Weasel

Ate with 3 friends last night and was knocked out by the place. lovely conversion job of the downstairs floor and the 'starry' roof is just beautiful. food was excellent, the value is stunning. The four of us shared three starters - braised pig cheek, ham hock terrine and a chatrcuteria and cheese plate. the 2 cheese portions were a bit on the wee side and one slightly dry but that was the only quibble. Very good light breads with the charcuterie and as a separate side order. I chose the spit roast chicken which was comforting and well seasoned with a nicely crispy/unctuous skin but ended up pinching lots of my companions black spaghetti with roast baby squid and garlic. The creamy sauce is well balanced and moreish. The others had a big and moist pork chop with fondant potato and apple and a halibut chunk too large to finish, with a clam chowder. Great puddings, good choice of ice creams, creme brulee with a ball of rum and raisin ice cream on the side got good reviews but winner was the chocolate melting pot: a pot of warm chocolate sauce with a variety of things to dip; marshmallows, fruit, brownies, cake, cantucci biscuits, more chocolate. This was more than enough for 2, beautifully presented and a steal at £4.50. Got through a couple of bottles of reasonable house white and afterwards were relaxed and enjoying the place so moved to the comfy seats of the bar. The staff were all good and thoughtful but the guy running the bar was very impressive in his knowledge of cocktails (something I have found pretty rare in Leeds). Very good the cocktails were too - and reasonably priced whiskies with single malts at pub prices. Definitely planning on making this a regular destination - would be good for client lunches, particularly in these straightened times as could do 2 courses and a bottle of wine for 2 for just over £40. Last, worked out the heating thing - sit on the bench seats around the borders of the restaurant as these are (a) sheltered from draughts by high backs and (b) have heaters underneath. seating in the centre is more exposed - but I guess that if the place is sufficiently full that all bench tables are full and they start infilling from the centre, there wil be sufficient warmth generated by the punters to make it cosy.

Thanks for the recommendations - in return, my thoughts: first, the gardens are magnificent - we strolled through them before dinner and were impressed by the range of veg and fruit being grown outside and in polytunnels and by the wide variety and great condition of the crops. This was certainly reflected in the veg components of the dinner which were simple, sweet and fresh and un-mucked about with we had the menu decouverte, which was described as 10 courses but we only counted 8 or 9 (one dessert had two components so not sure if this was intended to be 1 or 2) good things - clear flavours, a fantastic lamb dish with pink french trimmed chops, slow cooked ?chump and frisky sweetbreads with simple but perfect pan juices and garden vegetable accompaniments - sparklingly accomplished and confident; great gingerbread puree accompaniment to a foie gras terrine; well informed and friendly but non-oleagenous staff; a sea bream in bonito broth which combined pure flavours with a deeply comforting and healing quality less good things - continual upselling of drinks, dessert wine, cheese etc - a tad heavy handed; taxi service called by the restaurant to take us back to the hotel (Belfry - less than 5 minutes drive) was £12 - actual fare probably about £3 worth max - but clearly used to scalping the clientele of Le Manoir

There is no shortage of good whisky in Edinburgh. A pub which has a large selection and is centrally located is the Bow Bar http://www.bowbar.com/ If you are looking to buy some whisky to take hom I recommend Cadenheads whisky shop which has very knowledgeable staff and an amazing range. The single best place for whisky in Edinburgh is the Scottish Malt Whisky Society http://www.smws.co.uk/ but unfortunately you have to be a member to get in - but it might be worth giving therm a call and explaining that you are an overseas visitor - it might be that they would allow you to visit during a quieter time of day. Alternatively, do you have any friends in Edinburgh who might be members and who could get you in? Plenty of good pubs too, the Cafe Royal (near Waverley station) has a wonderful round bar and old tiled murals on the walls and is worth a look (good beers too). If the weather is good then I would recommend a walk to the top of Arthur's Seat and a detour back to Duddingston and the cosy Sheep Heid inn (call a taxi to take you back as it is a long walk after a few beers). I would recommend that you buy or borrow the guidebook "Scotland the Best" by Peter Irvine as it's recommendations tend to be very reliable and it is very easy to use - ie it has section headings like "best late night food" and "best fish & chips" as well as more standard recommendations Have a great time

Hello For a great meal, stop off at the original Loch Fyne, just before Inverary. This is far superior to the chain and is stil in local/original ownership. A stunning spot on the banks of the loch you can sit in the whitewashed, converted cow byres eating mussels and oysters pulled out of the Loch about 20ft away. It also has a good fish counter, so if you are off on a self-catering trip you can have your first nights dinner sorted easily. Fora quick snack spot I recommend the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum, an endearing variation on a service station at the crossroads of two major highland roads it has a restaurant with lots of good homecooked options. Very good homemade soups and cakes - also recommended by Peter Irvine. Spank - the Seafood Temple in Oban is only open certain evenings so not a lunchtime option but the green "hut" on the pier (next to the CalMac terminal) does indeed do a cracking range of prawn or crab sandwiches. There are also two resturants on the other side of the seafront, Eeusk, does very good seafood and has a sister restaurant doing Pizza/Pasta. Finally in Oban there is Norries fish & chip shop - third generation of owners and recommended by Rick Stein in his food heroes series. To break a journey by a quick walk on the seafront watching the ferries heading out to Mull and scoffing hot fish & chips will give you a lift after a long drive

