The old post office has been subjected to a drastic transformation inside with the removal the counters opening the space up to make an enormous dining area, tastefully broken up by screens and foliage with the kitchen and bar along the long back wall where I previously recall sending off documents and buying stamps. Such mundanity is firmly in the past now though, although tasteful remnants of the previous purpose remain such as signage inside the entrance. As one would expect, the menu here is meat-heavy with a broad selection of steaks and not masses in the way of vegan dishes. The starters hit the usual notes of scallops, wings, baked camembert and so on but we decided to dedicate our calorie allowance to the main event and dived straight into ordering the “Butcher’s Block” as well as indulging in a few extras.

The steak sharing experiences on offer at Miller and Carter York are great ways to make a sharing meal into more of an event and offer good value, when we visited you could get hold of a chateaubriand and sides for two with a bottle of wine thrown in for £100, great value for a premium cut. The sharer we went for comprised ribeye and rump steaks to share as well as a brace of fillets and slow cooked brisket with bone marrow. With lobster tail and scallop on the side, this is one of the most extravagant orders I’ve placed in some time! One of the signatures at Miller & Carter is the serving of a wedge of lettuce as is apparently traditional stateside so one’s required to choose a dressing for that as well as steak sauce. Admin complete, we were soon chomping through lettuce dressed with honey, mustard & bacon and vinaigrette which were both light and enjoyable though, in truth, not why we had come.

Shortly after beginning to crunch our way through some lettuce, the main event did its best to cram itself onto the table, taking up every inch of available space and very much looking the part. We had greens and chips for sides to augment the fried onion loaves that came by default and were richly sweet. Scallops were presented in a small pan with a few token pea shoots and a chunk of lemon, not the most refined presentation I’ve ever seen but still delicious. Similar things could be said of the bisected lobster tail which was a touch overcooked but still a rare treat. As far as the meat itself every thing ticked the right boxes with the steaks being uniformly well prepared, each one cooked appropriately for the cut and perfectly tender while showing signs of having been well rested. Chimichurri sauce had plenty of body while béarnaise was well executed with a nicely pungent shove of tarragon. At £80 to feed two there’s very little to argue with here, adding in the exclamation points of lobster and scallop bumped the reckoning up a little but with a glass of wine each we only hit £130, great value for so many high-ticket menu items.

Regardless of one’s opinion on the changing use of buildings I’m happy to see the old post office back in use and, truth be told, it needed an operator like Miller & Carter with deep pockets to do the place justice. There’re other specialist steak joints in York who lavish enough care on their meat to make every piece a unique experience but there’s no arguing with the value on display here. Combined with a truly historic setting Miller & Carter York make a strong case for repeat custom.

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This former Boyes supermarket (before my time in York) has been given a thorough going over since its days as Piccolo and has an airy feel without feeling harshly lit or cavernously large despite the size of the unit. The setup will be familiar to anyone who’s been to this style of dining experience before, with a colour coded card that controls the flow of meat to the table – leave it green side up for more, red side up for a breather. The range of meats on offer is as broad as one would expect with a full 7 different cuts of beef circulating the room as well as chicken, pork and lamb all making their perambulations around the room. Everything promised on the menu made an appearance other than chicken hearts, which I’d been keen to try and see if they were any more palatable than the previous chewy versions I’ve had.

I don’t recall ever being disappointed with the meats on offer at a restaurant such as this and the cuts presented here were generous and frequently presented to us. The beef was strongly seasoned and tender while the lamb was cooked well with a nicely judged undertone of mint. The real differentiator in my view for a this style of restaurant is the salad bar though, which I’ve seen presented with honest minimalism in more value focused establishments through to the glorious bounty offered by Fazenda. The offering at Rio Brazilian Steakhouse was strong and varied with a great range of salads, cheeses, cured meats and vegetables to help all that meat along. I particularly liked seeing devilled eggs available, a much underrated snack!

