Having been bestowed with a Michelin star within a year of opening there’s little doubt about the momentum that Josh and Vicky Overington are creating out in Hovingham, building on years of experience refining their craft at Le Cochon Aveugle in York which is still much missed in the city. I’ve been lucky enough to sample the evening service at Myse before and having been unsurprisingly impressed was more than happy to pay a return visit, this time pressing a friend into action as a driver in return for their first experience of fine dining of this standard. After a scenic drive passing through the Castle Howard estate, we were met in the car park by a chef who ushered us into the comfortable lounge area to peruse the drinks list and start with a few mouthfuls of smoked pork shoulder sausage and Summerfield cheese cracker that was anointed with black walnut ketchup. These were as appealing to taste as they were to look at and set the tone marvellously as we chatted to a couple of fellow diners before making our way through the dining room to take our table and admire the view of the open kitchen.

It’s always a pleasure to watch chefs of this standard work and Josh’s kitchen showed all the right signs of order and discipline. A large bone occupied an elevated position above a charcoal grill, waiting for its moment in the spotlight on the pass to be sawed in half to access the marrow in a lovely piece of theatre. First up was a “crispy pancake” which was a world away from the retro namesake on which I was fed as a child (Google them if you’re too young to remember), packing a chive punch around birch cream and herring roe which was stuffed into a crisp outer. Next up bread and butter revealed what was going on with the bone as it was paired with beef dripping enriched with the cooked bone marrow and shot through with a generous amount of tarragon. Bread can be a bit of a booby-trap at a meal like this and soak up your appetite, but the dripping with its herb offset was sensational and far too good to miss. We were then happy to be interrupted by the upcoming beef as it made a perambulation of the room before we moved on to our next course.

Squash soup may sound like a relatively mundane thing to be served in a starred restaurant but unsurprisingly here the execution was perfect and the addition of a cold element in the form of pumpkin seed ice cream brought things up another notch. Roast beef for a Sunday roast wouldn’t be complete without a Yorkshire pudding which is what comes next, though rather than served traditionally the batter had been used to encase braised ox cheek then deep fried. Presented on a stick with a crown of fermented cucumber gel, it makes a fine precursor to the beef course.

Expectations were high for this and comfortably met with a dainty slice of beef joined by leek rolled in ash, mustard cress and a sauce with allium notes. Any fears that the portion size would be on the miserly side were quickly allayed by the appearance of more beef at the table served separately so as to not unbalance the presentation. These were quickly divided up, making sure of an entirely equitable distribution and then just as quickly consumed. It goes without saying that the cooking was as perfect as the presentation and the service, bringing an end to this section of the meal before we moved to sweet courses.

The sweet dish was a masterclass in balance and pairing that brought together several elements that are not in my usual preferred choices to great impact. Quince cake with a gently smoked caramel and a lightly savoury malted barley ice cream worked wonders together in the dish with the savoury ice cream bringing contrast of temperature against a softly textured cake. Smoke wasn’t a prominent note but gave a nice backdrop while the drinks pairing elevated things even further. I’m not a huge fan of either pear or cider so the prospect of pear iced cider wasn’t one that had me in monstrous anticipation but this was one of those moments where you realise that it’s sometimes best to take a step back and trust the team. Some tasting menus with drinks pairings deliver lovely dishes and lovely wines but when you find a series of drinks so well matched to the accompanying dishes as is here, it really puts forward a compelling experience. I’d have been more than happy to end things here but after a morsel of beef fat fudge with truffle and grated ox heart my friend decided to throw cheese into the mix too; I didn’t protest. We decamped back to the bar area and happily grazed on a selection of well-aged cheeses before saying our goodbyes and making tracks back to York.

I had high expectations for this meal which were met or exceeded throughout. All the dishes were beautifully conceived and executed, feeling like Josh and the team have refined everything I’ve seen them work on over the last decade or so. The drinks pairings were all expertly judged and the whole thing represented good value for this kind of experience at £85 for the food and £65 for the drinks. Against the Grain at Myse is one to add to your list.

