(ad – pr) York has some pretty spectacular restaurants, with premises inhabiting noted buildings such as The Assembly Rooms and the former girls’ school on Low Petergate – now occupied La Vechhia Scuola – notably repurposing grand buildings for hospitality. This concept has been taken to an extreme now with the opening earlier this year of Andrew Pern’s newest endeavour, York Minster Refectory. This building, opposite the edifice from which it derives its name, was previously the Minster School and as such not something to which I’d previously paid much attention. I popped by for canapés at th ..read more

(ad – pr) As my daughter approaches her sixth birthday it’s dawning on me that she won’t continue as such a delightful, angelic, kind being who craves my company forever. With Christmas around the corner, I suppose there’s a limited shelf-life (elf life?) to the whole Christmas/Santa subterfuge so in actuality the window between gaining enough cognition to appreciate it but not so much as to question it is only a few years, rather limiting the number of opportunities to indulge both her and us. We had a great time at Murton Park last year meeting Santa on a train ride there so when the North Y ..read more

(ad – pr) Since it opened I’ve made a number of trips to the Malmaison in the centre of York which is housed in a former insurance office that for so many years was a beacon of mundanity and grey. I can attest to that being the case on the basis of having worked there but it’s utterly transformed now into a bright, stylish and modern building fully deserving of its enhanced standing. Sora up on the roof offers incredible views and a unique experience while the bar and Chez Mal York on the ground floor make up a more conventional food and drink offering. I called by back in April to check it ou ..read more

In the headlong rush toward Christmas it can be tricky to fit in all the experiences one wants to give a family. Between seeking out Santa, picking out and decorating a tree, writing and planning a menu in great detail (just me…?), finding shelves for elves, extracting Christmas lists from children (and adults come to think of it) and generally getting through the schools endless run of engagements, there’s a fair bit on at this time of year. One festive event that really marks the start of the Christmas Season though is the opening of one of the region’s iconic stately homes Christmas experie ..read more

I’m quite open that running this site affords me plenty of opportunities to eat out, which I regard as a huge privilege, but that doesn’t mean I’m not always on the look out for opportunities to enjoy meals out that don’t just fortuitously drop into my lap. I’m certainly not averse to spending my own money in restaurants but recently I noticed an unusual detail in a news article in the local media. LNER were to take over The Cookery School at The Grand to celebrate their centenary and it was free for the public to sign up to. All that they asked was that attendees would bring a donation for Th ..read more

(ad – pr visit) Since Baby Fork joined us in 2018, I’ve become a lot more familiar with the concept of soft-play than I ever previously thought I would. As she’s grown, I’ve encountered more and more of these garish, cushioned, overwhelmingly noisy and generally not relaxing establishments and have come to the realisation that, like any other leisure activity, there’s a definite hierarchy amongst them which is reflective of my appetite for return visits. I’m pretty familiar now with most of the offering in York but a little further afield is William’s Den in the Yorkshire Wolds just the other ..read more

Isn’t it wonderful when you get to see nice people come up with a good concept and product that’s rewarded with success? Spark has been the platform for a number of businesses in York, food and otherwise, to move from its safe confines out to brick and mortar premises and the latest among this number is Tasca Frango, borne of Frango Eduardo who started out dishing up Peri-Peri chicken in Spark a few years back. Since then they’ve branched out into events, residencies and pop ups with collaborators such as Thor’s Tipi and Supersonic, and now the opportunity has come up to take on permanent prem ..read more

(ad – pr visit) It’s fair to say that Forage York has had a bit of a bumpy ride recently. After working hard to establish a reputation for good food and show-stopping cocktails in their bar, restaurant and hidden speakeasy, the team were hit with a sudden closure that, quite understandably, gained traction in the local press. That’s not the end of the story though, with a new operator stepping in to get the doors open again and keep the spirit of the place alive with as much as possible of the existing team still in place, including the Head Chef. After that brief interregnum, everything is op ..read more

(ad – pr visit) A few years back you’d have to journey to Leeds for a Brazilian Rodizio style steakhouse but they’ve been slowing proliferating in York over the last few years with Casa at the bottom of Micklegate being joined by Estabulo over at Vangarde as well as Caramba, a short lived offering at Clifton Moor. Latest to this group is Rio Brazilian Steakhouse which has opened in the large former supermarket building on the corner of Ouse Bridge previously occupied by Piccolino that’s been vacant for a few years. Part of the same group of restaurants as Tomahawk Steakhouses, I took along a b ..read more

North Yorkshire Moors Railway is deservedly iconic in this region, winding its way from Pickering toward Grosmont and even heading as far as Whitby on some services. It can trace its history as far as the early 19th Century and has since then served a variety of roles throughout a varied life that has seen it find a comfortable position as one of the region’s headline attractions. The regular services through the beautiful moorland are special experiences in their own right but with such a strong basis, the organisers have been having fun with slightly less traditional offerings, such as the N ..read more