My friend and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, with her vivid blue cocktail going down well even if I preferred to stick to a more traditional red wine to go with the red meat. With the amount of meat one can take advantage of for the asking price, Rio is a generous and well thought-out offering. Fans of this style of indulgence will certainly get their money’s worth!

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Flat Iron are continually celebrated for their quality offering and affordable pricing, making great steak accessible to everyone. The menu is led by the signature Flat Iron Steak; meticulously seam-butchered from the shoulder, the steak is tender, juicy and full of flavour. The menu also boasts an array of sides, including truffled macaroni cheese, crispy bone marrow garlic mash and homemade beef dripping chips.

The Flat Iron team have had roots in the North for over 10 years, with their own herd of cattle which has been reared under the watchful eye of third-generation beef farmer, Charles Ashbridge. Nestled in the hills above Sutton Bank in Thirsk, the Flat Iron herd thrive on luscious pastures, homemade hay, rolled barley, molasses and nuts. The Flat Iron herd beef features on the menu in their iconic Bearnaise Cheeseburger.

Leeds diners can also take their pick from the drinks menu, consisting of a curated selection of wine, cocktails and local draught beers. The team have their very own Flat Iron Malbec on offer, expertly blended using grapes grown in the Limoux area of the Languedoc in southern France.

When asked about the opening, Flat Iron’s Head of Beef, Fred Smith says “Yorkshire is the home of our Flat Iron herd, so it felt only natural to open a Flat Iron in Leeds with our very own beef just a few miles away. We’re really looking forward to bringing great steak to the North and welcome new guests to the Flat Iron family.

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Dry aging is not the kind of thing that most of us would try at home. The process very precisely controls the temperature and humidity at which cuts of beef are held for long periods and can dramatically alter the character of the meat, which in this case comes from ex-dairy cows. We went along to sample 80 day dry aged ex-dairy sirloin, complemented by a Californian Cabernet Sauvignon and a range of snacks.

The Whippet Inn has had a spruce up in recent times, making space for more tables by removing the previously rather under-utilised bar area as well as adding those feature dry-aging cabinets which are as striking as they are functional. The ability to populate these with a range of cuts means that there’s always going to be something different to try, making each meal distinctive with plenty of reason to return. We were seated into the comfortable dining room and our wine was decanted as a range of snacks arrived with an attractive wood platter adorned with olives, padron peppers, focaccia and fried pickles which were a treat to dredge through sweet chilli sauce. Delicious as all this was thought, it was really the precursor to the main event. Our 80 day dry-aged sirloin steaks were served simply, sliced and unfussily left on the plate alone, bar some seasonings, with beef fat hash browns and sauces on the side. Perfectly cooked and generously portioned, the steaks thoroughly delivered on the sense of occasion they were intended to impart and justified the effort that’s clearly gone into developing the dry-aging process at The Whippet Inn.

These were quite unlike any steak I’ve tried before with a deep and funky note that included a touch of blue cheese pungency and hints of mushroomy fermentation. To say something is rich in umami has become thoroughly overused, but this steak earns the accolade easily and then some. A well cooked steak from animals treated well is satisfying enough in itself but this was an entirely different experience that lives up to the billing superbly. The beef fat hash browns were equally indulgent and filled out the plate well, but in truth nothing was going to overshadow the steak which was also a beautiful partner for the wine selected for us.

It goes without saying that this is an experience that demands a lot of the establishment delivering it and, as such, it’s priced accordingly. That said, in a world where I saw two rolls of kitchen roll for a fiver in my local shop the other day, £40 per steak for cooking and produce like this doesn’t sound that bad. I’d also point you toward The Whippet Inn’s lunch deal which is amongst the more striking in York as well as being great value. The team here have been at the forefront of the beef scene in York since opening and this experience just underlines their commitment to continuous improvement. It’s clear that each of these cuts of meat will be unique, distinctive and an event in itself, making them a valuable new front in the York food scene.

