Cave du Cochon was always a characterful and buzzing place to hang out, helped along by former manager Ian always being keen to offer samples of new and interesting wines, and I’ve no doubt we’ll see Josh & Vicky build on their success with ‘Aveugle and Cave’ in due course. The latest addition to Walmgate in place of Cave is being run by a couple who found previous employment there who’ve now taken the plunge and refurbished Cave into a relaxed and comfortable space that serves coffees and pastries through the day before transitioning into wine, pizza and small plates in the evening. It would feel odd if there was no longer great wine on this site and they’ve made sure there’s no danger of that, with an extensive wine list from which over 50 can be sampled by the glass. Showcasing these wines are a monthly series of Sunday night wine tastings at The Wright Place that each focus on a particular geography or grape, I was lucky enough to attend the first such event.

I’d called in to The Wright Place a few times for coffee and pastries so quickly felt at home in the space that while it recalls its previous occupant to some degree has been notably reworked to provide space for the bakery element of the business (which turns out excellent bread I should add) while remaining welcoming for guests. This first tasting was rather more loosely structured than those currently listed on their website, with wines from around the world to enjoy along with a platter of cured meats, cheeses and bread to soak up the wine.

Being greeted with a glass of Cremant from The Languedoc is seldom a bad thing and was a perfect start to this event as I started picking away at olives, and before long our second wine arrived, this time from the Molise region in Italy. As the wines were delivered we received an introduction from one of the staff with a bit of back ground and notes on tasting that was informative without interrupting the flow of the evening. A selection of orange and red wines from Croatia, Australia and South Africa followed that were each distinctive and memorable, perfectly backdropped by the platter that was a treat in its own right with each element being top quality, including a piccalilli that was one of the best I’ve ever encountered and that fantastic bread that’s baked on the premises.

The Wright Place has made a confident start to life on Walmgate, fulfilling the various roles that it’s placed itself in very well. The coffee and pastries in the morning are some of the best in York while the transition to wine bar throughout the day is seamless. You can find more details of future events here.

(Disclaimer – PR invite)

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Paolo’s has been subject to a few tasteful upgrades over the last few years and the frontage is now dominated by a broad expanse of bi-fold which offers plenty of, currently rather desirable, ventilation. The character of the place remains intact though with the large oil painting of the proprietor still staring down at you and the ever-present football on television still featuring prominently in the Paolo’s experience. The chairs are packed in so navigating amongst the efficient and determined can spice up the experience but we were quickly situated at a window table with glasses of a Campari based aperitivo in hand ready for our first courses to arrive. The Il Paradiso del Cibo Tasting Menu experience starts with a selection of meats and cheeses along with olives, lightly pickled vegetables and light shards of a crisp bread that was to feature throughout the meal. The inclusion of olive oil and balsamic in which to dip this bread was noteworthy inasmuch as this seems unfashionable these days, but no less enjoyable for its increasing scarcity.

With snacking and chatting progressing apace we soon got down to the seafood elements of the meal with mussels and clams preceding king prawns, both presented with more shards of that bread which seemed able to retain its structure while also absorbing big hits of flavour. The mussels and clams were cooked in a tomato sauce with a healthy kick of garlic and a delicate edge of white wine that let them show off their best without ever threatening to overwhelm, before a small armada of king prawns then took over. These had been cooked with plenty of rosemary and sun-dried tomato as well as another hint of that Vernaccia white wine. It was a predictably messy job to extricate the prawn meat from the shells but an entirely worthwhile endeavour that rewarded yielding, perfectly cooked meat. The subsequent pasta course also leant heavily toward its seafood precursors too, filling a squid ink pasta parcel with grouper, prawns and mussels then surrounding it with a lobster sauce with a jaunty prawn sitting atop it.

By this point we were well embedded in the evening having happily enjoyed the plentiful wine that helped us chuckle at the pasta shape in the next dish being mischievously compared to maggots. Irrespective of comparison, the pasta shape did all that was needed of it, letting the accompanying lamb ragu cling to it while retaining just the right touch of al dente resistance. The second meat dish was pork belly served with braised broad beans, which we were told would aid our digestion, as well as pancetta with another slice of that crisp, thin bread soaking everything up. The care that had been lavished on the meat was readily evident as was the care in its raising, with a diet of milk, acorn and sweet corn forming the basis of its nutrition.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to enjoy the final couple of dishes but the evidence presented suggests they’d have continued the theme of quality produce presented with care and affection, not to mention a dash of limoncello as is traditional at the end of a El Paradiso meal! Over a decade or more ago the off-menu tasting menu was a rare treat but as both York and Paolo’s have matured and grown, their reputations both have taken the next step in formalising and refining their offerings. At £70/head including wine the Il Paradiso del Cibo Tasting Menu represents a great value way to spend a whole evening being inundated with great food in an environment constructed solely for conviviality. I can’t wait to see what the dining scene in York and Il Paradiso looks like in another decade or so and how this offering reflects it.

