To start with, we stuck with vegetarian options, choosing asparagus with white bean hummus and a cashew & tomato pâté. The pâté came with a simple salad, which would have benefited from a stronger dressing, and some gluten free toasts. It’s only on double checking the menu now that I realise those toasts were gluten free, which speaks well of them. The pâté worked well, perhaps not as smokey as advertised, but light and delicious with no hint of compromise to become vegetarian. The asparagus was presented over a few crispy potatoes and roasted tomatoes which sat in that promised bed of white bean hummus. The tomatoes were in danger of over shadowing the rest of the plate, but the asparagus was still able to speak for itself and the hummus was well balanced. With the potatoes in the mix too this was a great start to the evening.

We’d not consciously avoided meat in the starters and similarly not sought it out for mains, with chicken and hake (£2 supplement) being our choices for the next course. The chicken was cooked with ginger and lemongrass then served with turmeric roast potatoes and broccoli with a saffron sauce. This dish attracted a bit of criticism in a recent review, so I was curious to try it myself for the sake of comparison. It’s fair to say the chicken was perhaps a touch dry, but there was plenty of flavour in the plate, arguably too much going on with the turmeric and saffron fighting it out. The saffron sauce really made the dish: rich but delicate and balanced well with the fresh broccoli.

The other main we chose was hake fillet baked in chermoula with spiced lentils and salsify. This really packed a punch, with a good amount of spice and a generous serving of the salsify that had been roasted in batons to present itself as an exciting alternative to chips. The fish flaked into chunks as it should and the chermoula made its presence felt with a good balance of coriander, lemon, garlic and so on. The lentils needed to be aggressively flavoured to face off against all this and were entirely up to the challenge. If anything we were over-faced by the quantity of fabulous lentils with which we were presented, making it a shame to leave some.

Despite failing to summit the mountain of lentils, we thought it appropriate we attempt a pudding too so made our best attempt at a vegan chocolate mousse. As with the gluten lacking from those toasts in the starter, I’d not have guessed this was missing dairy. Topped with mint, raspberry and pistachio, the mousse was made from an avocado base with almond milk which gave a lovely smooth texture and nutty undertone.

At a shade under fifteen quid for two courses or nineteen for three, this all represents great value. There’s a pleasing amount of invention in the dishes, using good ingredients, but not at the expense of flavour. Filmore & Union has been a reliable option in York since it opened, particularly for those following specific diets. We had a lovely evening with good food from the Filmore & Union summer menu and I heartily recommend it for a great value evening out.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for our visit. Opinions remain impartial

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The refurbishment is subtle rather than transformative and most noticeable to me was a rather more well developed kitchen space that sadly removes a classic hidden view of York, all the way down Petergate to the Minster. I can understand the reasoning though, after all, this space needs to function as a restaurant primarily. The furnishing are now understatedly distressed without becoming a distraction; it’s a comfortable place to dine that’s relaxed without feeling too casual.

My companion and I went for vegan walnut pâté and pumpkin & sunblushed tomato gnocchi to start as we enjoyed the unfussy but knowledgeable attentions of our young server. While I’m clearly a meat eater, that’s certainly not to the exclusion of all else, so I succumbed to intrigue when ordering the walnut pâté which was served with beetroot crackers, pickled radish and a sweet kumquat marmalade. The relatively unusual combination worked well as the beetroot let the tangy marmalade and savoury pâté face off against one another toward an admirable truce. The other side of the table found the pumpkin & sun blushed tomato gnocchi pleasingly enhanced with kale pesto that was lightened by a tahini maple dressing that brought the dish together superbly.

After being left for a polite interval during which the table was cleared, our main courses arrived. My friend had gone straight for the meat, choosing the fillet steak with warm winter salad and a mix of potato and celeriac fries, while I stuck with fish, plumping for charcoal cod with celeriac and courgetti. I always feel like steak is a rather high-stakes option (sorry) in anywhere other than a specialist steak restaurant, but everything was in order, the meat cooked exactly as requested and the accompanying vegetables well seasoned and not subjected to any unnecessary interventions. My cod was well cooked and presented on a bed of diced celeriac and courgetti (the relative merits of which I’ll stay away from here). The red cabbage and rose gazpacho that was poured over the dish wasn’t a flavour I’d encountered before and was certainly a bold use of ingredients. The fish had been topped with a small amount of the previously encountered kumquat marmalade that wasn’t needed along with the sweetness of the rose. I enjoyed the dish, but it was certainly an unusual combination of flavours that might not be to everyone’s taste.

