British, Modern Restaurants in Wetherby
1. Skosh
British, Modern restaurant in York
98 Micklegate - YO1
“Clever small plate dishes with exciting flavour combinations” have established Neil Bentinck’s city-centre destination as one of York’s most popular in recent years. “Some seats are up at a counter watching the chefs at work, whilst the remainder still have the atmosphere of being in a busy kitchen restaurant”. “Getting a table can sometimes feel like trying to get tickets for Glastonbury, but it is really worth it for amazing British-Japanese fusion food that’s so inventive but not too expensive, with new dishes being created all the time”. “Relaxing, with a buzz of warmth and efficiency”: “It leaves you with a deeper love of humanity and a sense of what a great local can give!”. “Looking forward to the knock through to next door” – planning permission was finally granted in early 2023 and work is due to be complete by the end of the year.
2. The Alice Hawthorn
British, Modern restaurant in Nun Monkton
The Green - YO26
An “excellent gastropub-with-rooms in a delightful village” – and right on the village green, which has the rare honour of hosting the country’s tallest maypole. Yorkshire hospitality royalty John & Claire Topham, who put the General Tarleton at Ferrensby on the map, are behind its recent national hype, and added award-winning rooms to the picture in 2022. Hearty dishes make the most of local produce and “very professional” staff don’t bat an eyelid if you choose to linger a few hours. PS – they now do pizzas in the garden in summer on Fri/Sat nights.
3. General Tarleton
British, Modern restaurant in Ferrensby
Boroughbridge Rd - HG5
“A warm welcome, prompt service and tasty cooking” make it worth remembering this comfortable, modernified pub, not far from the A1, where chef Varun Khanna produces a bistro-style selection of dishes.
4. The Bow Room Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in York
Grays Court Hotel, Chapter House Street - YO1
In summer 2023, Ian Doyle (an alum’ of the legendary Noma, who gained a star at previous haunt the Cliff House Hotel, in Waterford, Ireland) stepped in to fill the shoes of Adam Jackson, who has now moved to the Rattle Owl in Micklegate. Early reports suggest that his tasting menu is “just fabulous” (“exceeded our expectations”) and “what a wonderful setting” the restaurant has in this “amazing ancient property” – York’s oldest inhabited house – situated near York Minster. Top Tips – “make sure to have a stroll around the garden before enjoying the top-notch cuisine” and “also book a room so you don’t have to rush home”.
5. Clocktower Restaurant, Rudding Park Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Harrogate
Rudding Pk, Follifoot - HG3
Attached to a luxurious spa hotel, this modern brasserie is open all day (with other options in the hotel being the more ambitious Horto, or afternoon tea in the Conservatory). One fan notes it as a good place for a relaxed business meal, but there is also the odd concern that its “good ambience can be let down by average results at excessive prices”.
6. Horto Restaurant at Rudding Park
British, Modern restaurant in Follifoot
2022 Review: This “lovely hotel” is so proud of its own produce that it named its main restaurant Horto, Latin for kitchen garden, and charged young head chef Callum Bowmer (who arrived for two weeks’ work experience in 2010 and never left) with the task of creating showcase menus from it. The resulting meals are “really enjoyable”.
7. Bettys
Afternoon tea restaurant in Harrogate
1 Parliament Street - HG1
A Yorkshire “legend” – “the epitome of an old-fashioned afternoon tea room, and with a great pianist too”. “You might have a long wait in the queue to get in, but it’s worth it” for the “delicious pastries and well-filled sandwiches” served at this flagship of a family-owned business founded in 1919, now with five venues across North Yorkshire. “Places that are described as an ‘institution’ are often a stuffy, stilted let-down – Betty’s is none of the above”: “even the fish ’n’ chips are stylish”.
8. The Ivy Harrogate
British, Modern restaurant in Harrogate
7-9 Parliament Street - HG1
2021 Review: A “bustling” ambiance that “gives a lift to the spirits” is the chief plus-point of this brasserie offshoot of the ever-expanding London luminary. Even fans concede it’s “expensive for what it is”, and “could be said to be a little formulaic”, while a couple of other reporters noted meals that were positively bad.
9. The Swine That Dines
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
58 North Street - LS2
The “personal service” at Stuart & Jo Myers’ “fantastic small restaurant” in Mabgate – which they opened twelve years ago as a café called the ‘Greedy Pig Kitchen’ – is “the very definition of hospitality”. “The unconventional cooking is great”, too (including winning cakes). “It’s a 140-mile round trip for us but sooo worth it!”
10. The Man Behind The Curtain
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Lower Ground Floor Flannels - LS1
The “culinary theatre” of Michael O’Hare’s moody basement (to which it relocated a few years ago) has made it one of the UK’s better known gastronomic temples, and it’s become something of a standard-bearer for the city’s foodie credentials. But it put in a very mixed performance in this year’s annual diners’ poll. Even those who “love it and feel its place in the Michelin is well deserved” – and there are still many of them – can find it “witheringly expensive”. Meanwhile, skeptics worry that it’s becoming “all show and no go”: “I liked the first iteration, when it was located on the top floor of Flannels, but two subsequent visits to the current basement location have led me to conclude it’s just soulless, with food that’s OK but which has not moved on” (“putting a prawn on top of a telephone doesn’t make it taste better!”) and “an entry-level price for wine that’s ridiculous”. The message may be getting through, as – with much fanfare – in May 2023 Michael launched a ‘Menu Rapide’ in response to the cost of living crisis, providing four courses for £40 or six courses for £60 per person. BREAKING NEWS. Actually, it looks like the penny has completely dropped, as – in late October 2023 – Michael announced that the restaurant is to close at the end of 2023 and relaunch under a new name; and with a ‘more accessible’ (we think that means less expensive) format in February 2024. Don’t worry though: the style will still be ‘out there’ – it’s to be themed around a seafood surf shack, and called ‘Psycho Sandbar’.
