Helmsley Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: This extended fifteenth-century inn (nowadays with nearly fifty bedrooms) sits at the heart of this very attractive market town. Its Gallery Restaurant (named for its dual purpose during the day as an art gallery) has quite a reputation, and – despite sustained gripes over the years that it’s rather pricey – all reports rate it good or better.

2021 Review: “Splendid cafe/restaurant in a charming building overlooking Helmsley's picturesque stream that’s on another plane altogether from Helmsley’s other establishments”. Sibling to the York original it serves “delicious, wholesome café food”: “the selection, especially from the specials board, is always interesting, and uses lots of local seasonal ingredients”.

“Back after the terrible fire which is great news!” – Andrew Pern’s famous pub in rural Yorkshire is, say fans, “back at the top of its game” and – having “recently refurbished” out of necessity is “everything a top restaurant should be”. One of the top 100 most commented-on destinations outside London in our annual diners’ poll: “it’s not really a pub” anymore and the interior is “as beautiful as the food”: “delicious cooking, using mainly local produce”. It would have scored even higher ratings this year, were it not for a couple of reporters who felt the offering didn’t live up to its high billing, but even they still rated it decently well. And most regulars are just plain delighted to have it back: “I make the pilgrimage there from London twice a year and have done so since 2004. It is just a fantastic all-round experience that never disappoints!”

“If you want a hotel with a really good restaurant, this is the place for you” – Jacquie Pern’s “slightly formal” but reliably “quality” venture, occupies a “lovely setting” in a North Yorks village. “With the terrible fire at The Star Inn (next door, and run by Pern’s ex-husband), the Pheasant was taking the lead in looking after dining for the two operations” – but thankfully the Star reopened in Nov 2022, a year after it was laid low by an arson attack.

“What an amazing experience: loved it!” – “husband and wife team” Paul & Liz Jackson “deliver quality in every department” at the 12th-century inn on the North York Moors they’ve run since 2012. Paul’s cooking is anything but traditional, featuring “Asian-inspired flavours in a tasting menu that doesn’t overwhelm”, alongside “interesting drinks pairings – not all of them are wines”, while the “small number of tables” means “service is attentive and friendly”. There are also “very pleasant rooms to stay overnight”.

“Great pub food and proper Yorkshire hospitality” are the defining features of Rob & Gill Thompson’s whitewashed inn, a fixture in the village for almost four centuries. “Everything is a big cut above the average – highly recommended”.

“It’s very difficult to find fault” at Tommy Banks and his family’s famous pub out in the boonies of North Yorks – head chef Callum Leslie’s ten-course tasting menu is £175 per person, and even if “you may be heading for bankruptcy at this level of pricing, the cooking is astonishing”: “we even thought it good value! with some of the most interesting and tasty desserts encountered in any starred restaurant”; “it lived up to all expectations despite (well-founded) cynicism about these things!”

2023 Review: “Assured cooking from an interesting menu means you could do a lot worse in the area” than this seventeenth-century village pub. Young chef-patron Ali Moran, who took over a year ago, grew up in the neighbouring hamlet of Hartoft, and serves game from his parents’ farm.

This quirky fish specialist, with exotically styled bedrooms in the 18th century Crab Manor, certainly has an “original ambience” (“if Victoria Wood’s Acorn Antiques ran a restaurant”, it might look like this, replete with assorted “sea-fishing paraphernalia”); there was the odd blip on the service front this year, but also continued praise for some of the “best seafood around”.

2023 Review: “A superb find” in North Yorkshire, the former Inn at Hawnby has been smartly refurbed by Coastal & Country Inns as a luxury pub/restaurant with rooms. Meals are “well presented and taste superb”, while “nothing is too much trouble” for the friendly staff.

Chef Josh Overington and his wife Victoria opened this new restaurant with three rooms in North Yorkshire at the end of June 2023 (well after our annual diners’ poll had concluded) in a converted old pub, formerly called the Malt Shovel (but still replete with beams, flagged floors and characterful details). Myse (which rhymes with cheese) is a follow-up to their Le Cochon Aveugle in York (which enjoyed stellar ratings in our survey) and provides a tasting-only formula, with fifteen courses for £125 and wine pairings from £65. Early vibes – for example from arch northern foodie Thom Hetherington – are very upbeat.