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The opening of Amber’s a few months ago set it out as a luxurious dining room in which hearty, not unduly fussy, food could be enjoyed. As such it was a pleasure to reacquaint oneself with the space and say hello to our server Jack, who by coincidence is an old friend of mine. We took up residence in a comfortable booth and submitted our orders, taking a note of the kids menu, which wasn’t shown on line, as well as the option to order a kids’ roast. Glasses of wine quickly arrived and we settled back for starters of pig cheek and salmon. These appeared in the white-gloved hands of suitably decorous servers ready for us to set about them. I’m always slightly dubious about the need for a starter with a Sunday Roast, which should be enough to satisfy in itself, but the portions were well judged to not distract and the flavours well matched. Pig cheek should feature on more menus and offers up the perfect portion for a starter, here matched with bubble and squeak and a sharp apple gel. This cut is nothing without slow-cooking and the braising this one received had done the job perfectly, a starter that deserves to be far more common than it is. The other side of the table tucked into a more classic dish of cured salmon with beetroot and a pleasant hit of caraway tempered by a spiced pineapple relish and a citrus cream, just the right level of individuality pushed upon this classic dish.

Appetites suitably whetted, mains arrived quickly with my roast sirloin joined by pork loin as I took the opportunity to double up. Pressed lamb shoulder came to the other side of the table and a kids’ roast arrived at just the right moment to head off another chant “but I’m hungry now”. Side dishes were plentiful with cauliflower cheese, greens, Yorkshire pud and jugs of gravy present to augment the roast potatoes and roots on my plate. The lamb was served with baby broccoli and beans with a delicately layered potato terrine catching the eye and a hint of marjoram in the sauce. The lamb fell apart with tiny provocation and was as tender as hoped with plenty of depth of flavour. The potato, sauce and greens came together merrily too, making this a pleasing plate to tackle. A Sunday roast is not a ‘tweezers’ dish and thankfully there was no sign here of undue attempts to over-finesse things, not to say that this wasn’t a well put together dish though with the generous slices of meat shielding roast veg from view and an indecently crispy shard of crackling for a hat. The picture was completed by a generous Yorkshire pud, and the sides all hit the spot. Thinking about it now, I must make cauliflower cheese more often… The gravy was lustrous, deep with flavour and plentiful to finish things off perfectly for mains. Tiramisu and chocolate brownie were a suitable adjunct to the meal and well executed, the tiramisu in particular being light and compelling.

The only negative comment around the table was from Little Fork who didn’t get on with the mocktail that she was presented with, though we appreciated the thought at least. £32 for three quality courses in a dining room as elegant as this represents great value and should compel repeat business from those more local to the restaurant than me. All the comforting notes of a Sunday roast were present and correct along with a few mild flourishes that reflect the establishment, service matching the food also. As an extra bonus I got to catch up with my old friend Jack who left York a little while ago and now brings his skills to Amber’s, all in all a great way to spend a Sunday. If you live in HG1 or HG2 make sure to check out “Friends of Amber’s” which entitles you to a 20% discount on Sunday lunch amongst other things.

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My visits here have been limited in the past to one afternoon tea and occasionally nipping into the bar when living in Holgate for a brief period that meant it appeared on my commute. Hotel du Vin York is a smart conversion of what was once an orphanage into an airy, multi room space that houses a bar and restaurant as well as meeting spaces and a rather impressive purpose built wine tasting room. For this visit we were seated in the restaurant which isn’t over crowded by too many tables and is tended to by plentiful and calm servers who were quick to provide us with glasses of wine and menus as well as juice for the four year old. From the Sunday Lunch menu we picked out a smoked salmon starter along with a French onion soup to reflect the venue before settling on sirloin of beef and chicken as the centrepieces of our roast dinners. From the “Enfants” menu, melon and berries were chosen to start before steak and chips to challenge my daughter’s constantly unpredictable fussiness.

A plate of smoked salmon encircled by grated boiled egg, and parsley with sharp capers and cornichon for a punch of flavour started things on a delicate note but the onion soup was truly memorable. Overflowing with melted cheese under which there were indulgent croutons soaking up the tangy soup this was a really great execution of a classic, and all too rarely seen, dish. The melon and berries from the kids menu was appropriately unfussy and kept her busy while we set about the more adult dishes.