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Events are a key part of the offering at The Pearly Cow and once a month they host a steak & jazz night on a Sunday, with a jazz band soundtracking your evening which only costs £85 for 2 steaks, 2 sides, 2 sauces and a bottle of wine – great value in the context of the rising cost of eating out (well everything truth be told). We quickly settled into our seat while the staff made their best efforts to cool the room from the extremely hot day. By nature, the choices needed to order at this type of meal are limited so it was a short conversation to order a fillet and a sirloin to be paired with chicory and blue cheese salad and beef fat layered chips. We chose peppercorn and Béarnaise sauces and a bottle of red wine to prop up those main selections and quickly settled into the familiar sound of the Karl Mullen Jazz Trio, whose frequent appearances at The Phoenix Inn I’m very familiar with.

A steak is something that a number of restaurants struggle to get right for some reason, it feeling more than a risk to order than it should. Surely if I can cook one at home to a decent standard, seasoning well and resting properly then it shouldn’t be too much to ask a professional chef to achieve the same thing? Thankfully full justice had been done to the cuts of meat that arrived at the table, both of which felt like exactly the indulgence they should do with glazed onion and bone marrow on the plates along with our chosen sauces. The cooking of the steaks was beyond reproach and shrieked of the confident application of heat, generous seasoning and judicious resting to deliver all the taste and texture the livestock involved were capable of producing. Coincidentally two well regarded local street food traders were attending the event, both of whom expressed similar feelings when I saw them afterwards and both agreeing that the peppercorn sauce in particular was beautifully executed. The steaks were accompanied by two halves of a beautifully caramelised roscoff onion and bone marrow which both elevated the dish further, as did the sides. The chicory and blue cheese salad combined the bitter and salty notes of those elements to good effect but the beef fat “chips” were the real superstar and unmissable if you’re visiting. Pressed layers of thin potato cooked in beef fat results in a deep, rich flavour and appealing textural variety that was only further brought to life by the sharp hint of mustard in the accompanying “Dijonnaise”.

This really was an exceptionally well executed meal given more character by the enjoyable, but never overwhelming, music from the Karl Mullen Jazz Trio. A well cooked, quality cut of beef has always felt like a singular indulgence but with prices escalating constantly it now needs to feel even more of an event. Pearly Cow York really pulls that off serving up top-notch steaks in a great atmosphere with well judged side dishes.

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The frontage of The Judge’s Lodgings York is generally a bustling and jolly place, even more so at this time of year as the crowded York Christmas Market fills many of the pubs and restaurants in the centre of the city. It’s set back enough from the edge of Lendal to give good distinction from the thoroughfare but still with plenty of atmosphere. The hotel is accessed by ascending the feature staircase at the front, while the bar area is an inviting low-ceilinged area at the bottom of the building. Out back you can find more al-fresco tables, with a terrace now featuring individual booths in which to sit with a bit more shelter. Christmas was in full evidence when we arrived to check in with a tastefully decorated Christmas tree accenting the reception area and a series of mouldings of judges heads carrying the theme throughout parts of the building.

Our room overlooked the garden toward the back and gave us a view over the city centre to York Minster which looked as resplendent as ever. Real attention to detail had gone into the room design which left it feeling luxurious, relaxing and comfortable while still supplying plenty of utility. I particularly liked the descent of a couple of steps into the bathroom which was a generously sized and relaxing space well appointed with all the hygiene products you could want. The usual amenities to facilitate tea and coffee were present and correct while an iced bottle of Prosecco was a touch we appreciated and enjoyed in the comfortingly soft robes before moving on through to dinner.

The dining room continues the theme of grandeur tempered by usability, making it a comfortable room in which to relax into a meal. I’d had my eye on the more intriguing options on the specials menu from their website which sadly wasn’t available on the Saturday on which we dined so we instead ate from the regular menu, from which we chose salmon and goats curd starters followed by a steak and a nut roast. Starters arrived quickly along with glasses of wine to accompany, the goats curd had a good dose of artichoke presented a couple of different ways while the salmon had a nice touch of heat from a chilled Bloody Mary dressing. Fillet steak had a decent char on the surface and hadn’t been taken beyond rare as I’d requested, coming along with a side salad and fries while the nut roast from the Christmas menu came with a nice rich gravy, and we finished with a portion of cheesecake to share.

