall very tasty. Strawberries Tasty strawberries, excellent full flavoured sorbet, nice white chocolate filled white sphere, aniseed hint from herb leaf, hard to detect any earl grey. Manchesteer tart Thin crisp shell, rasberry & custard fill, dessicated cocnut top and gel. Nice little finish. "

"I found this quite a difficult review, and have thought about it a lot. We did have a lovely time, and the staff were really lovely. But there were buts. We had the eight course tasting menu: Beef - raw, with in intriguing carroty jus Asparagus - white, but glazed. First time I have found this tasty. Duck - Star of the show. Excellent duck, especially the liver, wonderful jus. Scallop - Nearly the best, great scallop and lovely white crab meat. Pig - A sort of pork combination in a huge sausage, then sliced. This didn't work for me, though Annie enjoyed it. Too dry, a bit tough in places, and not enough Jus. Disappointing for me. Rhubarb - very good, more experimental. Cherry - cherry sorbet and pistachio cream were lovely, but the bits of chocolate cake were disappointing, too dry. Manchester Tart - scrumptious! Service was very friendly, but a bit slow at times. Sommelier was very good, recommended an excellent Rioja which was very reasonable. Wine List was really good, lots of variety and lots of wines at reasonable prices. Overall, I wanted to like this place, especially as the staff were so friendly, and much of the food was excellent, but it let itself down in places, given the price. This meal was part of a stay at the hotel. "

"A beautiful and quirky building. The food is the star -not dissimilar to it's more expensive sibling Forest Side, but at least two of the dishes (both fish) were definitely better. friendly staff and great cookery - very good value for money - no doubt about it."

"Hipping Hall 2nd Oct 2021 Hipping Hall - Luxury Hotel & Restaurant in the Yorkshire Dales Got a lunch booking in Chef Oli Martins' last month before he moves on to new ventures. A bottle of local Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery "Stanley's" ale (£6) and water on the table, tap) To start, a delicious warm glass of sweetcorn sauce, laced with charred sweetcorn kernels, small cubes of smoked eel, and a lovage oil, topped with a pork crackling crumb. I could have done twice as much of it. Then onto the bread, you could definitely taste the malty flavour of the spent grain (I think also from the local brewery) and an excellent light, chewy crust with soft crumb centre, nicely warm. Ideally I would have liked a little more of the whipped butter. Next was I think my favourite dish of this menu, a paper thin tartlet, with ricotta in the base, then the skinned mini tomatoes, red & yellow, and two "parisienne" balls of cucumber, with the small leaves garnishing along with some crispy pancetta. Even though I am not a fan of cucumber (maybe no baby green tomatoes available?) this was a truly excellent combination. Gigha halibut followed. perfectly cooked and softly flaking, topped with the Morecambe shrimp and diced kholrabi, covered with some shards of charred kale, and surrounded with a tasty butter sauce.Another very good dish. The meat course of hogget saw a nicely blushing piece of loin, and a square of breast, slightly fatty but tasty, topped with shitake mushroom. On the side pan charred hispi cabbage with some hazelnuts,a hazelnut sauce, black garlic puree and a meat jus. Knocked it out of the park again, although personally a touch more salt on the meat would have made it even better. Dessert cam in the form of a blackberry fruit base, a light sponge disc, then a herb flavoured quenelle of ice cream (mint, coriander perhaps & lemon thyme or verbena?), topped with a buttery feulletine disc and caramel sauce. Rounded off with a salted fudge cube petit four, very nice to finish. Overall excellent dishes and flavours. A bargain at £40 I declined cheese at £15 extra, opting to drive 10 miles down the road to the Courtyard Dairy Cheesemonger and spent £20 on a larger selection of cheese to take home!"