To finish the meal, we shared a vegan peanut butter cheesecake that hadn’t lost any of the appropriate sense of indulgence along with its dairy ingredients. Plenty of peanut came through and the right texture was present and correct.

With a couple of glasses of wine thrown, in the bad news came to around £85 plus tip, for two and a half courses each, including that steak to bump up the total a bit. For a well thought out and interesting meal that affords one the confidence of knowing both what’s on the plate and the provenance of the ingredients, that’s certainly not an unreasonable amount to eat at Filmore & Union York.

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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The idea for a social event was borne of a conversation with the lovely Caroline Biggs of Cambridge Food Festival fame who, new to York, thought it’d be a good idea to get a social movement going centred around a shared passion for good food. Krakatoa were happy to host and put together an interesting menu so all that remained was to find some people to come and appreciate it.

Having amassed a decent sized attendance for the evening it was a little surprising to see everyone arrive quite so promptly, judging people by my own standards I guess. Seated and ready to go after the one straggler arrived, whose tardiness was probably appreciated as a chance to get another drink in, I swallowed my nerves and accepted I’d have to at least briefly introduce the evening before handing over to the eminently more qualified Tim Potter, proprietor of the establishment.

Tim did a tremendous job of explaining the restaurant’s history and ethos before describing the menu they’d put together for the event, just enough detail to whet the appetite and appreciate the commitment of the owners without challenging the diners’ desire to push proceedings onward.

Food time then. When I’d spoken to Tim and Deeche about the evening, I’d asked if it was possible to have something not on the day to day menu. It seemed a shame to miss the chance for feedback to the owners from engaged food lovers, not to mention the chance to give those engaged food lovers something they wouldn’t normally have. Starters and mains were served together on a platter, Otak-Otak Ikan to start translated to a beautifully judged spiced fishcake, deep fried and served with a tamarind dipping sauce, it gave a hearty kick without overfacing the flavours – heat drowning out flavour is always a huge disappointment. The main of Soto Betawi (rich beef and vegetable stew) was an equally universal hit. Tender meat, abundantly rich flavour (fragrant and not too spicy) and perfectly judged rice… this needs to be a permanent feature on the Krakatoa menu in the very near future.

Dessert could really only be judged a qualified success. A coconut syrup milkshake with tapioca swirls was divisive, some attendees minesweeping leftovers, but others providing those leftovers. The bogey green swirls might be a bit challenging for the everyday menu.

As the diners melted into the night, sated and happy, we reflected on the evening’s success and the standard of the food. Authentic and unfussy but packed with flavour, Krakatoa hit the spot.Tim and Deeche hit the mark impressively well as we went through our courses. At the end of a lovely evening we’d all made new friends, enjoyed good food and started to formulate plans for the next one… watch this space.

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Venturing out of York on a Tuesday evening after borrowing transportation from a generous friend, we found it just a short hop from home on the other side of Easingwold. Crayke is a picturesque village with The Durham Ox in Crayke at its centre, I’ll be looking out walking routes that could end in a pint here over the summer!

Being welcomed into the friendly bar and presented with menus, I made a couple of notes that warranted further discussion. While every precaution is taken, and there are no gluten-containing ingredients on the menu, it should be noted that the kitchen does work with gluten-containing ingredients, so there remains a risk of cross contamination. That’s the kind of comment that’s hard to judge how to take without knowing the lengths that the owners feel reasonable. Still, let’s check the food out and come back to that later.

I started with a beef carpaccio dressed with celeriac and shavings of parmesan, while my companion tried the prawn cocktail. The celeriac was the most notable flavour in the dish, perhaps to the beef’s detriment, but wasn’t overpoweringly dressed. So often dressings like this are lip-swallowingly tarte, but here the softness of the beef was complemented nicely, strong parmesan interspersed amongst the textures.

The prawn cocktail sat on a bed of finely shredded lettuce and was complemented by a trio of roasted baby tomatoes. Another well-flavoured sauce had a nice tang of tomato to the prawns. This is a difficult dish to really make exceptional, but this was a more than respectable stab at it – crunching lettuce, tangy sauce and soft prawns and a good balance of quantity and flavour.

We were also given gluten-free bread on the side which was perhaps a touch bland – though in mitigation, I’ve eaten much worse gluten-free bread – but as it was livened up with tapenade to give a little more heft, it was more than acceptable.