Roast carrots and parsnips, green beans, Yorkshire puddings and pea shoots accompanied the meat along with plenty of roast potatoes and a stuffing ball to go with the chicken. The beef sirloin was perfectly rare as I’d requested and chicken not overcooked while the stuffing had a good bit of texture externally which wasn’t at the expense of tenderness. A decent whack of horseradish for the beef and generous amounts of gravy completed the picture for the adults while the child’s steak was, in all honesty, of a higher standard than the recipient would have demanded and all the more gratefully received for that. After thoroughly enjoying that lot, there wasn’t a great deal of appetite left around the table but we managed to share a chocolate pot with cream to end the experience before a potter around the lovely gardens.

Hotel du Vin York have succeeded in turning Sunday roast into an occasion without losing the feeling of homely indulgence that should characterise the event. Each element was well executed, generous in quantity and combined into a really satisfying experience. The addition of starters that tilt toward the venue’s French leanings only served to heighten our enjoyment, that French onion soup in particular being top notch. Thanks for having us!

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Galtres Lodge has been transformed over the last few years after a change in ownership and is firmly embedded as one of the best places to stay in the city, while its restaurant Forest certainly isn’t an afterthought and has its own sense identity. I’ve eaten there a few times and always enjoyed the balance struck between fun and formality so the idea of their new Galtres Lodge Sunday Feast tickled my fancy, looking like a quite significant amount of food for £35 per person. This multi-stage meal packs in a soup course and a grazing platter as precursor to the main dish before throwing dessert at you too, with cheese an optional extra if you have the appetite. Bread and soup are the first things to be presented to the table with the celeriac soup coming in a jug from which to pour over blue cheese and onion chutney in individual cups that dictated a sensible portion size to start us off. Pushing tableware into service for which it’s not originally intended can be a minefield but I enjoyed the quirky presentation on the basis that it actually supported the utility of the dish, which was delicious and enhanced by the texture and spikiness of the blue cheese. Bread from Bluebird Bakery is always a benefit to a meal and was perfect to mop up the soup.

With the soup course cleared away, we were really gaining momentum as we rolled into the grazing board presented next. Prosciutto, salami and salmon were faced off against pickled baby onions, olives, beetroot and peppers to pick at; all I was missing was a Sunday paper to enhance my repose! I should also give mention to a really well executed chicken liver parfait that was very at home on the remainder of that Bluebird Bread.

All of this would be in vain if the main element didn’t live up to expectations but the arrival of generously dressed plates of meat and Yorkshire Puddings augured well, with the arrival of platters containing side dishes next to challenge the table’s dimensions. We enjoyed chicken and beef which had been taken to their full potential by skilled cooking then draped in gravy and topped with a hearty Yorkshire pud, sides of roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, heritage carrots and buttered greens all present and correct too. A generous jug of extra gravy provided even more comfort as we tucked in to the course that amply justified the “Feast” title. Before we left, we also enjoyed a selection of desserts: a posset, sticky toffee pudding and a dark chocolate fondant all vying for our affections from which the sticky toffee took most praise from me, though I particularly enjoyed the bitter dark chocolate too.

A Sunday roast really does need to be a laid back experience that amounts to more than a few plates of food before one feels obligated to move on and free up a table. Taking this feasting approach means that you’re duty bound to spend a decent amount of time over the meal, properly engaging with it and perhaps lingering over a drink as you ponder how best to digest the meal. This meal absolutely justifies the title “Feast” and is a very significant amount of food, presented well and making up a cohesive meal from which you can take the opportunity to return home with leftovers. It’s unique in the York food scene and a perfectly indulgent way to spend a Sunday.

(Disclaimer – review meal at no cost)

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I’ve driven past The Bay Tree many times, with it being on the route I tend to favour from York to Helmsley, but never have I stopped by to investigate. It’s a handsome building that I was lucky enough to have a peek inside when I popped by to collect the Mother’s Day menu that we’d be sampling. The balance for any country pub that wants to serve up top notch food needs to strike is between that and providing welcome for those in the local community who want a refuge for a quiet drink. Obviously I’ve not been able to see the building in action, but it’s easy to imagine the space developing just the right balance of conviviality and respect for a good meal. There’s also an attractive and good sized outdoor space that should stand The Bay Tree Stillington in good stead throughout the transition back to normal opening practices.

