Masham Restaurant Guide

This “pretty village gastropub in the Yorkshire Dales” has a “really lively buzz to it”, with “great food and service however busy it gets” – it’s a “firm family favourite” and fans reckon it serves “the best roast dinner in North Yorkshire” (with signature leeks mornay on the side).

King Charles, it is said, is a big fan of Paul & Helen Klein’s “old school Inn”, set in the Yorkshire Dales picturesquely overlooking the village green, which is a well-recognised gem which has reportedly attracted other celeb’ followers such as Daniel Craig. There’s nowt fancy on’t menu – it’s an appealingly retro and “high quality” selection of Anglo-French classics like chicken liver parfait, twice-baked Wensleydale soufflé, or Tournedos Rossini with a few Italian dishes and puds (like Tagliatelle Carbonara or Tiramisu) thrown in for good measure. “They run a great ship at East Witton, the FOH team are always welcoming, the Sunday lunch offering is great value and it’s a worthwhile trip into God’s Country”. “On a sunny day, lunch outside”.

“A very romantic setting in such a fabulous hotel” helps intoxicate diners at this magnificent destination in fine grounds – a 17th-century house, with additional modern buildings nearby and ‘all mod cons’ sensitively introduced into a fine period setting. Shaun Rankin has been chef here since 2019 and delivers a very contemporary 14-course menu for £180 per person. If it all sounds too good to be true, it’s not, all reports are positive. Even so, some do question the value: “super place, but expensive compared to other places of this standard”.

“An unbelievable experience from start to finish – Josh Barnes has made the setting of sitting around an island within the kitchen an intimate yet fun occasion” at this chef’s table within an industrial unit whose purpose is the manufacture of quality sauces and stocks for use by other chefs around the country. Fans say his 14-course tasting menu – for £165 per person, and which takes five hours to serve – is “one of the best meals to be had, with amazing food, spot-on wine pairing and service that’s next-level!” Don’t be more than 30 minutes late – otherwise you forfeit your deposit and don’t get fed!

More solid reviews this year for the 40-seat restaurant within this attractive old inn, situated in a market town: “really enjoyable” modern bistro cooking wins praise as does the “great service” (including with kids in tow).

An “original ambience” contributes to the charm of this eccentrically decorated hotel-restaurant, bedecked in grandfather clocks, chandeliers, tubas and drums – and part of the 18th-century Crab Manor, where the quirky décor continues in five globe-trotting bedrooms. “Tasty” fish is the specialism, but there was also praise this year for the “nice game”. Service can still occasionally lag – “maybe short staffed”? In Summer 2024, they added a sun-trapped terrace, further amplifying the “nice surroundings”.

“First-class” inn, set in the Yorkshire Dales, whose kitchen specialises in “exquisite, very fresh fish and seafood” – including a separate menu devoted to lobsters from Whitby – “if you’re in the area don’t miss it”. Reputed to have been a favourite watering hole of Yorkshire vet Alf Wight (better known as James Herriot), the Heifer is appropriately dog-friendly under the management of father-and-son David & Lewis Moss, owners for the past 20 years.

Afternoon tea is “a trip back in time” at this “consistent” branch of the much-loved Yorkshire tea room brand – the business has occupied fine Georgian premises in this county town of North Yorkshire for 55 years now. “Prices have soared, but it’s still lovely going here for a treat and their breakfasts are still the best”, while substantial lunches are also available. (Unlike some of its siblings, it does not open in the evening.)

North Yorkshire’s ever-expanding Swinton Estate, now has a counter-dining option in the shape of this open kitchen countertop ‘watch-and-dine’ location, set in the estate’s cookery school. Former Galvin brothers head chef Josh Barnes presents a weekly changing menu – a keen forager himself, many of his ingredients are grown on the estate, with the rest sourced from nearby producers. It opened in 2024 but has yet to inspire feedback in our annual diners’ poll – reports please!

Darlington-born Ruth Hansom and her team have “the air of knowing exactly what they’re doing” at her new 16-seater in a picturesque North Yorks town, greeted by some early reporters as “the best restaurant in the area by miles” thanks to her “epic” cuisine. The Times’s Gilles Coren also waxed lyrical in his February 2025 review, with his ten-hour round trip to visit fully justified by a venue he described as “full of love and truth”. Overall the food rating in our annual diners’ poll sums to “very good” rather than “exceptional” though on reports of food that’s highly capable without quite discovering the “beauty and genius” discerned by Giles.

“Such a beautiful place” – a quintessential English country house hotel in the Dales with a pampering spa and a clutch of restaurants, of which this handsome dining room is one, and enlivened by tartan textiles; wood-panelled walls; and views out to the terrace and garden beyond. Reporters had nothing but praise for chef Craig Atchinson’s “wonderful” food – influenced by the region’s larder and focusing on unfussy classics plus meats cooked on the Josper grill.

This “wonderfully decorated restaurant” offering a pan-Asian menu is one of five dining options at 17th-century Grantley Hall, where it is set in a modern pavilion overlooking the Japanese garden. Slick service (“they happily adapted the tasting menu to cater for our preferences”) adds to the occasion. Andy Lynam succeeded high-profile head chef Samira Effa last summer; she left after three-and-a-half years to head up her own private dining business.

“Excellent food and service in a garden centre”, where you eat “surrounded by giant plants in a large, airy room” – the “most unusual” formula (“but all the better for that”) at top chef Frances Atkins’s crowd-pleaser of a café. Those who visited her former venture – the posh Yorke Arms – report that the food is “just as good as it always was” there, whether you use it as a “favourite ‘brekkie-with-the girls’ haunt”, as per one reporter’s wife, or you go for tea and cake, when the “baking is something else” (dinner is also offered on Fridays). Add in “wonderful, attentive service” (staff “remember you even if it’s weeks since your last visit”) and “the entire place is a joy!”. (Note – the formula-price is for the supper menu: you eat in the daytime much more cheaply).