It’s rather unusual to spend the night in a hotel in one’s own city so we took the opportunity after dinner for a stroll around the Christmas lights before settling back into the comfortable room for a good nights rest before one of the key pillars of of a decent hotel stay, breakfast. The morning meal was served down in the cellar bar, which had been spotlessly cleaned and showed precious little trace of the preceding evening’s revelries and was set more formally for a breakfast service. Eggs Benedict were well executed with a brace of well-judged poached eggs enrobed in a glossy, rich Hollandaise while a full breakfast was just the indulgence you would want, leaving you without further appetite for a good many hours.

York has changed in many ways since I moved here more than two decades ago, for better and worse, and the changes made to The Judge’s Lodgings York have restored it to the status that it both deserves and was conceived to enjoy. Staying in a hotel in your hometown is a novelty that gives a precious opportunity to see the city from a different perspective and the comforts the The Judge’s Lodgings York provided were a great basis for that. This is a great base from which to explore our wonderful city!

(Disclaimer: Press Visit at no charge)

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I found a decent selection including a few I’ve been meaning to try and some old favourites worthy of revisiting and the process was painless. In a previous life, I designed IT system processes for a living so any websites with particularly glaring howlers really raise my hackles but everything was seamless here. The list of local restaurants was presented logically and clearly along with availability and any other pertinent information while there was no fumbling over unnecessary mandatory fields or endlessly scrolling through lists of values defaulted many entries from their most common selections. After a happy few Sunday evening minutes spent going through menus, I had a table booked for the following day at The Whippet Inn on North Street, subject of a recent minor refurbishment I’ve been meaning to check out.

Service is always a strong point at The Whippet and, with the booking having apparently been transmitted seamlessly by OpenTable, we were quickly seated in the main dining room with drinks in hand to toast the anniversary of someone precious’s passing. Whatever recent work has taken place hasn’t been terribly invasive, the most notable side-effect being the repurposing of the bar to more tables for restaurant service. An entirely understandable move but I will miss the opportunity to slope by for a quiet pint in what was an under appreciated spot to skulk with a newspaper. Rather than opt for starters we decided to go all-in with Chatueabriand and limit initial consumption to a few of their deep fried cornichons to keep our hands busy while we waited for our main platter. Served with sweet chilli, they paired nicely with the local blonde beer I was enjoying.

We’d been warned that Chateaubriand would take half an hour to prepare so happily had settled into the wait but it didn’t feel like an imposition to wait for once it arrived. The generous number of beef slices were flanked by a selection of sides including a pea salad, garlic roasted mushrooms, onion rings and triple cooked chips as well as our choice of butters or sauces, burnt onion & yeast compote and blue cheese in this instance. The presentation on a large vintage tray really gave the evening a sense of occasion and we did our best to do the feast justice, making sure to tackle all the meat and prioritising the most indulgent bits of the selection with crispy, beer battered onion rings proving hard to resist and mushrooms being completely finished off. The burnt onion and yeast threw a savoury life ring around everything it was paired with and the blue cheese sauce gave just the right piquant hit to enhance rather than overwhelm the meat. The meat was obviously the star here and was well seasoned, cooked to just the right pinkness and obviously well rested before slicing. Our plan had been to divert our appetite from starters and instead enjoy a dessert but the sheer quantity here defeated us, leaving us to enjoy a slow repose along the river home instead. Eighty five pounds is enough money to register as an indulgence for most of us, but it certainly was an indulgent evening at The Whippet when we threw in a couple of glasses of wine from their uniformly reliable list too. The Whippet has been a reliable place to get a top notch steak in York since it opened and that shows no sign of changing.

As regards using OpenTable to book the evening, I had largely forgotten that I had done so by the time we started eating which rather illustrates how few barriers it places between consumer and restaurant. In all honesty it’ll remain easier for me to ping a message to a friend to check table availability at a lot of places but when I’m on less familiar terrain in future I’ll certainly keep it in mind as a painless way to grab a table somewhere at short notice.