(Disclaimer – PR meal at no charge.)

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Le Cochon Aveugle has been a prominent feature of the York food scene for more than half a decade, during which time it’s won national acclaim from respected critics as well as sending chef/owner Josh Overington to make an assured appearance on Great British Menu. The restaurant is based around multi course tasting menu that is now served in a single sitting to all guests at that service, lending proceedings the sense of an experience shared amongst all those lucky enough to be in attendance. On arrival, it’s clear that the enforced lockdown closure has not been time allowed to pass unproductively, with a new cabinet for dry ageing meat drawing the eye as you enter and striking dark decor that’s been applied since I last visited. Sensibly, no change has been made to the open kitchen arrangement that lets you admire the skill and precision of the chefs as they work.

The tasting menu at Le Cochon Aveugle is served ‘Blind’ so the onus is very much on the servers to introduce the myriad dishes effectively, something achieved uniformly and effectively despite the extra complication of mask wearing. Whoever thought that elocution and received-pronunciation would be such desirable attributes outside of a career in news reading? After a refreshing and palate cleansing broth that combined mussels, wheat beer and herbs, the first few courses were single mouthfuls of goose ham from that striking cabinet and smoked mackerel as well as a much loved ‘Cochon favourite, the Boudin Noir macaron. This has been a staple of the menu both here and at sister bar Cave Du Cochon for some time and remains a delightful mouthful that balances savoury and sweet to memorable effect. An oyster and a delicately presented egg shell filled with a savoury custard complete the pre-amble with an appropriate flourish before we move on.

Next up was another dish that’s well on its way to becoming a ‘Cochon signature, Orkney scallop cooked in its own shell with sea-urchin butter, which made a perfect partner for sourdough that was also presented with cultured butter and a deliciously savoury buerre noisette. Scallops are one of those things that I never seem to quite get round to cooking at home, and the sense of occasion conveyed as the string holding the shell together was snipped really gave a warm feeling and made it feel like the restaurant experience was back!

The next couple of dishes ran through asparagus served with cream that had been split with nasturtium, thornback ray cooked in lardo and a meat course of lamb delicately served with sea herbs. I’ll not get into too much detail save for too much ruination of the blind tasting concept, but suffice to say each dish embellished the flavours of the headline ingredient with delicate presentations. We enjoyed one more savoury course of richly braised lamb shoulder crepe parmentier before shifting our focus toward sweet plates.

The trio of sweets began with an elevation of the simple strawberry, dipped in its own jam, with a tasteful smattering of edible flowers before continuing the theme with fermented strawberry juice accompanying vanilla ice cream alongside a rich pain perdu. Another beautifully presented egg completed this stage of proceedings, featuring chocolate, truffle and cep turned into an enjoyable talking point for the table to get stuck into. A few of us at the table then made sure to take advantage of the selection of cheeses from the reliably-wonderful Courtyard Dairy before a sweet canele with caramelised goats milk was a suitable exclamation on which to finish the meal.

This is undoubtedly some of the finest “event” dining to be had in York and the additions that have been made to the restaurant since my last visit only serve to further focus its appeal. It goes without saying that I’ve been itching to get back into restaurants and, while this isn’t my first post lockdown meal indoors, Le Cochon Aveugle felt like just the right kind of occasion to mark crossing the literal and figurative threshold toward indoor hospitality.

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Bull and Co serves up steaks, burgers and other dishes inspired by American style steak houses, also including sharing platters, loaded fries and milkshakes. The emphasis is very much on indulgence here, with hefty quantities of rich food being the order of the day. I’ve been meaning to visit since its opening but the loosening of restrictions over the last year haven’t merged with an appropriately free bit of time to call by, so a delivery was the perfect way to right that wrong. The delivery arrived on time on a Friday evening, perfectly timed to relax into the weekend.

