The Fox & Hounds nr Whitby

[Gary Marshall]

a while ago i was searching through various pub guides to look for a place to go for a night away for mrs m's birthday, even though the guides were well used somehow i had completely missed the fox and hounds at goldsborough, a little further digging revealed not much, they have no website but are in both hardens and alastair sawdays special places. Although the pub doesn't look particularly exciting from the small picture i logged it away as somewhere that might be worth a try.

Fast forward to this saturday and i was thinking of somewhere to try for a birthday-ish lunch, 'why not try that pub near whitby i thought' and a quick call to them ascertained they had a table, and that their usual menu was on offer which meant around 6 starters, 6 mains a couple of puddings and a cheese, 'all local and seasonal' said the voice on the other end of the phone. Pefect, and off we set over the moors (quite literally) through the snow and hail to find a tiny pub atop the cliffs overlooking the bay.

The small kitchen is the first room to left and encouragingly gastronomic smells were emanating from it, and we wandered through into the pub which is essentially two small rooms (there is also a 5 seater private dining room too), one also hosting the bar. There's probably about 7 tables in total. Think compact and bijou. The place is run by sue and jason davies she ex-oddettes and he ex- ivy, they are local and left the smoke to run the pub which is owned by one of the local landowners on his estate.

They have kept it simple but that's not to say corners have been cut, there's very few places in leeds where you can find a proper aperitif/cocktail menu but here they do, everything is chalked on blackboards, winelist included and everything kept to a minimalist 3 -5 items.

there's only one leffe blonde beer on tap, the rest are bottled ales/fruit beers, so i had a swift half of that to blow the dust off.

Once seated, Iced water was proffered along with some fantastic homemade sourdough (st john inspired apparently) and some seriously good olive oil (first press greek it turns out)

From the menu board we ordered grilled langoustines and a porcini risotto, Langoustines were superb, with sweet meat and the risotto good but needing a bit of salt (little pots of maldon on the tables btw - tick vg) to get it up to my taste but nowt wrong with the cusisson.

For the mains we both had halibut with canelloni beans, chargrilled fennel and salsa verde. The fish was a 1 x 3 inch tall tranche and the skin was lovely crisp and golden, the salsa wouldn't be something i'd normally go for but this was seriously capery which is fine by me, the olive oil made a reapperance too as a lubricator and held the whole dish together. This is the sort of dish i'd expect to find in the river cafe for £30+ not £18 (i think) in a pub near whitby.

We split a cheese course which was a no-nonesense chunk of lowna dairy goats with delicate apple slices and biscuits and a pudding of almond and pistachio cake that again wouldn't disgrace a top Italian restaurant.

The wine list is seriously idiosyncratic, of a choice of four -ish, i was going to have either the gruner veltliner £18 or a german chardonnay (hauk i think it was for £22) on the basis that these aren't the sort of wines just stick on a list i conferred with sue as to the best choice, i like GV and drink it regularly, when pushed she said that was also her favourite but for a change i had the chardonnay and perefectly good it was too.

over a very good coffee and a calva (well they'd gone to all the trouble of writing up the digestif menu so it seemed rude not to) we had a chat with the owners who are certainly dedicated foodies and running a place on all the right lines, veg from the local organic farm, lobsters from runswick bay and fish from scarborough/whitby.

We were chatting about the guides and our respective pub experiences and it turns out they were listed in the Good Food Guide 2007 as the best yorkshire newcomer, then left out of the 2008 edition. On the basis of our meal that looks certainly more of an administrative oversight than a genuine demotion so it's been there 3 years it's in pretty much most of the guidebooks, is on my patch and i've never heard it mentioned by anyone, so i can claim it as my discovery! We'll be back.

fox and hounds, goldborough, yo21 3rx 01947 893372 closed mon, tues, sun eve. note lunch orders need to be taken between 12 and 1pm, it's small so book!

[sunbeam]

I did like Greens in Whitby. Nice husband and wife team and plenty of local fish, including langoustines and line caught sea bass

N

[Gary Marshall]

i know of it and have peered at the menu but never been open when i've been through, it did come up in conversation though, apparently they're going through a bit of a molecular gastronomy phase.....

[sunbeam]

i know of it and have peered at the menu but never been open when i've been through, it did come up in conversation though, apparently they're going through a bit of a molecular gastronomy phase.....

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Blimey, they weren't when I was there a short while ago, just clean simple cooking with great ingredients! I ate two nights running and enjoyed it. especially the local red mullet and brill

S

[Bapi]

From the menu board we ordered grilled langoustines and a porcini risotto, Langoustines were superb, with sweet meat and the risotto good but needing a bit of salt (little pots of maldon on the tables btw -  tick vg) to get it up to my taste....

We were chatting about the guides and our respective pub experiences and it turns out they were listed in the Good Food Guide 2007 as the best yorkshire newcomer, then left out of the 2008 edition. On the basis of our meal that looks certainly more of an administrative oversight than a genuine demotion 

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Blimey that risotto sounds as if it's worth the journey alone. Nice one.

I also agree re the Good Food Guide. Odd looking Chef/ Owners in Padstow who can not be arsed sending their GFG forms back aside , it does seem as though they fucked up fairly badly this year. To be voted the best and then disappear seems more than just an oversight. Take my local tapas restaurant by way of another example. Glowing reviews nationally and locally this year as well as an award from Hardens for best Yorkshire newcomer etc and yet it fails to appear in the GFG. Go figure.

[Gary Marshall]

coincidentally i was going to give you a bell and head over to gato negro/millbank if we couldn't get into the fox and hounds.

[Scottf]

coincidentally i was going to give you a bell and head over to gato negro/millbank if we couldn't get into the fox and hounds.

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Well one of you's had a result

[Gary Marshall]

coincidentally i was going to give you a bell and head over to gato negro/millbank if we couldn't get into the fox and hounds.

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Well one of you's had a result

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[Basildog]

From the menu board we ordered grilled langoustines and a porcini risotto, Langoustines were superb, with sweet meat and the risotto good but needing a bit of salt (little pots of maldon on the tables btw -  tick vg) to get it up to my taste....

We were chatting about the guides and our respective pub experiences and it turns out they were listed in the Good Food Guide 2007 as the best yorkshire newcomer, then left out of the 2008 edition. On the basis of our meal that looks certainly more of an administrative oversight than a genuine demotion 

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Blimey that risotto sounds as if it's worth the journey alone. Nice one.

I also agree re the Good Food Guide. Odd looking Chef/ Owners in Padstow who can not be arsed sending their GFG forms back aside , it does seem as though they fucked up fairly badly this year. To be voted the best and then disappear seems more than just an oversight. Take my local tapas restaurant by way of another example. Glowing reviews nationally and locally this year as well as an award from Hardens for best Yorkshire newcomer etc and yet it fails to appear in the GFG. Go figure.

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OI! Cheeky bollocks!. I forgot once, then they stopped sending me the forms( i have to be punished you see) They started again this year, i have sent it back so we will see what happens in the autumn.