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Jon comes with a strong pedigree having been previously at the well-regarded Blue Lion at East Witton as well Rockliffe Hall. His emphasis at The Feversham Arms Helmsley is, perhaps unsurprisingly, on local sourcing and sustainability with it being important to him to make partnerships locally for the benefit of both producers and his restaurant. Arriving into the restaurant triggers a relaxed feeling of familiarity after our previous visits with the large glass feature in the roof that, in spirit, joins the room attractively to adjacent the swimming pool and terrace. The day that we attended was gloriously sunny and really let the space show itself off in the best possible light, literally and figuratively. With it being a lunch time, we weren’t able to get into the broader evening menu, rather choosing from a lunch menu of sensible ambition that mixed small plates which would function as starters or snacks along with larger mains and some open sandwiches for good measure.

With little else to do that day and a characteristic desire to try as much of the menu as possible, we selected a pair of small plates to function as starters as well as a pair of mains and a smaller dish for Little Fork to occupy herself with. A prawn cocktail is always a easy thing to throw out of balance and can easily show up a disinterested chef but everything I wanted from this one was present and correct; crisp lettuce underlining fresh prawns with a punchy Marie Rose sauce to bring it all together and a generous pop of avocado for a point of difference. A blue cheese and leek tartlet was the other starter/small plate to get the nod and arrived on a bed of salad made memorable by a fine apple dice that added texture, taste and interest. The tart itself was neatly constructed and had enough of the promised ingredients to give a nice salty blue cheese hit, relieved by that refreshing salad.

Beef formed the foundation of both main dishes, with steak and koftas both drawing the eye away from the temptations of moules frites or a crayfish & chorizo risotto while Little Fork happily worked over her fish and chips which were stretched across both of our courses. The steak was cooked, seasoned and rested well before being paired with equally well executed fries, drenched in herby butter and augmented with a handful of salad. Ordering steak in restaurants for whom it isn’t a specialty makes me nervous for fear of comparing the product to my own strong efforts when I put my mind to it, but this stacked up just marvellously. Next, the koftas landed on the other side of the table supported by a flatbread and a potato salad as well as another hit of salad to relieve the pleasingly heavily seasoned and spiced beef. A drizzle of yoghurt and some fresh herbs also lightened the plate and allowed the beef to find its voice without overwhelming anything of its companions.

The Feversham is always a nice spot to visit which pulls off that neat trick of relaxing you purely by virtue of turning up. This lunch menu strikes a nice balance, with hearty dishes that are refined enough to suit the environment but don’t get too deep into fine dining style touches, which look to be notably more prominent on the evening a la carte menu. The lunch menu is also notably fair value I thought, with the steak frites in particular looking like a great way to spend a sunny lunch time with a glass of wine for about £20. With Bantam opening recently around the corner and The Star at Harome set to make its return from its terribly unfortunate fire, it’s fair to say that there are many good reasons to come to this corner of the county to eat and it’s nice to see The Feversham playing its part in that.

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These guys have always been up for something new and that attitude has stood them in good stead in adapting to offer meal kits based around their quality steak offering. These are carefully prepared with meticulous hygiene measures and practical steps to minimise contact between people, all directed at giving you the option to still enjoy an occasion even if leaving the house is impractical.

As you can understand this is a fluid situation, so check The Whippet Inn social media for the week’s menu but expect to find Sunday roasts and steaks at the core of the offering. I was lucky enough to bag a brace of ribeye steaks that came with dauphinoise potato, garlic mushrooms and a peppercorn sauce that came in at £30 for two portions. These came with practical instructions to get all your goodies onto the plate quickly, taking you though a series of steps designed for maximum concurrency in order to shorten the process. First I made sure the steaks would be at room temperature and well seasoned by the time they would hit the pan before kicking off the longest process, popping the portions of dauphinoise into the oven. At the same time, I got the sauce into a pan ready to heat slowly and heated my trusty griddle.