We turned up without a reservation and got straight in - but it was 9.45pm on a weeknight so I suspect that a reservation would be good if wanting an earlier slot. however, one of the good things about La Tupina and Bordeaux generally is quite late opening hours so lots of options for late dinners. Would also recommend the sister place to La Tupina just up the road. A very small bar with simpler food but extremely cosy. When we were there some of the dishes were actually cooked at La Tupina and dashed up the street (eg cassoulet) otherwise the cooking facilities are limited to a stove behind the bar itself. Great for a glass of wine and saussison or pate. Also, if you get the chance, take the train to St Emilion and eat at Le Clos de Roy - outstanding food at very reasonable prices. The 2 heaving cheeseboards and the delicate sweetbreads were highlights of my visit.

We have dinner booked but are not staying at the hotel (would rather spend any extra cash on wine rather than eye-watering room rates). Can anyone recommend a good place to stay nearby/make more of a weekend of it?

Hello G The Angel at Hetton should fit the bill http://www.angelhetton.co.uk/. It is 6 miles from Skipton so you could get a cab there and back and still get the Skipton - Leeds - London trains back home. The food is good - can eat either in the bar or the resaturant or out on the terrace if its fine. The place is regularly featured in good gastropubs/good food articles and is good for locally sourced produce (eg it has black pudding made to its own recipe). A few good local beers and a superb wine list - you'll see from the site that it has its own wine business and shop/tasting rooms. If you are after great beer drop in to the Woolly Sheep in Skipton market place which stocks almost the full range of Timothy Taylors ales. haven't stayed there but the rooms look lovely and have heard good things about them. It's a quiet hamlet but bring walking boots as its in good countryside. Let us know how you get on

Having loved this place on all previous visits (see review above) I was disappointed with mixed quality lunch on Saturday. Of the 4 starters only 2 were available. Chose asparagus veloute and it was excellent - bowl arrived with a perfectly poached quails egg, crushed broad beans and pea shoots and the balanced veloute in a separate jug. The jugs weren't poured out by the waiters and were left on the table throughout the main course. Main of pork shoulder with crispy pigs ear sounded tempting but was a dryish chunk of meat without the hoped for melting quality. Other main of skate wings with gooseberry and samphire arrived and skate was off and had to be sent back. The staff behaved with perfect consideration - apologising for the off fish and offering to replace the course and writing off the price of the whole 3 courses. No complaints at all about the staff, who handled the problem with skill and tact - but surprised that the kitchen let the plate out, given that skate is notorious for turing ammoniac very quickly and given that the plate smelt like a nappy even as it approached the table. Pudding of peach strudel was a rather tough samosa and the cheese plate was three small pieces of unidentified cheese with a pot of very good rhubarb chutney presented with a spoon with a sticky handle which seemed to have been used to stir something previously. Hopefully this was a one-off, perhaps the chef was away, but always a shame when a previously exemplary place doen't meet its old standards.

I am lucky enough to be near a Booths supermarket (North/Northwest only) which is a tremendous company with a genuine commitment to local producers (ie all meat is British, all beef and lamb is from the local producers in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and Cheshire, interesting game in season). Fruit and veg very clearly marked as to origin and local producers strongly promoted. lots of specialist local products (Richard Woodalls bacon and cumbrian air-dried ham, eccles cakes, lancashire plum bread, Toppings pies, Bleikers smoked fish, bread from Melmerby and Ukrainian bakery in Bradford etc etc). The wine selection is fair with a superb bottled beer range which won them a camra award (literally hundreds on display). Good range of organics too and far more fresh/chilled than frozen - in fact only a relatively small frozen section. They also have an unusually mature and skilled workforce who know what they are doing and making shopping a very enjoyable experience. They regularly win awards and do deserve it, I'm lucky enough to combine the convenience with a good, ethical and interesting range.

Hi Emsny I actually love going out in City Centres on Christmas Eve, the reason being is that they are usually pretty quiet as everyone has headed home. The atmosphere can be most christmassy and romantic and many places close early so being on the street at about 9 can feel like you have the city to yourself. If it snows then one can feel instantly transported to a 40's movie. I think it might be even more so this year as christmas eve is a Sunday so there won't be the post-work drinks crowd out. I agree that often hotels are the only place open after 7 ish but why not try one of the trendier hotels rather than the classics? Somewhere like the Zetter has dinner for £40 a head and the food is pretty good there. Good luck