We were sampling a Mother’s Day menu of two courses per person that was still appetisingly warm even after the drive from Stillington to our home in the south of York. Amongst the starters was a Salmon Tartare that I couldn’t resist which came with a hearty, well judged shot of capers, cured egg yolk and salsa verde. This one also addressed one of the presentation issues inherent with at home offerings by using gem lettuce as a vessel to contain the tartare, keeping everything in place during the transition from package to plate and then mouth. There’s not really anywhere to hide with a tartare; the balance of ingredients is really everything and the use of a bold flavour such as capers could be a trap but instead was as artfully balanced as it was presented. The other starter was a chicken liver parfait, equally well executed and presented with pickles and relish to bring it out of itself, a faultless brace of dishes to start that neatly solved some of the disadvantages of a meal transported to the home.

Main courses consisted of roasted pork belly to represent the more usual Sunday offering along with a seared salmon fillet from the Mother’s Day menu that moved away from the more sterotypical Sunday lunch offerings. The salmon came with potatoes and sea veg to form a plate that was given much further life by a crayfish and wine sauce, which elevated things to a truly memorable level. Salmon and potato were clearly excellent produce that had been given the chance to reach full potential but a good sauce can really bring a dish to a new level, something particular true of this dish. The large amount of crayfish thrown into the mix thanks to that sauce really took this dish to quite significant feelings of luxury, really setting out a marker for quality.

The pork belly from the more usual Sunday roast menu was equally beyond criticism, with quality and quantity in abundance. The central meat element was perfectly tender while retaining an armour of perfectly crunchy crackling to separate it from masses of vegetables and a Yorkshire pud. It’s hard to draw out highlights of the accompaniments but cauliflower cheese shouted loud along with mash in which I picked up a pinch of truffle, roasties bit the right notes of tradition and some fried greens threw a bit of a crunch into the plate. As with the salmon though the final flourish that pushed the dish over the top toward greatness was the sauce, this time a deeply flavoured, almost pearlescant gravy chocked with presence and flavour. As with the fish dish, the quality of the sauce inflicted the indignity of plate licking on one of us. This was a uniformly superb meal with every element over achieving and going beyond expectations. I may not have been totally sure what was waiting for me in Stillington but I know what to expect when I pay a return visit to enjoy eating in: intelligently presented dishes that have been developed to their full potential to pack in improbable amounts of flavour. The Bay Tree Stillington is set for a very bright future as dining in becomes a viable option again.

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Adam is well known across the the Yorkshire hospitality scene, and further afield, thanks to his most recent restaurant on Bootham in York, The Park, which racked up plenty of positivity throughout its life before his move to Helmsley. Prior to that Adam was also pivotal in earning The Black Swan at Oldstead its Michelin Star and setting the scene for that establishment’s illustrious future. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy food from Adam on a number of occasions which generally involved multi-course intricacies of indulgence but never home comforts, something I was able to add to my list of experiences courtesy of A Feversham Sunday Lunch.

Sunday Lunch deserves to stand as the high point of that day’s half of the weekend. Some insist that this is a meal that must be enjoyed at home, preferably with someone else cooking, or that it should be no more formal than a pub. I’m happy to enjoy anything on its own merits though so made my way up to Helmsley with the expectation of a thoroughly good feeding. The only hitch with my arrival was my car grounding out slightly on the steep ramp into the car park that also brushed the front chin spoiler, not the end of the world in a slightly soiled 14 year old Golf GTI, but you might want to consider leaving the Ferrari at street level. Once that was dealt with, we made our way to the bright, airy and appropriately distanced dining room to settle in.

The Feversham Arms Sunday lunch menu was reassuringly focussed, with a trio each of starters, mains and desserts to form the inventory of decisions. We plumped for Ham Hock and Mackerel to start followed by Beef and Cod, resisting the temptation to double down on the traditional roast beef. Starters are a contentious issue for some when attached to a Sunday lunch, straying into the regional debate about when Yorkshire puddings should be served, but being a restaurant meal we ran with the concept and enjoyed our first dishes. These were of the high standard you’d expect from a chef and establishment with this reputation, both doing a great job of whetting our appetites for main courses. A pressing of ham hock with pig’s cheek croquette was brought to life by delicately balanced pickles and accents of lovage while mackerel tartare had just the right amount of heat from some wasabi and a refreshing amount of cucumber. With those formalities completed, it was onto main courses.