We kicked things off with a Bull and Co York sharing board which borrowed from a few of the other starters to pull together a selection of wings, ribs, onion rings, cheese bites and fries to pick at along with sauces and pickles. This generous selection was a great way to get our fingers and chins dirty, there’s no elegant way to engage with food like this! We then set about loaded fries that piled on rich pulled pork and a generous round of pickles to sharpen things up, I can see these being a winner as it becomes socially acceptable to share dishes in restaurants again!

Next up were signature Bull and Co York burgers, making great use of Haxby Bakehouse buns and good quality meat as a basis for embellishment by cheese, pickles, salad and other accoutrements as appropriate to the burger’s theme. The New Yorker threw sauerkraut and pastrami into the mix to make a compelling case for a repeat order and the classic burger was just as satisfying a way to break the days calorie allowance.

It would be a little odd to go for a meal as indulgent and calorific as this without having something sweet so a gooey chocolate brownie and a banana milkshake finished things off on a suitably over the top note. In a few months’ time we’ll have a better idea of where we stand with eating out and what the role of a takeaway will become, but eating dishes like this in the comfort of your own home where there’s nobody to witness the inevitable minor indignities of this wonderfully comforting food is an attractive prospect.

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With the market for delivered food being where it’s at right now and precious few options to enjoy French food in York, this seems like a sensibly pragmatic decision as long as consideration is given to constructing a menu that travels well. Rather than ask for specific dishes from the menu, I suggested the guys send a selection of those that they thought best represented the new offering, which features a range of French salads along side the usual starters, mains and desserts. As far as getting your hands on the food there’re delivery and collection options available, with the latter being something I’d encourage due to the significant chunk of a restaurant’s profit taken by popular delivery services.

Our starters were classic Moules Marinière and a hearty black budding, apple and bacon dish cooked with cider and onions. We split the cute miniature loaves of homemade bread that came with the mussels to mop up the sauce that the black pudding came in and enjoyed getting stuck into both dishes, realising that it’s a surprising amount of time since I’ve eaten mussels…possibly over a year! That prolonged separation might explain my delight in these, resulting in slightly over enthusiastic consumption and making a mess of my shirt. Black pudding and apple was an indulgent feeling dish with great depth of flavour that didn’t lack delicacy or balance.

Rather than dive straight into main courses, we then took a soujourn to the garden with a salad Nicoise to enjoy in the sun. Seldom has my garden enjoyed such a happy confluence of food, weather and mood as this dish was able to contribute to. Tuna carpaccio and a perfectly poached egg topped well dressed potato, green beans and tomato that, combined with a nice crisp white wine, made a nice pause in proceedings to relax into.

Mains delivered on the hearty reputation of French cuisine with confit duck and Boeuf Bourguignon throwing out a real sense of comfort. The duck came with finely sliced Boulangère potatoes, green cabbage and Toulouse sausage with Dijon creme fraiche and apple gel breaking up the richness with sharp and sweet flavours. Boeuf Bourguignon runs the risk of feeling a little ordinary and coming across as basic home cooking but this example betrays a wealth of flavour greater than one would expect in a domestic setting, buttery mash and green beans both making significant contributions to another comforting plate. We finished up on a sweet note with creme brûlée and an apple and berry compote, both continuing the run of satisfyingly well executed versions of the staples we expect from a French focussed menu.

Surprisingly enough, this was the first “restaurant” meal we’d had during Lockdown (how did that happen?) that was served hot so I’d been eager to see how it made the journey home. Thankfully any concerns were unfounded and the packaging kept everything toasty until we were ready to tuck in. This new menu of French classics cooked to a restaurant standard was uniformly well executed makes for a compelling proposition.

The Chopping Block and Walmgate Ale House have been, through a couple of incarnations, a key part of the hospitality scene in York for nearly two decades now and this new push for France feels like a comfortable fit for them to move forward. This current situation makes it a somewhat strange market to launch a new menu into but The Chopping Block has succeeded in pushing its identity forward and setting its stall out for reopening in whatever form is practical in the coming weeks and months.

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

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January started with a trip to London where I took the opportunity to indulge in a Kejriwal from Dishoom, one of my favourite breakfast dishes. This month also saw The Ivy on St Helen’s Square open its doors and a fun day helping Brew York put together the newest variant of their Tonkoko Imperial Stout. Mrs Fork showed admirable fortitude for a visit to Whitby to enjoy a stay at The White Horse & Griffin despite her advanced state of pregnancy, even finding space to enjoy a meal at The Star Inn the Harbour. Finally, the Star Inn the City had the chance to show off to the great and good of the food world, hosting the Estrella Damm UK Gastropub Awards which was a very special day.

