Bingley, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: A “very good value, high-quality place in Ilkley” where Joel Monkman’s large and small plates of British seasonal fare continue to win plaudits three years after its founding; also on the menu, lunchtime BBQ Buns and hearty Sunday roasts.

Well known as “a gorgeous getaway spot” ten minutes’ drive from Halifax, this old corn mill has served as a “warm and cosy” inn for more than a century, with a “lovely restaurant” that offers a “good range” of modern British dishes “cooked to a high standard” (available in either tasting or à la carte formats, plus sandwiches at lunchtime). There are 11 “beautiful rooms upstairs” for overnight stays.

2024 Review: The more casual (and vividly hued) dining option at this hotel owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire turns out “good food” of a brasserie bent, featuring plenty of produce grown on the estate and in the hotel’s kitchen garden. A “great open-plan wine cellar” and terrace add to its charms.

2024 Review: “An airy space with unusual dishes and great cooking” – this comfortable independent opposite the civic hall scored highly in this year’s annual diners’ poll. The focus is on small plates, some of them very original: who’s for ‘honey, soy and gochujang roast carrots, toasted sesame, with tahini satay’?

A lot of business has been done over “lovely food, very well served” at this Leeds institution – a classic French restaurant that’s “been going forever” (well, since 1991 – “I don’t think the menu has changed but it’s really nice food for a business lunch or dinner”). Founded by restaurateur Robert Chamberlain and executive chef Andrew Carter, who still run the show, it occupies a basement in the city’s financial district. Top Tip – the heavyweight wine list runs to 70 pages.

A report of “the best meal of the last year” is indicative of the quality of the food at this modern canalside venture in the city centre, which originally opened five years ago at Kirkgate Market. Chef Mark Owens, who trained at Le Gavroche and was head chef at the Box Tree, sends out a souped-up gastropub menu featuring the likes of beef & oyster sausages. Founder Liz Cottam closed her flagship restaurant, Home, last year.

“Intimate and incredible” – Sam Pullan and Nicole Deighton’s lovingly restored ‘Cafe, Bar, and Wall of Flame Rotisserie’ channels the late Victorian vibes of its namesake on this site to deliver a thoroughly 21st-century formula, mixing an “ever-changing menu” of “innovative” bites incorporating small plates, and chicken from the rotisserie, plus “wonderful drinks”.