Local heroes

We went to the last day of the Harrogate Food Festival last week, feeling that as self-proclaimed foodies it was the kind of thing we should be doing on a bank holiday weekend. We failed to take into account that we neither of us like crowds, or uncomfortable plastic chairs, or paying over the odds for things - this could have proved unfortunate. As it was, one overpriced chicken gyro aside, we had quite a pleasant time, aided by a couple of excellent gins. 

The festival was taking place in the grounds of Ripley Castle so we decided to treat ourselves to a night in Ripley at the Boar's Head Hotel, which I remember visiting a few times when we first moved to North Yorkshire and always enjoyed. Gentle reader, while I would not hesitate to recommend the hotel to you (reasonably priced, a beautiful room and some of the most comfortable pillows ever) the hotel restaurant was a bitter disappointment. Can't fault the staff but the food was...not good. I really hope that this is a temporary blip due to the current problems in the hospitality industry, and that the bone dry chickpea fritters with a side of pallid boiled potatoes and crunchy mange tout is not typical.

A relief, then, to find that another old favourite in that part of the world, The General Tarleton in Ferrensby, appears to be going from strength to strength. We went on Saturday night for the tasting menu and thoroughly enjoyed it; not least, at £55 per head (and £55 for the matching wine flight which was poured with an extremely generous hand by the charming waiter) it was remarkably good value for money.

Not necessarily pushing at culinary boundaries, nevertheless, the kitchen was turning out well executed plates of delicious, crowd pleasing food. From the dinky little lobster bonbons, pleasingly crisp and sweet, via a plate-lickingly good beef tartare, and a divine chocolate and raspberry torte, this was all excellent stuff and I would whole heartedly recommend it should you ever find yourself sort of Harrogate way and want to be soothed by good, honest cooking and friendly service.

Bonbon!

Beef!

Chocolate!

Next week, fingers, toes and eyes crossed, we are off to Scotland for a couple of weeks and I will do my best to keep you updated with any particular food highlights, although given that the first night away will be spent in Carlisle (don't ask...) I can't necessarily promise too much!

MPM: 12th March 2018

Happy Monday campers!  Actually, I'm writing this on Friday afternoon so the weekend is still to come.  I hope that it was a good one.  We have plans for a trip into town for brunch and books, the very nicest sort of day.  Although, really, I need to stop buying books.  I've got a tottering TBR (to be read) pile that I really should tackle before adding still more to it.  But I just can't resist - nothing makes me giddier than the prospect of a browse around a bookshop.  Except, possibly, a browse around a lipstick counter.

We digress.  For today, it is Monday, and that means meal planning (although, actually, we did that on Thursday so the meal plan was contrived on Thursday, written on Friday and only published on Monday.  Mind blowing.)

This week, we fast Monday and Thursday - and after a couple of poor weeks we are determined to get two good days under our belts.  On Friday, we are going for dinner at that behemoth of the Harrogate food scene, Norse.  Looking forward to that one.  Elsewhere:

Tuesday: a four cheese risotto.  Yep, that's right - risotto made with FOUR different cheeses.  The recipe is from The Silver Spoon.  I am looking forward to sinking into a cheesy coma afterwards.

Wednesday:  D has selected bangers and mash - there's very much a comfort food theme emerging here, isn't there?

Saturday: a recipe from "Simple" by the wonderful Diana Henry. Devilled mackerel with cucumber and watercress yoghurt.

Sunday:  roast pork.  Tomorrow, we embark upon a vegetarian week so I have promised D a good chunk of meat to see him off and he has challenged me to make better crackling than my mother, who cooked roast pork for us a couple of weeks ago.  It's not something I cook very often, but I will do my best.

Norse, revisited

It was my Mum’s birthday last weekend so we popped across to Harrogate to go out for dinner.  Now, I’ve written about Norse not once but twice before, and there are only so many ways that you can say somewhere is super delicious and lovely and that everyone should go.  But this visit was worthy of a slight further note because it was our first since the Norse team moved into their new location.   Where previously they were situated in Balthezen’s café, only emerging at night after the last coffee and cinnamon bun had been served, now they are down in the Montpelier quarter and you can visit for lunch!  Hurrah!

The new restaurant is in a cellar underneath a hotel but still manages to be a bright, airy space, in perfect keeping with the light, Scandi influenced food.  It seemed a lot bigger than before (I’m not sure how the number of covers compares) and yet was still packed out on Saturday night, with people several deep at the bar.  In fact, if there was one small criticism to level it is that they could have done with another staff member out front – the ones on hand were rushed off their feet and, occasionally, plates took slightly longer to clear than they should have done.  (NB: We fed this back to them and they have been in touch to thank us and to say that they are looking into it.)

