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.

The post Steak & Jazz at The Pearly Cow appeared first on York on a Fork.

I last visited The Park on Bootham a couple of years ago and was impressed with the attention to detail, flavour combinations and superb service, so thought it was long overdue a return trip, especially since the Park is now offering a Saturday lunch time service that offered the chance to introduce Baby Fork to fine dining with minimal potential for disrupting other people eating.

Marmaduke’s is a striking building that doesn’t collapse under the weight of its own grandeur. The entrance, tucked away just off the main drag of Bootham, leads into a comforting bar space with friendly service from the suitably unobtrusive and skilful front of house team. We discussed the potential for a pre-lunch drink, but deferred to the baby’s continuing sleep and opted to skip on to the food, a shame as the garden is a secluded and calm space that would have suited the sunny day perfectly.

The Park on Bootham has two spaces in which to dine. This lunch was served in the smaller of the two rooms, which are both welcoming and offer the right combination of privacy and conviviality in which to enjoy the occasion, in this case a three course menu for lunch. It goes without saying that no fine dining establishment would be caught with its trousers down by not offering bread and snacks before the documented courses began, and so we enjoyed some spectacular fresh bread with whipped marmite butter along with a miniature ‘Yorkshire Salad’ that dressed shallot and greens to much greater impact than I’ve ever enjoyed from a salad before. The bread was just as fresh and beautifully textured as my high expectations reached for, and the marmite butter was good enough to eat with a spoon.

The next snack before we got stuck into the main courses was a scallop accented with Jerusalem artichoke, pickled grapes and samphire with a crispy crumb that gave texture to the complementary flavours. It’d be hard to put that many of my favourite things on a plate and trigger any complaints, so of course there weren’t any as we enjoyed this superlative way to start a meal.

The first of the courses described on the menu was a meat dish, described with characteristic restraint as “Beef, Sesame, Broccoli, Peanuts”. I can see pickier diners preferring a more detailed break down, but I’m happy to take whatever comes from a chef as well regarded as Adam. What did arrive was a delicate portion of beef that anchored the course to the centre of the plate. Around this were identically sized red and white flourishes that sat under a garnish of sesame seeds, peanuts and crispy noodles. When finished with a light consommé, everything was left in healthy dialogue to make a superbly refined plate, taking full advantage of each element without leaving any flavour or texture overshadowed.

The second of the three courses called itself “Poussin, White Onion, Ham, Hen of the Woods’ and, again, pulled off the trick of bringing together a selection of strong flavours without letting a single one dominate. The slices of dauphinoise potato were a delicate highlight, the paper thin slices of potato layered with ham in quantities perfect to work with the sweet onion flavours, poussin and asparagus.

We’d opted to skip the cheese course, fearing noise from Baby Fork, so the experience finished with “Pineapple, Rum, Vanilla” elements which had been worked into a complex sandwich of crisp sweet shards separating sweet flavours and topped with a delicate quenelle. As with each of the previous courses, the theme here remained ‘balance’, with no element shouting louder than it should.

Each of these main dishes was paired with a superb wine that did everything asked of it in bringing more out of the food. In particular the 2013 South African Pinot Noir served with the beef teased out further complexity, further underlining the sense of cohesion in the menu. A San Franciscan Chardonnay triggered memories of a trip to California a couple of years ago while also providing ample support to the poussin.

The Park on Bootham remains one of the best fining dining restaurants in York. Its position in a hotel leaves it at risk of being overlooked, but everything we enjoyed for this lunch surpassed expectation, including Baby Fork and her continuing sleep. The three course menu is £35 with another £22 needed to grab the paired wines mentioned here. That’s a very fair price for food like this, and one that’s extremely likely to tempt you back for the seven course tasting menu.

The post The Park on Bootham (closed) appeared first on York on a Fork.

I’d been tipped off by a well regarded local supplier who works with the restaurant, that the head chef at Dewsnaps was doing some really interesting things that were worthy of a wider audience who have yet to happen upon the place. After checking out the menu, I booked a table on the strength of a range of small plates (“Grazing dishes”) including mushroom macaroons, crispy ham and chicken skin, hay smoked mackerel and confit duck egg yolk with jacket potato.

Moving onto the day before the meal, I went back to the site to look over those dishes again and was a bit crestfallen to find that the grazing dishes had been elbowed and only the conventional three course menu left. While that menu looked perfectly serviceable, it wasn’t what I’d signed up for so I went to cancel the reservation only to be turned around at the last minute by the promise of a one off menu constructed of those previously lost dishes.

We had seven plates to get through so didn’t get too stuck into the bread more than was required to establish its quality before the first dish of chicken, mushroom and truffle arrived. The meaty mushroom textures and soft chicken bode well for the rest of the meal, which proceeded with a beetroot centred plate. While attractive, the beetroot sponge at its centre didn’t contribute huge flavour to the dish so we moved onto a fish dish that was decorated with pleasing restraint and served alongside refreshing pieces of scorched watermelon.