11. Home
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
3 Brewery Place - LS10
“If you are looking for a truly haute cuisine experience this is the place to be” – Elizabeth Cottam’s strikingly black venture (black floor, black décor, black uniforms), which has been given a new lease of life since relocating to Brewery Wharf two years ago. “From the moment you arrive you are made to feel welcome” and “the attention to detail and quality of ingredients” showcased in the five- or eight-course tasting menus (sometimes served by the chefs themselves) make for “an absolutely wonderful experience from start to finish”.
12. Crafthouse, Trinity Leeds
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Level 5 - LS1
2022 Review: This large, smart and impressive venue from D&D London, on the fifth floor of the new Trinity Leeds shopping centre, is enclosed in floor-to-ceiling windows with great views over the city, oak and marble interiors and an open kitchen. The cooking is generally considered “good” or better, with a decent set menu as well as more lavish à la carte and tasting menu options.
13. Sous le Nez en Ville
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Quebec Hs, Quebec St - LS1
This “vibrant and busy” basement venue with an “interesting French menu” is a “longstanding favourite”, whose “very good lunch” makes it an “ideal and consistent business brasserie”. Opened in 1991 and still run by founders restaurateur Robert Chamberlain and exec chef Andrew Carter, its many fans are happy that it has “not changed in 20 years”.
14. The Owl
British, Modern restaurant in Leeds
Lockside. Mustard Approach, Mustard Wharf - LS1
This “wonderful canalside restaurant, flooded with light” was originally at Kirkgate Market, moving to the Mustard Wharf development two years ago, where it is “a great addition to Leeds” – “the food is delicious but the relaxed atmosphere is also a key to its success”. Liz Cottam, a MasterChef semifinalist, and Mark Owens (ex-head chef at the Box Tree) also run Home at Brewery Wharf.
15. Middlethorpe Hall
British, Modern restaurant in York
Bishopthorpe Road - YO23
2022 Review: “A great place for a civilised lunch” – so long as you don’t expect culinary fireworks. This impressive William & Mary country house on the outskirts of York is owned by the National Trust (and was once the residence of traveller and writer Lady Mary Wortley Montague, who introduced the practice of smallpox inoculation to Britain after witnessing it in Turkey).
16. Roots
British, Modern restaurant in York
68 Marygate - YO30
“Combining skill and originality in equal measure – with a menu that’s is unexpected and exciting”; Tommy Banks’s converted pub in the city centre is applauded in all reports as a “fabulous” destination: “knowledgeable service coupled with the beautiful presentation and amazingly flavoured food makes for a truly unforgettable meal”. However, even those who acknowledge that it’s “excellent” still often feel that “bills are simply excessive” (“we love Tommy Banks, but won’t be returning”). The overall verdict? “Excellent… but at a price”.
17. Melton’s
British, Modern restaurant in York
7 Scarcroft Rd - YO23
“A high-end restaurant without all the flummery and fuss that is often associated with good restaurants” has cemented the longstanding appeal of this modern British bistro (est. 1990) from the Roux-trained Michael Hjort (director of York Food Festival) and FOH wife Lucy. “Melton’s has long been a mainstay of the York food scene and long may it continue”!
18. Star Inn the City
British, Modern restaurant in York
Lendal Engine House, Museum Street - YO1
In a “great location” by the River Ouse, this characterful gastropub was opened 11 years ago by chef Andrew Pern as a city counterpart to his acclaimed Star Inn at Harome in North Yorkshire. “The cuisine still fails to meet expectations”, though – a recurrent theme, with reporters describing it as “good but not spectacular” or at best “better than expected given the poor reviews”.
19. Mannion & Co
British, Modern restaurant in York
1 Blake St - YO1
This deli-café in a former grocer’s shop is “worth the queue” for a coffee and a treat, while the “surf ’n’ turf lunch is also very good”. Success has led to spinoffs in Helmsley and, last year, in Easingwold (where it’s called OPC after the old police cells on the premises).
20. Bettys
British, Modern restaurant in York
6-8 St Helen’s Square - Y01
“An institution in York, and a ‘must’ on any visit to the city” – this central branch of Bettys dates from 1936, with an interior inspired by the ocean liner Queen Mary, and its Belmont Room – named after Frederick Belmont, the Swiss confectioner who founded the Harrogate original in 1919 – is “a real treat”. “There’s no place like Bettys if you want to enjoy a classic afternoon tea with as many of the trimmings as you want” – “the quality of the food offering is never in doubt but what is exceptional is the professionalism and efficiency of the staff”.
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