Dishoom Kejriwal

The Ivy

White Horse & Griffin

Bisque from The Star Inn the Harbour

February was something of a quiet month as we waited for Baby Fork to make her arrival. While her debut was of rather more personal import than that of Humpit Hummus, it was still a pleasure to sample their hummus and falafel. I also finally got the chance to try bread & butter pudding spring roll when Street Cleaver popped up at the Fossgate Social. Millers Fish and Chips in Haxby gave us strength in the days before birth, as did a fabulous Reuben sandwich from Shambles Kitchen.

Shambles Kitchen Reuben

Street Cleaver Bread & Butter pudding spring roll

Baby Fork

March was mainly marked by a lack of sleep, but I still found time to get out and about. Radix started its cutting edge regular tasting menu at 45 Vinyl Cafe. It was a pleasure to be involved with judging the Garbutt & Elliot Food Entrepreneurs Awards so it was particularly rewarding to see the winners crowned at the Hospitium. There’s not much that can prepare you for the first few weeks of parenthood so brunches became something of a refuge. We particularly enjoyed Trinacria (the sausages are superb) and the Brisket Benedict at Source, which was en even more welcome distraction after the loss of one of our beloved cats. The first meal we braved without Baby Fork was to sample the new menu at Goodramgate Ambiente, just as reliably tasty and great value as ever.

Garbutt & Elliot Food Entrepreneur award winners

Radix Hen of the woods, poacher & root vegetable tagliatelle

Source beef brisket benedict

In April Tommy Banks launched his first book, Roots, which later shared its name with his new restaurant in York. I had a stab at his ox cheek recipe and produced a dish that even Tommy complimented me on. A trip out of York to Gio’s Italian Diner uncovered a great value spot that delivered simple food, done well with great ingredients. Our wedding anniversary celebration was less ambitious than previous years but still took in a delicious rosti at Betty’s Northallerton and some beautifully honest pies at Lordstones Cafe. I also finally had the chance to get back to Melton’s for lunch, which was a great opportunity to remember the understated quality these guys bring to Bishy Rd.

Betty’s Rosti

Melton’s celery & gruyere ‘rarebit’

My attempt at Tommy Bank’s Ox cheek from Roots

May brought about the long awaited opening of container park Spark that brought together a well curated selection of the best of local streetfood. While there’s been some turnover amongst the traders involved since then, it remains a welcoming space. With a young baby, we were still struggling to get out for special meals so the chance to visit The Park from Adam Jackson remains a fond memory that Baby Fork was able to share with us. With summer starting, it was lovely to pay a visit to Raithwaite Spa and take the time to relax in the sun, not to mention grab some crab sandwiches from The Cod & Lobster en route. This busy month also saw the launch of Yorkshire Cheddar from Wensleydale Creamery with a menu from Yorkshire legend Steph Moon, a pasta class with the indomitable Sara Danesin, the launch of The Cat’s Pyjamas in York and Malton Food Festival.

Poussin, white onion, ham, hen of the woods from Adam Jackson at The Park

Raithwaite Spa

Spark

As we got to half way through the year, June took me out to the Herbs Unlimited open day and the openings of Shakespeare’s Globe, The Press Kitchen and L’Uva. I also took the chance to check out a fully vegan menu at The Whippet before we popped to Ludlow and enjoyed some small plates with great local produce at CSON’s by the river.

Family Fork at the L’Uva opening

Mussels in the sun at Shakespeare’s Globe

Vegan dishes at The Whippet

By July we were starting to find our feet with Baby Fork a little so managed a few more days out. The hot summer days were perfect for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Fountains Abbey. Fantastic meals came from Arras and The Star Inn the Harbour while I finally made it to Everyman Cinema for a Spielburger to celebrate my birthday after a film.

Salmon and Greek Salads at Arras

One of the Follys at Fountains Abbey

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Spielburger at Everyman

In August I travelled further afield to Leeds to enjoy the launch event for new Pudsey neighbourhood bistro Feed, featuring cheeseburger spring rolls and the “Hangover cone”. I also made it to Bradford to finally visit Prashad, which lived up to sky high expectations despite some enforced needlework, and Stamfords in Pocklington that represented great value. Cooking at home included sampling a recipe box from Riverford and it was a real pleasure to see Born to Lose open in Brew York from the guys behind Street Cleaver.