The food, though, was fabulous.  They no longer do a set tasting menu but offer a list of thirteen savoury plates of various sizes, recommending three apiece.  We ordered the entire menu between four, with a view to sharing everything.  Thirteen plates plus two snacks and three desserts and yet, such was the lightness of touch and balanced parade of ingredients that none of us left feeling over-full.

General consensus round the table that the top dishes were, surprisingly, two vegetarian ones.  The Hasselback potatoes with cheddar and pickled leeks were always going to appeal to a family of cheese monsters.

The grilled hen of the woods were a revelation though – who on Earth knew that mushrooms could taste so luscious and smoky and meaty? 

I must also give a special mention to the hake, beautifully cooked and bathed in a fabulous, run-your-finger-round-the-bowl shellfish sauce.  The only problem with sharing was that I only got a bite or two – this was one that I was tempted to hide under the table and keep to myself.

Puddings: marginally less successful, as it turns out that D fundamentally objects to Jerusalem artichoke ice cream (I didn’t really mind it myself).  I do think that the elderflower parfait was terribly, terribly pretty though.

It goes without saying that, if you’re in the Harrogate area, this is a top destination.  And it was gratifying to see the place doing so well.  Long may it stay so bustling and busy, even if it does mean that dirty plates linger a little longer than they should do – fabulous local places like this are to be treasured.

A Day of Bread at Betty's Cookery School

If you have ever travelled up to York or Harrogate, you may well be familiar with Betty’s Tea Rooms. The York branch was never without a queue of tourists snaking from the door, desperate to take tea and scones in the beautifully appointed dining room. Everyone with a passion for baked goods should try a Betty’s Fat Rascal at some point.

What you may not know is that Betty’s have their own cookery school, situated on a little industrial park just outside Harrogate within spitting distance of the Betty’s bakery (wherein all of said Fat Rascals are brought to being) and the Taylors of Harrogate factory (purveyors of Yorkshire Tea, the only one acceptable in our house). They do a range of courses encompassing various types of cooking and baking. And a week and a bit ago there I was, participating in their Artisan Breads Day. Now, this is not a sponsored post. The trip was, in fact, a birthday present from my husband whose talent for choosing appropriate gifts is unmatched. But you could be forgiven for thinking that Betty’s had paid me a good deal of money to talk about the course, as opposed to D paying them a lot of money to allow me to attend, so high is the level of gushing likely to be. Because this was a really, really good day.

Bread making is something I’ve become increasingly interested in and, in the last couple of years, begun to develop a vague proficiency. This was the perfect course to really take those basic skills and start to hone them. We made four types of bread over the course of the day: Cheese and Chive, Pumpkin Seed, English Rye and Flaked Wheat. If you held a baguette to my head and made me choose, I might have to admit that the Cheese and Chive just about squeaked into pole position for me, but each and every loaf was utterly delicious.

Most excitingly, I made all of them entirely by hand. For someone who has always relied quite heavily on my Kitchen-Aid’s dough hook as a semi legitimate shortcut, this was a truly satisfying achievement. What I found particularly interesting was the economy of movement required by the Real Life Betty’s Baker’s kneading technique which the whole class aspired to emulate. By the end of the day, I certainly felt that I had a basic grasp and, if I can’t quite accomplish it with one hand casually behind my back (yet!) I’m going to work on it.

But it wasn't just the subject matter but the whole experience that was brilliant, and I’m already eager to go back and try another course. The school itself is well equipped, the charming presenters knew their stuff inside out AND they ply you with food and copious amounts of tea throughout (croissants…biscuits…two course lunch…cake…) It was a fabulous day and, as soon as we have chomped our way through the bread mountain that I lugged home, I will be sure to put my newfound skills to good use. Incidentally – if you are a bread baking enthusiast looking to source some different types of flour then this website was recommended to us and seems to be well worth checking out. I haven’t ordered anything myself yet but the range looks good and it comes with a Betty’s seal of approval. Which, if you’ve ever tasted a Fat Rascal, you will know is well worth having.