Little in life is as disappointing as overcooked roast beef but thankfully no such rug pulls came about here as blushing slices of beef drew the eye along with carrot, Yorkshire pud and roast potatoes. To augment this, we also received piping hot cauliflower cheese and some fresh greens to liberally splash gravy across. Everything was all a touch less fine dining than I’m used to from Adam, with no evidence of tweezering onto the plate, but none the worse for it. This was a Sunday Roast elevated to a the highest standard with every element delicious and complementary to one another, cauliflower cheese being particularly compelling. I’d have probably put a couple more roasties on the plate if I’d been serving, but frankly I’d probably be saying that regardless of how many I was presented with and there was certainly no argument to be made with the portions. Cod with curried mussels and cauliflower was equally convincing, though could be a bit far from “meat and veg” for some Sunday Roast preferences if you hold stubbornly traditional views. With my scant regard for tradition I very much enjoyed this dish though, which was deceptively filling thanks to a hefty portion of cod and plentiful cauliflower all wrapped up by a delicately spiced coconut sauce with some powerful micro herbs and crunchy shards to give plenty of variety.

With main courses in the book, we managed to muster just enough appetite to share a chocolate mousse that wore a thin disc of cherry jelly and an immaculate quenelle of cherry ice cream. We wasted no time in deconstructing this to finish the meal, with it continuing the theme of well balanced dishes that showed enough restraint as to be appropriate for a traditional meal. With food having all hit the mark, I’d have been quite happy loitering in the Feversham with the Sunday papers for a good couple of hours, an indulgence that tops off a Sunday lunch beautifully, but was sadly denied to us by the need to retrieve our daughter. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy some superb Sunday roasts this year and this one more than stood toe to toe with the best, also representing very fair value at £25 for two courses. Adam Jackson is an asset to any kitchen and I’ll look forward to seeing the Feversham gain momentum under his leadership.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this meal, opinions are impartial.

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Kennedy’s has sat on the periphery of my focus on York food for a number of years with tempting menus that I periodically resolve to try out. However the memory of plastering on a semblance of a smile to endure work nights out there has given it an unwelcome association of which it’s undeserving. Kennedy’s has been a staple of York’s evening economy for as long as I can remember that dovetails nicely with a brunch and daytime offering broad enough to attract anyone who values the convivial atmosphere.

All of that is slightly secondary to a meal enjoyed in your own home but that doesn’t make it any less of an opportunity to shine for a restaurant doing its thing in the current climate. Kennedy’s Sunday lunch lends itself well to a delivery service, being a meal that one can relax into in comfortable surroundings without the strictures of public norms of behaviour.

The meal is delivered in the now familiar selection of cardboard pots, foil containers and vacuum sealed plastic (surely someone is working on a more environmentally acceptable solution to this stuff) along with concise instructions that bring it to the table without forcing you to engage in anything too taxing.

All your favourite elements are present and correct when you come to plating up, with a comically proportioned Yorkshire pudding drawing the eye from the headlining beef that I’d warmed through in a pan of boiling water, not letting it cook further than it had been delivered, and a range of sides. Roast potatoes could have done with a few more minutes at a higher temperature to crisp a bit more when I reheated them but the taste was spot on and that hardly distracted from the quality and refinement on offer. Honey roast parsnips and maple and cumin glazed carrots were plentiful and delicious and a final side of creamed leek gratin raised the bar by adding a nice crunch to proceedings. All of this would be something of a moot point without a cracking gravy to underpin things, something provided in abundance thankfully. Everything is finished off with a crunch of parsnip crisps to fancy things up effectively, a few of which were a nice snack to absent mindedly munch on while I got everything together.

Dessert was a lemon posset that only needed topping with a crumble to be ready to eat. Another tremendously executed dish that marked a thoroughly enjoyable way to finish a meal.