Whipped Goats Curd with Carrot at Stamfords

Hangover Cone from Feed

Kopra Pethi at Prashad

The big things in September were the York Food & Drink Festival, with whom I was very happy to work and curate the food and drinks trails, and the much anticipated launch of Tommy Banks’ new restaurant on Marygate, Roots. Sunday lunch came from the Principal and Born to Lose, whose Alternative Sunday Lunch was characteristically brilliant. I also made it to Skosh for the first time in too long and for a great value Bento lunch at Sushiwaka. A lowlight of the year came courtesy of a broken plate that necessitated a rather painful and invasive check for tendon damage in my hand and a number of stitches (NB: link to graphic pic), and I was even late for lunch! Thankfully my thumb remains fully functional, if still rather achey.

Born to Lose Alternative Sunday Lunch (2 hours after having my thumb stitched together!)

Lemon & Blueberry Cheesecake at The Principal

Garden pea falafel, pork fat and carrots at Roots launch event

Things quietened down in October a little; fine dining came from Hudson’s in The Grand and a more casual offering from Los Moros, whose opening and success was great to see. A set price lunch from The Rattle Owl was an accessible treat that makes for a great value midweek lunch.

Stone bass, langoustine and Fennel from the Hudsons Tasting Menu

Small plates for lunch at The Rattle Owl

Los Moros Tagine

November took us back to Roots for a final treat before Mrs Fork went back to work. I visited Leeds again to check out Dough, the new city centre offering from the guys behind Feed, and the Assembly Food Hall that packed a cracking burger from Slap & Pickle. The lunchtime pie menu from The Whippet hit the spot and I had great fun running a blogger event with the lovely Avocado Events and the Star Inn the City, to whom I wish a quick recovery to after their recent fire.

Slap & Pickle burger at Assembly Underground

Introducing the Children’s menu at the Star Inn the City

As we moved toward the end of the year, December took me to The Cutlery Works in Sheffield, a great addition to Kelham Island, which featured some great sashimi and poutine. The Christmas decorations at Castle Howard were good enough to encourage us to make it a habitual visit with Baby Fork in coming years and I finally got to see the stage show of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds that even exceeded my expectations.

Castle Howard

Martian fighting machine with War of the Worlds!

Sashimi and small plates at Cutlery Works

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The new beer hall hosting Born to Lose burgers is a natural expansion for Brew York which is housed in a former gym in the same complex as the original brewery and tap room. It’s a great addition to York and offers a lively space to meet up in which has got plenty of atmosphere, but isn’t distractingly raucous. The Born to Lose kitchen sits at right angles to the bar with menus suspended above letting you know what options you have to choose from. The core of the menu is burgers that feature house ground thin patties and all the refined trimmings you’d expect from the guys behind Street Cleaver. Along with burgers there’re a variety of small plates on offer and (when we went) the option to order a platter to suit a table of 3-4 people. Please bear in mind that the menu here is likely to be a moving target as the guys develop different dishes, so don’t be surprised if something specific mentioned here has been replaced.

Unsurprisingly, Born to Lose burgers are beautifully refined. I had wondered what twist would inform the burger recipes, but they’re actually quite conventional, not needing contrived embellishments, to hit the standards I expected here. The house burger is named in tribute to Anthony Bourdain, a gesture that would be inappropriate if the standard wasn’t right. The burger sauce, pickle, shredded leaf and cheese bring all the texture and indulgence you want from a burger, making this just the messy feast you’d hope. The Reuben adds salt beef to the brace of thin burger patties along with sauerkraut and different dressings, making it a very generous couple of handfuls that threatens to sate your appetite before you get to any of small plates.

To go with our burgers, we grabbed some kimchi mac cheese, padron peppers, Japanese chicken, salt beef and pigs head “Crubeen” donut. Along with salads and garnishes on the tray all this was presented on, everything was just as delicious as it was intriguing. Kimchi mac cheese is a Street Cleaver classic that remains difficult to get enough of and the tray of extras encouraged everyone around the table to get their hands covered in food, ensuring we ignored our phones and interacted with one another throughout our meal. Pigs head donuts had a real punch of flavour and the padron peppers were adept at cutting through the richer meat elements. It’s hard to pick highlights in a meal like this; Japanese chicken was equally fantastic and the salt beef demanded another trip to the bar for more beer.