When cooking steak, you should never be afraid of heat so with the pan angrily hot and the steaks brushed with oil, I introduced them to one another, giving around 3 minutes a side for these ribeye. That left just enough time to lower the heat and cook the mushrooms in garlic butter while the steak rested (if you’re not up to speed cooking steaks, this is extremely important). I’d taken the steak out to come up to room temperature a while earlier but the whole cooking process only accounted for around twenty minutes after familiarising oneself with the recipe.

The results represented decent value and felt like something of an occasion in the home, to what extent though dictated by how much you’re up for buying in by dressing the table and splashing out on a decent wine. I’m comfortable in my ability to bring the best out of a steak, but even if you’re not, the instructions from The Whippet Inn are a good substitute for experience. Dauphinoise and garlic mushrooms always couple well with a good steak and, while I generally don’t opt for a sauce with my steak, the peppercorn example here balanced its elements well and didn’t invade the steak’s territory.

There’s little that can substitute for a buzzing restaurant producing food you couldn’t imagine, let along execute, served by enthusiastic staff. In these strange days though, this is a good substitute that lets us play pretend and get dressed up for an occasion that features great food while risk is minimised. The sense of supporting a local business that’s far from unique in the challenges it faces at the moment really just adds to the attraction. We may not have much choice about staying in being the new going out, but while we’re staying in, it’s a relief to have well executed ways to pretend.

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The Firelake brand is used by a small collection of restaurants within the Radisson Blu chain, amongst the number of which is this example a short walk from Leeds railway station. The building in which it sits allows you to wander straight into the bar and restaurant without the sense of invading a private space. The restaurant area feels every inch the modern, airy space that weary travellers and curious locals would expect to find and we were able to keep an eye on proceedings in the open kitchen as we were seated and worked over the menus.

The menu highlights include a range of small plates that function perfectly well as starters as well as dishes cooked on a Josper charcoal oven along with more traditional dishes such as burgers and fish and chips. After a chat with the chef, we plumped for a range of small plates to sample followed by flat iron steak and monkfish dishes.

Suitably equipped with a decent bottle of red, we were soon tucking into some platters that had been kindly made up so we could get a sense of a wide range of small plates available. Mac cheese bites have been a consistent crowd pleaser almost everywhere I’ve had them and the Scotch duck egg was well executed with a pleasing dollop of roasted tomato ketchup. Smoked pig cheek made good use of this under-rated cut while gin-infused salmon added itself happily to the party. This just left cheddar and leek tart and chorizo and ham hock terrine to finish, both of which being enjoyable, but lacking a touch of punch and refinement shown by a couple of the others on offer.

Our friendly server transitioned us comfortably to main courses after a polite interval to form a coping strategy that reflected the quantity of food we’d been presented with. I’m always nervous about ordering steak somewhere unfamiliar, the disappointment when it’s not cooked superbly being strong, but the kitchen’s confidence in the Josper grill wasn’t misplaced and I was presented with a cut allowed to show its full potential. Apparently this was also achieved without recourse to a water bath, judgement and experience taking the place of the shortcut I use at home. I’d chosen a blue cheese sauce to go on the side which also drew the best out of the shallots served as an accompaniment to the steak.

Coal roast monkfish was accented with tomato, garlic and ginger to good effect and benefited from the same skill as the steak as it sat along with a good wedge of sweet potato. Along with the steak, it formed half of a pair of dishes that showed off the benefits of the Josper, its high heat and kiss of smoke being evident and appreciated if not overbearing.

To finish we just about had the courage to face a Panna Cotta with rhubarb that paired beautifully with a few mouthfuls of Hungarian dessert wine. Dessert was never going to be the focus of this meal, but this was still a relaxing dish to finish on and one that allowed us to take stock of our surroundings. As I say, as a hotel restaurant, it’s hard to shake off the perception that you’re there to knock over the requirements of ambivalent business travellers rather than strive for good things. Firelake might not be the most prominent name in the Leeds dining scene, but it delivered a series of dishes with plenty of punch and enthusiasm that were well worth the visit.

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

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