Betty's Cookery School
Hookstone Park
Hookstone Chase
Harrogate
HG2 7LD
01423 814016

Norse, Harrogate (second visit)

A few days ago, I wrote about a return visit to Leeds' prestigious "The Man Behind The Curtain" which confirmed my opinion that while it is clever, modern food worthy of admiration, it is not food to love.  How wonderful, then, to go back to another venue where every beautifully crafted dish made me want to fall into it face first and lick the plate clean.  That venue is Norse in Harrogate.

I loved it the first time round and there is very little to add in a second piece, such that I probably wouldn't have bothered were it not for the fact that it is such a little gem of a place and really cheered me up after our trip to TMBTC left me wondering if I  just didn't "get" modern food anymore.  I've been lacking an appetite lately anyway and my palate was feeling distinctly jaded by the time we rolled up.

Consider me...un-jaded (if there is such a term).  From start to finish it is almost impossible to pick a highlight.  The moment that the fresh bread arrived at the table with toasted seeds and smoked artichoke puree, we knew that we were in safe hands.

We opted for the seven course tasting menu (with an additional amuse and post dinner chocolates it was, strictly speaking, nine in all) and it was a study in how tasting menus should be.  Every dish was small but perfectly formed.  And see how pretty?

The table was divided as to the best savoury course of the night - was it the buttery turbot with the punchy, herby pickled clams and the rich smoked mussel sauce?  (Apologies for the deterioration in picture quality - the lighting switched to "romantic" at this point)

Or the hogget that just melted in the mouth with the punchiest garlic peas that you ever did see?

My father was adamant that the dessert was the star of the show - a pistachio and rapeseed oil cake licked with skyr and elderflower frosting and served with strawberries and honeycomb.  And, to be fair, you'd go a long way to find something more perfectly delicious, or a prettier symphony of spring pastels.

Four of us ate a superlative meal, we started with a bottle of champagne and then two of the party had a matching wine flight and the bill worked out at £75 a head - amazingly good value for food of such quality.  This is fusion food at its very, very best: the flavour profile is distinctly Scandi, but the ingredients are a parade of the Best of British produce and the two marry together perfectly.

A wonderful night out in a truly wonderful little restaurant.  Thank you, Norse, for rejuvenating my palate and getting me excited about cooking again!

Foodie Abroad: the best of 2015

This year we were lucky enough to go to not one but two 2* Michelin restaurants.  While Michelin is certainly not the be all and end all, two stars still means something – generally seriously good food and service as slick as a dolphin’s tummy. 

But there were delights to be had all over the place at every price point.  2015 was the year we inaugurated the CNO (Cheap Night Out) in Leeds – and although we tailed off a bit in the last few months that is definitely a habit we are going to get back to next year.  Leeds has an embarassment of riches when it comes to fabulous little independent joints producing top class dishes.  And not just Leeds – we also experienced some fantastic food in Harrogate which is the merest hop, skip and jump away.

Our annual trip to the West of Scotland was as wonderful as ever and full of good eating experiences, from city to shore.  We also experienced the delights of Nottingham (although I’m still bitter that D wouldn’t let me visit the kitty café) and the truly majestic fish and chips of the Magpie in Whitby. 

But what were the highlights?  The dishes that made our eyes roll back in our heads, the places that made us feel all warm and fuzzy?  Read on, dear friend.

The Geri Halliwell award for “Spicing up our Lives” goes to…Babu Bombay Street Kitchen in Glasgow.  We only went there for breakfast but it inspired two – two! – recipes when we got home, as we realised that life would never be complete without bhurji pau in it.  We’re planning to go back next year and check out the lunch menu.  Honourable mention to Tharavadu for a Keralan sea bass dish that I would eat every week if I could.

The Augustus Gloop award for “Pudding of the Year” goes to…the strawberry cheesecake at Norse, Harrogate.  Fairy light but packing a serious flavour punch – this was truly skilled cooking and a sublime eating experience.  Honourable mention to Restarant Sat Bains for producing what was, essentially, an ur-Aero.  An Aero to transcend all others. 

The Jeeves award for “Sublime Service” has to go to Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons, and to one waitress in particular who spent the entire meal gently ripping the piss out of D.  He loved it.  It goes to show that the mark of truly fantastic waiting staff is to understand your customer and tailor their experience accordingly.  Oh, and also to bring along extra marshmallows for the entire table.

The Bruce-Willis-in-the-Sixth-Sense award for “Plate of food that causes the Jaw to Drop”…now, this was a tough one.  But in the end, I had to go for the kohlrabi tagliatelle with pesto at Restaurant Sat Bains.  It was a prime example of a dish that sounded humble but tasted anything but.  It was the highlight of a truly awesome meal that included the bread of the Gods and frozen chicken livers.  And it was vegetarian.