This was a well thought through and well executed Sunday roast that did more than I expected of it, differentiating this Sunday effectively from the surrounding days that at this stage were blurring into one another. As we re-emerge into a changing world we have a responsibility to support the businesses that we love but this meal was a reminder for me to not put off any longer reappraising existing businesses I’ve not engaged with for too long already.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this meal, opinions are impartial.

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That might sound like a tricky compromise to arrive at but since most things involve an element of compromise at the moment we seem able to tick all of those boxes. Obviously the enforced closure of the hospitality scene has left huge numbers of restaurateurs scrambling to reinvent themselves into something sustainable, even if only for the short term, but spare a thought for the event caterers hit just as hard. With gatherings off the table at the moment, there’re all manner of celebrations postponed that would have sustained the events industry throughout the summer months leaving yet more scope for reinvention. On a rather sombre side note, another impact of the lack of gatherings is the building up of a large number of families (including this one) collectively unable to mark the loss of loved ones. I do wonder if that will put a rather grim new revenue stream at the feet of the catering industry in 2021 as the desire to mark those losses can finally come to fruition.

Back in the here and now, event caterer Hog & Apple have been taking advantage of their familiarity with quality mass catering to explore at-home offerings that include Sunday roast, which I was treated to last weekend. Contactless delivery was of course the standard, and so common now that it’s hardly worth mentioning, as the day’s selection of foil containers arrived. The accompanying instructions were clear and easy to follow while promising to get the food from container to plate in an improbably brief 15 minutes, which turned out to be a promise delivered on after getting the oven up to temperature.

Sirloin of beef came cooked to rare which allows you to take it further as your preference demands. I was more than happy with that, so it only needed a quick warm through at the end of the time spent by the vegetables in the oven alongside Yorkshire puds that just needed a brief heating.

This was, without exaggeration, one of the best Sunday roasts I’ve yet been lucky enough to encounter, with rich and unctuous gravy going beyond the call of duty to backdrop a range of superbly prepared vegetables and meat. The delightfully rare meat showed plenty of quality and the roots were clearly lovingly prepared, though there was a bit of divergence with the potato that might be unexpected. Rather than conventional roasties, the potato element was sliced, pressed and roasted. Roasties don’t always reheat as perfectly as one would hope so this worked ably as a substitute that caught a bit of colour on its top to make sure the crispy shell of a roast potato wasn’t absent. Also present and correct were cauliflower cheese, well risen Yorkshire Puddings, sticky red cabbage and braised savoy cabbage with bacon to make sure your plate groaned under the weight of this bounty. The final flourish was celeriac puree similar to one I enjoyed at Sticky Walnut over in Chester a year or so ago. Being one of my favourite veg, this was always going to encourage more affection for this lunch. One other thing worthy of note, there were plentiful leftovers even after what you see on these plates and there’s also the option to add on dessert.

So does it turn out that one’s own home is the perfect place to enjoy Sunday lunch when the experience is shorn of all the attendant chopping and washing? That’s an even more subjective answer than usual at the moment as we find our circumstances and options shifting on a weekly basis. Like so many of you, I’d happily break a finger (oh, just me?) for a lazy Sunday afternoon full of a Sunday roast in front of an open fire in a pub with the Sunday papers. But in the absence of that, you can still enjoy a top quality roast in your own home with fingers remaining unbroken.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this meal, opinions are impartial.

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That might sound counter-intuitive but actually there are plenty of benefits, offering further incentives to extend one’s stay and the opportunity to offer different reasons for the local community to visit. One of these restaurants is EightyEight at Grantley Hall, described as a Pan-Asian bar and restaurant blending Yorkshire produce with “far Eastern flavours”. I recently made my way toward Ripon for a look at their take on Sunday lunch.

While it might be an important part of the wider Grantley offering, EightyEight very much has its own identity, it may be on the same site but it feels as unique as any restaurant I’ve visited. The branding and welcome are as slick and well resolved as you’d expect from anything associated with Grantley, though a step removed from the main hotel to strengthen that sense of identity. The group I was with were greeted by striking cocktails and mocktails on arrival, though I somewhat churlishly felt the need to top up the morning’s caffeine ration with a coffee. After getting to know the surroundings, we descended to a strikingly subterranean dining room to take our table, at which we would discover just how this fusion of produce and flavour would be presented.

