A pork pie, and Timothy Taylor's Best Bitter

[byrdhouse]

We have a week to spend in Yorkshire, both town and country. We will have not much money, so our dining will probably be pub. Some research has revealed the Pork Pie Appreciation Society and Timothy Taylor Beers, which we hope is a good start.

So we are appealing first for word about interesting inexpensive food you've had in Yorkshire (pubs included)...

...but our second question is if we go (just one night) to a really special place, where shall it be?

[June Pickering]

Try to get to Whitby on the coast... good fish and chips at the Magpie Cafe. We had a delicious dinner at The White Swan in Middleham. We spent the night in their B&B were really impressed with the quality of both dinner and breakfast.

[Gary Marshall]

The most popular guide for pub dining is the good pub guide it has some on-line searching but it would be well worth picking up a copy before you leave on when you get to the UK, it is readily available in most bookshops and on amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0...7718311-3307865

http://www.goodguides.co.uk/

North Yorkshire is the spiritual home of pub dining, although you'll have plenty of choice many are more restaurants than pubs but that guide should see you right.

The really special place is the star at harome, it has a michelin star and it isn't cheap, but it is very special www.thestaratharome.co.uk

without knowing your budget it's hard to recommend, the good pub guide has a good price guide.

(and their recommendation for yorkshire dining pub of the year is spot on )

[byrdhouse]

North Yorkshire is the spiritual home of pub dining, although you'll have plenty of choice many are more restaurants than pubs but that guide should see you right.

The really special place is the star at harome, it has a michelin star and it isn't cheap, but it is very special www.thestaratharome.co.uk

without knowing your budget it's hard to recommend, the good pub guide has a good price guide.  (and their recommendation for yorkshire dining pub of the year is spot on  )

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Exactly what we'd hoped (but not dared expect) to hear. The 2006 pub book is available on US Amazon, which will give us time to plot and plan. The Star Inn looks like a prime candidate. My wife may have found a place run by a couple of chefs with stages at El Bulli, Anthony's in Leeds http://www.anthonysrestaurant.co.uk/ ....have you heard anything? Sometimes the restaurant trying for their first star can be amazing. Le Clos des Gourmets in Paris was such an experience, better than any of the three 1-stars we tried.

[Gary Marshall]

My wife may have found a place run by a couple of chefs with stages at El Bulli, Anthony's in Leeds http://www.anthonysrestaurant.co.uk/ ....have you heard anything?  Sometimes the restaurant trying for their first star can be amazing.  Le Clos des Gourmets in Paris was such an experience, better than any of the three 1-stars we tried.

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Oh Yes, Anthony's are very well known to us

i don't know how to link the thread but there's plenty here on egullet, it is definitley worth a trip anthony was a chef at el bulli and his partner olga was front of house, they certainly know what they are doing. for a more casual take on their cooking they have another place in leeds, anthonys at flannels.

[Charlie O]

Anthony's thread:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...235&hl=anthonys

[Weasel]

'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

[byrdhouse]

'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

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We're starting in Haworth, then heading toward Leeds in search of pork pies and ale. Anthony's is a possibility if we want to spend the money. But we've three or four days, possibly more, and we are quite ready to go anywhere...there's so much to see, so we might as well do it with good food along the way. We sense that the coast is pricey, though, and we live on the coast, so it's not particularly special.

We've had our share of high-end dining experiences, including two visits to The French Laundry, which is almost local (actually 5 hours south of Humboldt County, but California is very big). "Interesting" is the key word here; we'll happily change our itinerary to find something special or unusual.

[Dave Hatfield]

But we've three or four days, possibly more, and we are quite ready to go anywhere...t

Ok, can't give you pub pork pies, but....

Go just a bit West of Leeds to Otley. In this small town their are not one, but two of the best pork pie makers I have ever come across. Wegeman's is right on the corner of the high street. The other, whose name I can't remember, is just down the side street by the small market square.

They make several sizes, but I prefer the small ones. You can buy them still warm especially on Saturday's as they sell so quickly that there are constant replentishments coming out.

While in the area you should go to 'Betty's Tea Rooms' in either Ilkley or Harrogate. English high tea as it used to be. A real institution. Buy some of their Yorkshire Tea to take home, great stuff!

Edit: My wife returned from visiting her sister yesterday. When I picked her up at the airport she presented me with a Wegeman pork pie, medium size, she had to drive as I couldn't wait. The pie didn't last much more than 5 km. Heaven!!

Edited June 4, 2006 by Dave Hatfield (log)

[Taboni]

In reference to your title, you'll want Timothy Taylor Landlord, much better than Best.

[Weasel]

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.

[byrdhouse]

from a Haworth/Leeds axis you have lots of fun things within a fairly short radius....

...Hope you have a good tiome and do report back to us on your views.

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Now we wish we'd planned a week! "some of the finest curryhouses in Europe!" Who'd have guessed?

Thanks to everyone who helped us plan this excursion, and we certainly will report back....I'm supposing it will be to this same thread, yes? Check back the second week in July, when we've had a chance to compare notes.

[YKL]

definitely agree with curry in Bradford.

Another option would be the Aagrah chain (try this link) - which has several branches

Gastro pub options near Haworth and on the West Yorkshire side would be The Millbank (link here) or Shibden Mill Inn (here)

Fish and chips are another Yorkshire institution - so if you get as far as Whitby on the east coast, then it's the magpie cafe you want, else in Leeds, Bryans in Headingley is a big name, but Harry Ramsden in guiseley (suburb of Leeds) is the old name. Not been for years, but could still be worth a visit?

Hope this helps

[Dave Hatfield]

but Harry Ramsden in guiseley (suburb of Leeds) is the old name. Not been for years, but could still be worth a visit?

Yes; Harry's has had a resurection and is back on top of the Fish & Chips stakes.

They're about 5 minutes from my sister-in-laws so we go every time we visit.

Worth it for the 'local colour' !

[BertieWooster]

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.

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Haven't been to the Vaults yet, what's it like?