All in all, an excellent year with the promise of more good stuff to come in 2016.  I can’t wait!

Beer and Balls at the Yorkshire Meatball Company

British food in general has managed to get itself some pretty good PR in recent years and, as a result, the famous edict that to eat well in England you have to have breakfast three times a day has been well and truly dispelled.  And with this revival – or renaissance, perhaps, is a better word – has come an increased interest in the provenance of food and a championing of local produce and producers.  Which is a wonderful thing. 

I may not be Yorkshire born and bred but I am immensely proud to bang the drum for my adopted home county.  On Wednesday night, D and I were lucky enough to attend an event at Harrogate’s Yorkshire Meatball Company.  David and Gareth, the father and son team behind it are men who take their balls, and the content of their balls, extremely seriously.  (Oh, and by the way, it turns out that making slightly risqué jokes about balls in a meatball restaurant NEVER GETS OLD.)

The evening was not just about showing their balls off though – it also aimed to showcase a very fine local craft brewery called Great Heck.  Yes, it was a night that was jam-packed with beer and balls, as all the best nights are.  The idea was to match the beer with the different dishes, which is becoming increasingly trendy and with very good reason – a good ale is just as complex and interesting as a good wine. 

What can I say other than YUM.  A meatball is a wonderful thing anyway, but a meatball where the contents are impeccably sourced from one of Yorkshire’s finest farms is practically guaranteed to be good.  We got to try six different types, all presented in a slider with complementing condiments.  If you go to the restaurant, you can opt to have them with mash or pasta or veg or even salad – a simple concept but an excellent one.

Balls!

I can confirm that all the balls were excellent.  Although, interestingly enough, I think my favourite were the fishy (haddock, chorizo, mashed potato) and veggie (chickpea) varieties which were bursting with flavour.  The classic meatball, beef and belly pork, was tasty but extremely densely textured.  D rated the smoky ball which was made of meltingly tender lamb and a hefty pinch of smoked paprika, a combination that worked excellently well and I can imagine being fabulous with a lightly spiced couscous. 

The beer, too, was top notch.  The well stocked bar had a plethora of local beers on offer as a matter of course, but the opportunity to try the different varieties from Great Heck was fantastic.  We particularly adored the Madagascar, a stout brewed with vanilla pods that was smooth as silk and as rich and smoky as a bonfire of fifty pound notes (poor analogy, but drinking on a school night will do that to a girl).  I’m relatively new to the world of Real Ale but am tremendously excited to learn more about it and develop my palate.  It’s a world away from the insipid, fizzy-pop lager that I swigged as a teenager.

Beer!

What was especially lovely was being able to chat to the people behind the balls (and beer).  They were all so passionate about what they do and so excited to share their product.  They were also incredibly proud to work with fantastic local suppliers and show off the amazing produce that we have here in Yorkshire.  It was a brilliant evening, and if you happen to find yourself in Harrogate (or York, where they’ve recently opened a second branch) when they are running another such event then I would urge you to go along.  Actually, go along even if they’re not running an event.  As for us, we’ll be popping back for another helping of delicious balls with a side of innuendo in the very near future.

Yorkshire Meatball Company

7 Station Bridge

Harrogate

HG1 1SS

01423 566645

I was invited to attend the “Beer and Balls event”.  However, beer and balls are two subjects that I take very seriously indeed; the opinion expressed is my own and the enthusiasm is unfeigned.

Norse, Harrogate

It's always exciting when you discover a new favourite restaurant, especially when it is a mere half hour drive away. It may still be early days - we're still in the getting to know you phase, the will he or won't he call me back phase - but I have the feeling that with Norse, D and I have found somewhere to which we will return again and again.

As the name suggests, the food has a strong Scandinavian influence throughout which can be felt in the fresh flavours, extensive use of herbs and citrus and the odd portion of raw fish. But the use of local, and often unusual, ingredients (woodruff ice cream, anyone?) make it an affectionate representation of the best of British as well.

We had the tasting menu (of course) which was ridiculously good value, kicking off with some fabulous rye sourdough bread with goats' butter, artichoke puree and toasted grains.  Hard not to fill up on this before the meal had even got going.

