Pickering Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: “Assured cooking from an interesting menu means you could do a lot worse in the area” than this seventeenth-century village pub. Young chef-patron Ali Moran, who took over a year ago, grew up in the neighbouring hamlet of Hartoft, and serves game from his parents’ farm.

“Just radiating warmth and welcome” – Andrew Pern’s “thatched 14th-century inn” is “quietly knocking it out of the park again and again” and it’s hard to remember that the venue itself was knocked out of action for many months after a fire in 2021. One of the top-20 most commented on destinations outside London in our annual diners’ poll, it justifies a long trip for many of its diverse fanbase. As well as the “lively vibe” and “true Yorkshire hospitality” and “relaxed, calming and charming atmosphere”, it is the “food that does the talking” with “quality ingredients” prepared in a “superb” fashion. Chef Stephen Smith heads the kitchen, which offers an à la carte menu (mains are typically £30–£45) or a tasting menu for £150 per person, as well as various other options (including a cheaper lunchtime selection). It’s an “expensive but superb treat” and provided a good number of our reporters with their top gastronomic experience of the year.

“A beautifully located small hotel opposite the village pond with garden views, comfortable bedrooms” and “good food from a short menu” – Jacquie Pern’s former village smithy has been a North Yorkshire staple for more than 15 years. Ratings did not hit the heights here this year – with a couple of up-and-down reports – but change was afoot following our annual diners’ poll with the arrival of new head chef Adam Westgarth, whose appointment aims to herald a new direction in the kitchen, working closely with a local farm providing regenerative crops, heritage breed livestock and wild game.

“The Plough has been providing weary travellers with refreshments since 1498” and “current owners Richard & Lindsey Johns are the latest publicans to proudly continue this time-honoured tradition” (having built quite a name in this area already via e.g., the Hovingham Inn, and Artisan, Hessle). “Richard lovingly transforms the best produce Yorkshire has to offer into hearty, carefully considered dishes, preparing and cooking everything from scratch”, while “Lindsey ably oversees the warmest of Yorkshire welcomes to their guests in a cosy and welcoming setting” that’s certainly worth wombling over to Wombleton to visit.

“Simply sublime” cooking wins huge support for Josh & Victoria Ovington’s converted pub in a small village half an hour from York which opened in mid 2023 and which is now one of the top-50 most commented-on destinations outside London in our annual diners’ poll; and with a very high proportion of diners reporting their best meal of the year here. It’s not a place to drop by – the main event by night is an eighteen course menu championing the Yorkshire ‘terroir’ for £165 per person; at lunch a mere fourteen courses for £115 per person. Many fans have approvingly followed the couple’s progress from their days in York: “I thought that when they were at Le Cochon Aveugle they couldn’t be surpassed but moving to Myse they’ve pulled out all the stops. Incredible”. It’s a “lovely” place too (“especially in winter next to a roaring fire”), with rooms available for dinner, bed and breakfast.

“Truly talented chef” Peter Neville (ex-Hibiscus and the Pheasant in Harome) and his partner Cecily (who grew up in this “beautiful village on the North York Moors”) serve “creative dishes” in a “pleasingly homely environment, as the name suggests, with its own style rather than smart or corporate”, where there’s a “rare balance between professionalism and warm personal engagement” – “the menu’s always changing and you never leave without at least one dish etched in the memory”. Top Menu Tip – “crunchy beignet with rhubarb compote and star anise-flavoured custard: divine!”.