Sunday lunches are all about spending time together to share the previous week’s successes and the following week’s concerns and opportunities; to reflect this, EightyEight has themed their Sunday offering as Sharers which are intended to bring people together in just that manner. The menu offers a selection of duck, beef and pork dishes that all come with a selection of sides for a table to assemble as they see fit into pancakes or bao buns.

It didn’t take long for the table to be heavily populated with food. Shanghai Style Goosnargh duckling, Pork Belly “Sui Yuk” (slow roasted) and Bulgogi Beef all featured along with ample sides. Pickled vegetables, compressed tomato, kimchi and a range of soups featured along with the usual range of cucumber, spring onions and so on to pack out our buns. A generous bowl of well seasoned, sticky rice completed the scene along with dipping sauces and soups that merrily broke up the textures and flavours of the meal.

That aspiration to pair quality Yorkshire produce with Eastern flavours was well realised across all of these dishes but the real star was a menu option that took it a step further, presenting the table with a whole cornfed Goosnargh duck to enjoy. This was a real show stopper that would definitely be the focus of a return visit for me. It presented a real sense of occasion and the kind of visual focus that carving a roast at home allows. It should be noted that the lack of a vegetarian option on the menu feels a little jarring given the contenting popularity of veggie and vegan diets that show no sign of slowing down.

We finished with a sharing dessert that sat in the centre of the table giving us the chance to show competitive levels of politeness in not overstepping each other’s boundaries. This heap of meringue, banana, caramel and chocolate carried on encouraging us to interact with one another while we evenly divided the spoils.

EightyEight makes a great contribution to the wider Grantley Hall estate on the evidence of this meal. The cooking evidenced a deft touch with strong flavours and the concept delivered on the promise of encouraging sharing through food. The care and attention lavished on every element of Grantley Hall is brightly reflected here and leaves little chance of it falling into anonymity as a “restaurant hotel”.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for this press meal. Opinions are impartial.

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I’m always a little reticent to order a starter when enjoying a Sunday lunch out for fear of it distracting from the serious business of eating roast potatoes,​ but the restaurant setting makes that more appropriate, so we quickly settled on smoked trout with fennel and passion fruit and a confit duck terrine. Thankfully both dishes were appropriately light to leave space for further indulgence, the trout taking winner’s honours in the pairing thanks to the smears of passion fruit underpinning the fish and the well dressed salad providing a series of satisfying mouthfuls. The confit duck terrine used pink peppercorn and pistachio for depth along with some homemade chutney, the toasted sourdough crunching happily underneath it all.

The main event followed quickly along with a couple of confidently recommended glasses of wine from the servers whose presence never tipped from friendliness toward invasion. The meat that headlined our dishes was (physically) dwarfed by the enormous Yorkshire pudding that threatened to dominate the plate, not that there’s anything wrong with a domineering Yorkie! All the vegetables you’d hope for were present and correct, though (as with most things in life) I’d have preferred to see a couple more roast potatoes present. The plating had also fallen victim to the epidemic of pea shoots making its way through our restaurants these days whose fate is to be abandoned to ignominy on the side of otherwise cleared plates. Cauliflower, broccoli, parsnip and carrot were all prepared well and delicious with a good rich gravy that would have benefitted from being present in greater quantity.

We finished Sunday lunch at The Refectory with desserts of creme brûlée and lemon and blueberry cheesecake. These were well balanced and attractively presented, the cheesecake in particular throwing an entertaining few flourishes at the plate. I’ve heard uniformly positive reviews of the cakes that come with the Refectory afternoon tea and can only assume that the same diligent chef is able to exert influence here.

The Refectory is a calm and comfortable place to eat which benefits from being located in a beautiful building that now lives up to its potential after that refurbishment a few years ago​​. It’s a great place to linger over a multi course Sunday lunch, so I’d thoroughly encourage you to make the most of both the building and your day by bookending your lunch with coffee in the garden first and drinks in the bar afterwards.

​Disclaimer: No charge was made for my attendance, opinions are impartial.

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