Bread

Toasted grains

A pea and cheddar veloute with cep custard and pickled girolles was an early highlight, managing to balance the sweet, the sharp and the earthy notes perfectly.  Unfortunately, the balancing act fell down a little during the Whitby crab course - the one misstep of the evening.  The crab meat itself was a bit lacklustre and did not provide the sweetness required to balance out the bitter notes of lemon verbena and beer.  It was the one course that was less than successful, and for that they are forgiven.  Any kitchen that can provide a dish as sublime as the Lancashire smoked eel with dill purée, that arrived a little later, deserves top marks.

Eel

The pudding, too, was near perfect - a strawberry cheesecake that included the lightest, most perfumed elderflower foam and the aforementioned woodruff ice cream, all combining to make one of the nicest puddings I have had in a long while - and usually, I'm a chocolate girl all the way.  This was a bowl of British summertime by way of a shady woodland dell, absolutely sublime.

Strawberry cheesecake

All in all, I strenuously recommend this place if you happen to find yourself in Harrogate - although it should be noted that it only turns into Norse in the evening - during the day it is a coffee shop called Baltzersen's (I've just looked at the menu, and am rather keen to go and try the meatball open sandwich).  It's an absolute little gem of a place and I know that you will all wish us well as we embark on a hopefully long and happy relationship.

Norse
22 Oxford Street
Harrogate
HG1 1PU
01423 202363

One for the Yorkshire foodies

Back in April D and I enjoyed a meal in Harrogate's Van Zeller which we rated as one of our best of the year.  Lovely to see then that the very esteemed Guardian restaurant critic Marina O'Loughlin has made similarly appreciative noises about the place this week.

While reading that I noticed a link to an earlier article in which Ms O'Loughlin recommends other Yorkshire venues that might be of interest.  Some places in there that we are determined to check out as soon as possible and, as ever, I'll be sure to report back. 

Foodie Abroad: Van Zeller, Harrogate

As part of a general week of indolence and indulgence, we took ourselves over to Harrogate for lunch.  Van Zeller's is a restaurant situated in the Montpelier Quarter which is exceptionally pretty, although as we discovered, not particularly great for attracting passing trade.  We had been once before in the evening and D had subsequently received emails from them offering us a special lunchtime offer  of a seven course set menu for £35. This by any stretch of the imagination is incredible value but when it is food of this quality it becomes almost unbelievable.

I often complain about the fact that London (and Londoners) get the best deal when it comes to dining out.  The range and quality of restaurants in the capital just isn't comparable to what one finds elsewhere (and if there is any corner of the country that I've maligned by that comment then I'm sorry, but please do let me know so I can come and eat there).  But then you get a place like Van Zeller's that, apart from us, was stood empty for the entire lunchtime service and you begin to understand that perhaps there just isn't a market for it.  Which is incredibly sad, but there you go.  J Baker's couldn't survive in York, Anthony Flinn didn't make it work in Leeds; I would guess that there is money in all of these places but clearly not an appetite.  Quite literally.

If you find yourself in Harrogate and fancy a fine dining experience then I would definitely commend Van Zeller's to your attention.  There is something Roganish (that's a thing now) about his food in terms of both style and content and it comes as no surprise to discover that Tom van Zeller lists L'Enclume as one of his favourite restaurants.

It's very clever food too.  There were a couple of dishes where the component parts didn't quite work on their own but put it all together and BOOM - perfectly balanced fireworks.

Our particular favourite was the lamb with lettuce, artichoke, mint and ricotta:...

Lamb!

...where the sourness of the artichoke and slightly bitter char on the lettuce were utterly lifted by the sweetness of the other ingredients.  The only problem was that we could have eaten the plate twice over.

I was also extremely struck on the quail with tomatoes, jersey royals and hazelnuts - again such a magical touch with unlikely combinations, and so good to get a tomato that actually tastes of tomato:...

Quail!

And honourable mention to the doughnut dessert - another brilliant balancing act with sour blackcurrants tangoing with fennel, lemongrass and marscapone, and kudos to anyone who will actually serve up doughnuts for pudding.  There are not enough doughnuts in the world for my liking:...

Doughnut!

Standard lunch is £35 for three courses and dinner is £50 for three, although that will include a couple of amuses and little bits thrown in.  D and I have resolved to try and go there as regularly as we can - as I honestly don't think there's anywhere local doing anything quite so lovely at the moment, at least at those prices.  And if that alone is not enough to tempt you to make the trip to Harrogate, remember that you can always have a cup of tea at Betty's when you're finished...

Van Zeller

8 Montpelier Street

Harrogate

HG1 2TQ

01423 508762