Thanks for narrowing things down a little, from a Haworth/Leeds axis you have lots of fun things within a fairly short radius. As Haworth is just outside Bradford you have some of the finest curryhouses in Europe on your doorstep. The Bradford curry experience is one which may well meet the criteria of 'interesting' for a US visitor. Whether its the up-market glittering curry palace of Mumtaz http://www.mumtaz.co.uk/main.htm or a more basic 'no flatware, main dishes around £3' of the Karachi it is certainly worth a visit (and the National Museum of Film and Photography at Bradford is an interesting way to spend a wet morning or afternoon and is free. (PS Curry is a very emotive subject here and I will doubtless be contradicted by people saying that there are far better options). With curry goes beer and there are some wonderful od fashioned pubs in Bradford. The cock & bottle, fighting cocks and new beehive all serve a good range of real ales and the new beehive is still lit by gaslight. Going in to Leeds you are already up to speed on Anthony's and Anthony's @ Flannels and you will also see a big thread about a very good chinese restaurant Red Chilli which is very reasonably priced and serves some fantastic food (and if dishes like 'husband & wife lung' and 'mrs spotty's bean curd' don't count as 'interesting' then I'm not sure what does) A good old fashioned pub in Leeds is Whitelocks, a Victorian pub hidden in an alley, complete with engraved glass and wood panelling, food is hearty (good pies) but the beer and atmosphere are what most people visit for. In Airedale/Wharfedale try some of the local gastropubs serving good local produce in simple dishes (Fleece in Addingham and Ilkley Moor Vaults are two within a 30m drive and are in good walking country). Hope you have a good tiome and do report back to us on your views.

'ey up youth (local language - start learning now) Do you know yet which part of Yorkshire you'll be visiting? We are quite spoiled here by a wide range of good places so if you can tell us where you'll be it will help narrow down some of the alternatives

Timo - I agree on Greetje - and thank you so much Chufi for recommending it. We ate there when we were in Amsterdam over Easter on Chufi's recommendation on this thread and were not disappointed. Firstly it is a lovely couple of rooms at different levels with a cosy atmosphere and very friendly and welcoming staff and a lovely view over a quiet canal. We too had to have the "Greetje's big beginnings" which is a sample of all of their starters. These included a light but very deeply flavoured clear oxtail broth, fresh tasting pea soup, lamb stew on a flaky pastry round into which the stew soaked temptingly, fried black pudding with apple, scallop with some very good dutch cheese which highlighted the flavour of the scallops surprisingly well and a shot glass of delicious brown shrimps with a piquant sauce. Then E had a good piece of steak, perfectly cooked with a vast piece of duck liver topping it. In the spirit of adventure I chose veal tongue which was a revelation, this had been poached then fried so the interior had the delicate, almost mousse-like texture of properly cooked offal and the outside was nicely caramelised by the pan. The flavour was superb. With this we drank a good bottle of rioja and beforehand had a drink at the bar - some cheap options of wine by the glass or carafe were available and perfefctly drinkable We were too full to manage puddings although these looked good and there was a similar tasting option of all puddings. Instead we were brought chocolate eggs and mints with coffee and the host brought us a complimentary liquer which was poured to the accompaniment of a story on its history. I agree with Timo that we were the only non-dutch diners there and it is clearly popular with locals though it has only been open for a few months. Thanks again to Chufi for recommending such a special place and I would not hesitate to recommend Greetje to others.

Congratulations! I can second Winot's recommendation of Digby Trout. They did canapes and drinks at our wedding at Edinburgh Castle and they were tremendous. The food was great, the staff were extremely helpful and really listened and the bill was reasonable - with no snootiness or pressure to go beyond your budget. I understand that they do fuller menus too and run the food for quite a range of museums/galleries (which are great alternative venues for ceremonies). We were horrified by the standard "banquering fayre" of most hotels and so went for a favourite restaurant (Atrium in Edinburgh) for the reception on the grounds that we like their food so much. It is quite amazing that the prices per head for our meal were more than half what many indifferent hotels were charging for distinctly lack-lustre mass catering. We had foie gras terrine with quince chutney made from the quinces growing in the chef's mum's garden. Then rump of lamb perfectly pink. They did a great organic chicken and veg for the children and had no problem with letting us bring our own special champagne (with reasonable corkage) and sausages from our local butcher for late night snack. The flexibility was, again, a major contract to big hotels who work to a very set formula. Another wedding I attended last summer was very well catered by an independent caterer - a great feature was starter (locally smoked salmon and salad) and pudding (apple crumble and custard) which were both delivered in huge dishes in the centre of each table for guests to help themselves - which gave both a great sense of feasting and sharing and broke the ice on tables where not everyone knew one another. One thing I have learned is to steadfastly ignore anyone who tells you that you have to choose chicken/salmon as "everyone likes it". We chose fairly unusual dishes and had no problems (only 1 older guest sending back his pink lamb to be cooked 'well-done' - which the kitchen charmingly did without demur or making him feel at all uncomfortable). In fact everyone is happy not to have dried up chicken again. Best of luck with it all and hope you enjoy the process (lots of testing of food and wine...)

Agreed that the 3 Chimneys is a wonderful place on a beautiful island. However, if you weren't planning on going so far (the 3 chimneys is pretty remote) then I would also recommend Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles - great cooking (second star this year and the only two-starred kitchen in Scotland), central location and also a good place to stay to build up to and recover from the food.