Anyone interested in the York hospitality scene will be familiar with this location as the former home of Source which has had to call it a day to tend to other, very successful, business interests and the interior hasn’t been too drastically meddled with. Bright pink branding has been proudly installed on the frontage and the rest of the interior now matches the bright, hip-hop inspired aesthetic that has become Clucking Oinks trademark while the menu doesn’t deviate from the successful formula that they’ve been refining the last few years. What has changed is the breadth of the menu, with many of the much loved monthly specials from Spark now permanent fixtures. When I popped along to the friends and family soft launch I took the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the “Bombay Bad Boy”, largely on the strength of the incredible coriander mayo it features. We also grabbed some chicken strips, some wings and a couple of portions of loaded fries to make sure the transition to this site had been a smooth one.

Being well versed in working in many different environments, having a permanent venue was unlikely to prove an obstacle and the food is as consistently superb as always. The slathering of coriander mayo and crunch of Bombay mix on my burger was as distinctive and boldly memorable as I remembered and the loaded fries are the same indulgence as always, just in more comfortable surroundings.

I’ve no doubt that this move will see Clucking Oinks achieve even more success, building on the hard work of the last few years despite all the obstacles they’ve had to endure too. It’ll also give them space to breathe and, in time, broaden the menu which has had a conspicuous absence of “oink” for rather too long in my view. It’s been a pleasure watching these guys firm themselves up as one of York’s street food heroes and I’m excited to see what the transition to a permanent site brings for them.

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The Nook in York has been based on Castlegate for the last five years, offering drinks and live music, but has now been refurbished into this new identity to offer a range of street food. The layout remains unchanged but the space has been smartened considerably with bright murals and comfortable seating dominating. The menu now is, somewhat unsurprisingly given that self identification, based around a variety of street food. Rather than choosing to specialise in one particular dish, the menu takes a tour of various global dishes such as tacos, po’boy and fattoush along with toasties and burgers.

We kicked things off with a Cambodian beef Lok Lak and a French steak baguette. While I’m a little unconvinced that the residents of Paris stroll around munching on steak sandwiches, the French themed elements worked well here with baguette, red wine-cooked beef and Roquefort as compelling a combination as that sounds. Lok Lak was a new one to me; a Cambodian dish that places marinated beef strips on a bed of lettuce, cucumber and red onion then wears a fried egg for good measure. The beef was tender and the marinade well judged while the fried egg improved things, as a fried egg tends to do! It’s worth noting that all these dishes are priced the same, at eight pounds. That’s a fair amount but bear in mind that some are more filling than others, the baguette being a much weightier meal than the Lok Lak.

Our appetites could stretch to one more dish so we grabbed a “True American” burger before we left. With its assigned role being to represent America, the bun was predictably packed with salad and cheese along with the beef patty. The bun had been shown the griddle too and the whole affair was appropriately messy to work through.

I thoroughly enjoyed sampling these dishes at The Nook in York. There’s a bit of variance in terms of the number of calories per dish so make sure you order with that in mind if you’re hungry. All of the dishes we tried did themselves justice and I’m keen to pop back to try out some more of the menu. Castlegate is another of York’s hidden gems, discreetly tucked between Castle car park and Coppergate. The Nook is a real asset to the street and another reason why it’s unlikely to remain hidden for too much longer.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for the food featured here. Opinions are as impartial as always.

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Once we navigated the couple of steps to the restaurant, we got ourselves settled into a pram friendly window table and took a look at the new brunch menu. Source brunch runs from 0930 to 1430 and gives a neat bridge between the breakfast and lunch menus, with some intriguing options including a beef brisket Benedict which the owner had pointed out to me. I was predictably unable to resist the brisket Benedict while the other dish chosen came from the standard breakfast menu: a sweet potato bubble and squeak with guacamole, chilli and poached egg.

Once we’d absorbed some caffeine over a chat with the owner, our food arrived ready to fortify us for the rest of the day. I’d had the bubble and squeak before so wasn’t in the least surprised at how good it was; a neat puck of sweet potato topped and tailed with spinach and guac’ under a poached egg topped with strands of delightfully sharp pickled chilli. The yolk descended over the rest of the pile pleasingly and the rest of the plate made up a cracking way to start a day for £8.