Next up we got stuck into our mains of lamb rump and eggs Benedict. Lamb can be a bit of a balancing act between rare and undercooked, so it was a relief to find it still moist but no longer requiring butchery. Roast new potatoes soaked up the well-restrained jus. The chargrilled veg on which the lamb was perched weren’t quite such a success; they were charred without being burned but losing some texture after sitting in the jus. Still, a well-executed dish full of flavour.

The eggs Benedict gave up big, runny yolks over crispy bacon with a smothering of Hollandaise (rather predictably I guess) that, in the words of my companion, was “the winning part of the course”. The gluten-free muffin was maybe a touch denser than normal, but acceptable given it was still there (often the casualty of making a meal gluten-free) and given the absence of gluten.

I gave up at this point, but my companion struggled onward to a dessert of hot cherries, accompanied by cherry ice cream and mousse. I’m reliably informed that this was an unusual dish that made an interesting fruit-based sweet option that was something other than a fruit salad. When pushed for criticism, I gather that a larger chocolate element would have helped, though I suspect that’s a point the commenter would make about most things in her life!

So having established the food is worth it, what about those cross-contamination issues? I’d intended to discuss it with the chef on the evening, but being a busy service I didn’t feel it fair to start demanding information, so I’ve been in correspondence since then. The amount of detail in the reply speaks well of the restaurant’s understanding of the issue. If the response had been short enough to include here, it wouldn’t have been as reassuring! Perhaps another step to give even further reassurance would be to aim for Coeliac Society accreditation.

We had a lovely meal at the Durham Ox in Crayke with friendly service and the concerns I had about cross- contamination were answered openly and with apparently knowledge of the subject. I’d certainly call that a success!

Disclosure: We were invited to sample the gluten free menu and as such didn’t have to settle the bill for this meal. All opinions are, of course, impartial.

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While not the joyless flavour vacuum I might have wrongly suspected, there’s one notable absence from the evening menu here – gluten. You may have seen (or more likely not) in this post that there’s a seam of Coeliac running through my family so I’m always on the lookout for places that properly understand how to cater for this and take into account cross-contamination issues that make me nervous at less specialised restaurants.

We met in the recently rejuvenated Judges Lodgings for a quick pre dinner drink before heading over toFilmore and Uniontake up our table to get away from the hipster hangout we seemed to have infiltrated.

The table we were shown to had a spectacular view along Petergate to the Minster, the windowsill making up two of the seats. We enjoyed the view hugely but the shallow windowsill would have posed a challenge for those with limited mobility. Menus arrived, choices were deliberated over and a good Viognier arrived to ease our decisions.

For starters we went for beef carpaccio, broccoli cakes and oak-smoked salmon with avocado to share between the four of us. Any lingering reservations about health concerns trumping flavour fell out the window as quickly as I would have given only a modest push. The salmon was rich, well dressed, accompanied with a sensible amount of leaves and set upon by smooth avocado while the beef was partnered superbly with smoked goats cheese. I’d love to comment on the broccoli cakes but the fact they were swallowed before I had a chance to ask for a taste probably speaks volumes. My only criticism would be of the dressing on the beef, a hint too much mustard distracting from meat, quite able to speak for itself.

Moving onto our mains, we went for the open salmon and sea bass burger, sashimi tuna, roasted sea bass fillet and baked aubergine in breadcrumbs. The baked aubergine and the sea bass fillet enjoyed by our dining companions didn’t provoke much comment and I was too distracted to press them for opinions. That distraction was primarily courtesy of the tuna, a huge highlight of the meal for me. Perfectly seasoned with ginger and tamarind on a bed of kale, this dish was wonderful, I can think of no way to improve on it – texture, flavour, accompaniment all exceptionally well judged. The salmon and sea bass burger was a wonderful dish too: moist sweet potatoes and the tangily-dressed baby tomatoes complementing the fish superbly.

To finish we went for Eton Mess, chocolate cheesecake, creme catalan and a cheeseboard. Not a fan of sweet things, I stayed within my cheesy comfort zone and was happy. The sweets were beautifully presented and prompted a period of silence to attest to the quality.

A quick chat to confirm that gluten free status on the way out and a pause to shake the chef’s hand in the open kitchen left us (me) contemplating why we’d not been there before. The bill was £115 for four people. In retrospect, we might have been a bit tight with the tip, but that’s not much more than an excuse to go back. In a sense I suppose there was a touch of foundation to my earlier prejudices, but I’d horribly misinterpreted how the ethos would manifest itself. The only thing missing from Filmore and Union is gluten, which for many is far from a negative.

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