I miss being able to grab a bowl of ramen at Spark, but this is a worthy alternative. I’m not sure I’ve ever been disappointed by Mark Hill’s food and Born to Lose certainly doesn’t break that trend. The breadth of the menu is surprising for what’s labelled a burger kitchen and everything on it was superb. If anything, there’s been a greater sense of refinement to the food on each subsequent visit. I can’t wait to see what else Born to Lose serve up. At the moment, I’m admiring the menu for “Alternative Sunday Lunch” which I’m about to book, featuring roast pork shoulder with black garlic, chilli beef brisket, miso cauliflower cheese and nam chim bone marrow amongst other things. These guys may be born to lose, but the rest of us seem to be winning as a result.

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The new upstairs beer hall will serve 40 beers at a time and will also include the new Born To Lose Burger Kitchen run by street-food chef Mark Hill, known in York for his Street Cleaver business.

The venue will open to the public on Friday 24th August, following a private event the night before for some of the 661 people who invested in the brewery’s crowdfunding drive, which helped make the expansion possible.

At the public launch, there will be 60 beers: 40 in the new hall and 20 in the original downstairs bar. Half will be from Brew York, with the rest carefully selected from other breweries. There will also be live music from the Disco Daze DJ collective, customers will be able to try the new ‘hoptails’ (beer cocktails), and visitors will get a sneak preview of the Brew York shop, which will open at the front of the building in a few weeks.

Mark’s opening menu will have three main burger options: The Bourdain, The Big Cheese and The Reuben, with vegetarian and vegan options also available. His eclectic range of small dishes will include kimchi mac cheese, pig’s head crubeen donut, chicken skin tostadas, and a sharing platter of Korean-inspired dishes.

Lee Grabham and Wayne Smith, co-founders of Brew York, are looking forward to welcoming existing and new customers.

Lee said: “We’ve had a fantastic first two years, and now we are building a venue that any city would be proud of. Places like Leeds and Manchester have some incredible venues, and this will be up there with those. To have been able to do this so soon, here in the city-centre, is a dream come true.”

Wayne said: “It’s going to be really different from anything else in York, and will be fantastic. Because we have direct relationships with lots of other breweries, we will be able to get hold of exclusive and very rare beers that people will really want to try.”

For the Friday and Saturday, admission is by ticket only, to manage capacity. Tickets are £5, which includes a glass and a £3 drink. To book, visit buytickets.at/brewyork

The beer hall will also be an evolving street art space, in collaboration with The Art of Protest gallery in Little Stonegate. Giant works will be painted on the hall walls, before eventually being painted over with new pieces.

Mark said: “This will be something completely fresh for York. I’ll be using local suppliers and ingredients and people will be able to see everything we’re doing. Venues like this are working all over the world but there hasn’t been one in York yet. But there should be no reason York should be any different to places from LA to Leeds, where you can get a great burger, amazing fresh food and a brilliant local beer. We will be working together and with other businesses to really get the best out of our industries and doing a lot of work to showcase the best beer and food pairings.

“We’ve worked hard to make sure this is the right thing for York as well as for us, and feel York really needs something like this. And we won’t be secretive about what we’re doing. If people want the recipes, they can have them.”

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The new Press Kitchen York restaurant is a large space, making use of both the previous cafe area and the attached bike shop, that sprawls into several cosy spaces from the central bar area. It’s boldly decorated and makes a feature of a vintage jukebox that benefits from a partnership with Earworm records for its content; a meal gets you a token to choose a song. Alongside the restaurant space there’s also a deli counter and the option to grab takeaway sandwiches. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked along to check the place out at an opening event and since then I’ve been back twice more; you can infer from that what good value it is for good food.

Our first visit was for dinner, to which Baby Fork was made very welcome while we enjoyed a cold beer in the hot weather. The evening menu is pleasingly brief, with seven mains and a selection of cheeses and nibbles to serve as starters. We went for a selection of three cheeses to occupy ourselves while waiting for our mains which were chosen from the specials also available. I was a little surprised at the number of specials on offer, contradicting the brevity of the main menu, making it an impressive feat for the server to remember them. Rather less impressive is my ability to retain this information. Perhaps it’d be more pragmatic to offer a printed list of the daily specials. Service was efficient rather than rushed and we were sat with our mains quickly enough. Yorkshire goat tagine was comforting and indulgent in equal measure, with plenty of fruit and zesty flavours to cut through the rich meat. Pheasant was another meat I was happy to see being used well, paired here with pearl barley and plenty of chive flowers. The pearl barley was a touch al dente but this is far preferable to it devolving into a indeterminate mush. For dessert we shared some ice creams and a pineapple pavlova that were a sweet and refreshing way to finish up before toddling off to tuck Baby Fork to bed.