The meat course centred on lamb that was motivated into strands with the merest hint of cutlery and freshened up by charred gem lettuce. Before we transitioned into the sweets there was one more fish dish, rather adventurously pairing fish with a savoury granita. A bit more of an interval between courses would have seen us set about the plate more quickly and prevented the granita melting, far from the most offensive thing I’ve ever been served but not a plate that rewarded the effort I’m sure the chef put into it.

Chocolate and strawberry themed plates were well executed and rounded out a well balanced sequence of courses that formed an enjoyable meal with some real high notes. The problem is that none of this stuff is actually on the menu any more. I’m confident I know the restaurant scene in York better than most and I had no idea any of this stuff was available. To spread the word and build an independent reputation as a restaurant rather than just a utility for a hotel takes time and considerable effort. I don’t know what the future holds for this place, but I can say that the tip I’d received to check this out was certainly justified. I’ll be keeping a closer eye on Dewsnaps at the Churchill Hotel in future.

The post Dewsnaps at the Churchill Hotel appeared first on York on a Fork.

Our mysterious and respected contributor the Puboholic said that “it started well and each course was even better than the last” so it was well overdue a close look. If you want to get further into the definition of what’s ‘best’, the Park also resides at the top of the TripAdvisor rankings for York. Personally I prefer using that site to look for the most amusingly bad reviews, but the ranking alone is still a further endorsement from a wider audience.

Offering only a tasting menu priced at £55 for eight courses alongside paired wine at an additional £48, you’d not call this a budget evening, but I’ve dropped significantly more than that on meals before and still called them good value. The surroundings when we arrived certainly lived up to the cost as we were seated in a comfortable bar area and started with an excellent glass of sherry.

The first thing to eat was an amuse bouche served in the bar area before we were shown to our table. A demitasse-sized cup of minted pea soup with crunch of cucumber in it and a touch of tzatziki gave a light and fresh sensation on the palate. Perched next to this, a parmesan cheese straw provided just enough body to fire up one’s appetite without compromising it before moving to the dining room for the next course.

The menu labelled each dish by its principal elements (no overly verbose descriptions here) and first up we had “Crab, avocado and tomato”. It goes without saying that such a reductive description doesn’t portray the complexity of the dish and the care taken in its preparation. Clean flavours from sharpness in the tomato, soft avocado and delicately shredded crab meat had a wonderful companion in the fennel seed crackers that speared the dish. Paired with this was a Nyetimber classic cute; a perfect counterpoint to the clean flavours on show.

Next up, the first meat dish: “Crusty white, beef, beetroot and horseradish”. A disc of pressed ox cheek sat next to a fresh white bread roll and came with whipped beetroot butter. While every element of the dish was undeniably superb, I’m not 100% convinced on this one. The beetroot butter was wonderful and the meat just as unctuous as one would hope, but I didn’t feel like all the elements gelled. Onwards to a pasta dish.

“Spinach, ricotta, peas and beans” was presented as a single piece of ravioli under a crisp disc of truffle, with peas and leaves. While the solid disc of truffle wasn’t as overpowering as might have been expected, the truffle flavour permeated the plate to a perfect degree. Crunch from the croutons rounded it out perfectly as we enjoyed a crisp Vinho Verdi that made great friends with the ricotta.

Powering toward our seafood course matched with a Californian Riesling, it was time to enjoy ‘Sea trout, lime, chilli and coriander”. There was more heat than expected which was cut through perfectly by the wine and pleasingly failed to linger on the palate so as not to overpower the greater subtleties of the dish. Meaty fish fell apart under the fork and toasted rice and sesame seeds varied the textures wonderfully before moving on to the last savoury dish. This was, for me, the highlight of the evening, a perfectly judged combination of flavour, texture and sensation.

“Lamb, asparagus, samphire and girolle” took the form of a lamb shoulder croquette and lamb loin under a bisected asparagus spear. Alongside another Californian wine, pinot noir this time, the lamb was cooked to perfection and revealed hints of lemon in a deliciously savoury sauce. Perhaps the girolles were a little overwhelmed by the other elements, but it was time to move onto the sweet courses…

“Strawberry and basil pavlova” presented strawberries prepared in more ways than I could count. Pickled, jellied, sorbet…you name it! A nice piece of theatre was carefully adding strawberry ‘soup’ to the dish from a glass teapot at the table. The shortbread pieces and basil jelly worked wonderfully with the sharp sorbet and we moved onto our final course of carrot cake. Set on crunchy walnut granola with, by this time, an unsurprising variety of textures and presentation methods, we happily ended the evening with this. It put me in mind of carrot tubes filled with mustard ice cream served at Alimentum, a very happy memory.

So is it the best in York? That’s a matter of opinion and taste, but it’s certainly among the best and the list of candidates for that accolade is much longer than a decade ago. However you class ‘best’ though, the Park earns its place at York’s top table with style!

The post The best of the best, The Park York?(closed) appeared first on York on a Fork.