The brisket Benedict was certainly a heartier option, as you’d expect for £12. A base of sourdough soaked up plenty of Hollandaise and yolk from the perfectly poached eggs, with a generous layer of 72 hour beef brisket. With a couple of hash browns thrown in to further bulk things out, this was an indulgent way to start the day and one that would need to reward the calories with great flavour. I don’t understand why I hardly ever see beef and eggs on a breakfast menu so this dish seems to occupy a pretty unique spot in York, one that is suitable reward for a visit to Source. Everything in the skillet in which it was served was superb, including the rather surprising addition of barbecue sauce. I’d have been rather cautious if warned in advance of this, but the small amount of sauce between the sourdough and beef was more than a gimmick, bringing an unexpected but not overwhelming extra element. I’m less of a fan of serving in a skillet though. While it suited the dish visually, it obligated me to elevate elbows uncomfortably to reach the corners of the dish.

It’s likely you’ll see more from me about brunches out as we make some inevitable, baby-led, changes to our lifestyle and Source brunch is sure to be a venue for repeat visits. Let me know if you enjoy the brisket as much as I did, I’m eyeing up the breakfast nachos for next time!

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

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With Adam Lyons running the open kitchen and wife Katie looking after front of house, there’s a strong background of cooking and hospitality ready to underpin Source restaurant. Adam has been involved with the Aldwark Arms, Jamie’s Italian and the Royal York (post its recent transformation), but with the opportunity coming to strike out and open his own place, things are changing further on Castlegate.

We arrived at Source restaurant at seven on a Thursday evening and I was immediately taken about at how busy the place was. Source had only been open three weeks at the time and, that early into the journey, I’d usually expect to see lots more empty tables while word percolates through the town. In fact, the guys have had to turn tables away on some nights; testament to their choice of location at the end of the street where there’s a lot of footfall.

The Source restaurant interior is distressed to just the right degree. There are bare wood surfaces and filament light bulbs aplenty along with attractive quirky light fittings, but it’s not overdone or forced. We were lucky enough to be sat facing that open kitchen so, after encouraging Adam to stick his head out for a photo, we had a good view to enjoy while flicking through the menu’s different elements. The three elements that are highlighted are “Slow Meats, Superfoods and Vegetarian”. York does have a couple of go-to places for vegetarian food but what’s unique here is the intention to cater so effectively for both vege’ and carni’ diners with intriguing sounding dishes on both sides of that particular balance sheet. One could be concerned about the other two elements of that trifecta, with both superfoods and slow-cooked meats being very in vogue at the moment, but after hearing Adam speak passionately about provenance, quality and health, I don’t have any concerns that these specialisms are mere box-ticking.

To start with, the three of us chose cauliflower florets, buffalo wings and lime-grilled avocados while we ordered a bottle of Australian shiraz to keep us company. We noted the extremely good value prices in the short interval between ordering and our dishes arriving before noting the simply-presented food that let the colour stand out. My favourite of the three was the buffalo wings (thanks for the taster, Grace!) which shed meat from bone with little persuasion and had a subtly sweet flavour. I can’t comment on the avocado due to a mild, but irritating, allergy but I’m assured it was lovely. I can certainly agree that it was neatly presented on a flat board that required great skill to prevent rolling off during transit. Cauliflower is a much under-appreciated vegetable whose meaty texture gives a good basis for main dishes. In this case the florets were al dente and surrounded by rocket leaves and pomegranate seeds and combined to balance out nicely. We all agreed the spice on the cauli’ was a bit too aggressive, but the dip softened it off to a significant degree as we reflected on the portion size being in danger of jeopardising appetites for the mains.

We selected shredded chicken, shakshuka and pulled jackfruit to get a good range of the produce being shown off. All of these dishes came with a chunk of cornbread more impressively light than anything I’ve attempted myself by some margin. My shredded chicken (free range of course) was saturated with flavour and offset by plenty of sweetcorn and spicy Yorkshire chorizo. The chips were soft and accompanying slaw refreshing and crisp without being drenched in dressing. The Shakshuka was presented in a piping hot skillet with another side of corn bread. I didn’t taste it but it looked a good representation of the dish, the eggs yolks remaining soft and luscious. The most unusual dish we tried was BBQ style pulled jackfruit. I’ve got to confess to not having seen this on a menu before but I’d heard the flesh made an eerily convincing meat substitute. Served with the same sides as the shredded chicken, you could easily have mistaken this for a meat dish. The ‘meat’ was topped with jalapeños and, without foreknowledge, you could have mistaken the texture for pork pulled through BBQ sauce.

It has to be said that the pricing was extremely reasonable with mains ranging from £8.50 to £14.50 and starters as little as £3. Portion size was generous too, large enough to put desserts beyond reach and line up a nice lunch of leftovers. There were a couple of minor rough edges, certainly no more serious than I’ve seen in other newly opened establishments, but the service was seamless and friendly and the high standards to which the guys want to hold themselves evident. I don’t doubt that Source has a bright future!

Disclaimer: we were invited to enjoy a complimentary meal, the opinions here are the reviewers own

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