Our next trip was for a casual lunch with a friend that didn’t need starters, desserts or undue fripperies to dilute the good company. The mains all around the ten pound price point seemed perfect and one of the party opted for a sandwich. The pork fillet with ham hock cassoulet was the star, pork fillet being something I see on menus far too infrequently. The pork fillet was cooked perfectly and cassoulet would have made a decent light lunch by itself with a few more bits of bread. Mushroom and artichoke suet pudding graced the other side of the table and was well received, the pea veloute with it initially looking a little too much like mushy peas but passing muster nicely when tasted. Earlier assumptions that dessert would be superfluous were proved totally wrong as my friends ordered a chocolate brownie that looked the part and elicited the right noises.

A big part of the Press Kitchen York offering is brunch so, of course, I popped back to try it. Smoked trout folded through scrambled egg on a chia seed bread made a satisfying start to a day and neat alternative to the ubiquitous smoked salmon and scrambled egg. The Huevos Rancheros I ordered was delightful with great depth of flavour from the black beans and well judged spicing through the salsa that paired up to separate tortilla base and fried egg topping.

Each visit to The Press Kitchen has impressed me so far with good service and great value and also interesting food. With the majority of main courses running to around ten pounds and sensibly priced drinks, this is clearly a winning combination. I’ve been three times in three weeks and, while that trend is necessarily likely to drop off, I see myself here on a regular basis in the future.

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I didn’t manage the smoothest start to the day, singularly failing to obtain anything for breakfast due to the (early for me) 8am start time. I appreciate this was an unusually late start to a brew day, but I make no apologies for enjoying my lie ins before the arrival of a baby disrupts everything! Thankfully there was plentiful tea on offer to combat the early(ish) start as we chatted about what the day would involve. The group of roughly twenty included a range of beer bloggers and lucky fans who were happy to take the opportunity to get hands on with their favourite brewers.

The new version of the Tonkoko Stout we were working on was destined to be bigger and bolder than the previous iterations, kicking over the 10% marker on its way to the pump. After we’d worked our way through many cups of tea, the day started with the depositing of a huge amount of grain into a hopper ready to mix with water. The two batches of grain we worked through over the course of the day came to around a thousand kilos so there was a lot of heavy lifting involved both immediately, and correspondingly later to remove the grain from the mash tun later.

Previous discussions with the brewers at Brew York have reinforced their scientific approach to brewing, ensuring that the water they use is of the optimum pH balance and has the right mineral content for the intended beer. After a chat about how they achieve this, we sat down to get to grips with the rest of the ingredients that would make up the flavours for the beer to be infused with. The group boldly proclaimed that there would be no short cuts and so the tonka beans would be individually crushed then chopped by hand. Tonka beans give a flavour that’s hard to articulate, reminiscent of vanilla, but with a much greater depth of flavour. It turned out that chopping 750g of Tonka beans takes quite a long time, but we were through them in just a matter of hours along with the vanilla pods that would also go into the infusion.

With all the success they’ve already achieved, it’s been great to read in recent weeks about plans to expand Brew York into the adjacent former boxing gym. The spaces that the guys are taking over are impressively large and will be a fantastic addition to the food, drink and social scene in York. There’s space for plenty of visiting street food pop ups, but the headline food offering will come from Street Cleaver, who’s certain to come up with something unique and intriguing.

The rest of the day took in plenty more shovelling, cleaning, heating and moving of liquid between vessels as is required in the brewing of beer. If you want to read a much more technical account of the day, The Drunken Goat (who joined the day) has written an exhaustive account that’s worth a look. We finished up by naming the brew Empress Tonkoko and contemplating tasting it when the brewery celebrates its second birthday in April. That’s not the end of the story for this batch though as the majority of it will be aged in whiskey casks for a year ready for Tryanuary 2019 – definitely one not to miss out on! It goes without saying that we ended the day by thanking our hosts over a beer. I can’t wait to check out the Empress Tonkoko in a couple of months’ time.

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