Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Masham
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Masham restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 13 restaurants in Masham and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Masham restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Masham Restaurants
1. Origin Social
Fusion restaurant in Northallerton
2 Friarage Street - DL6
“If you happen to find yourself in Northallerton, a sure place to go!” – this two-year-old small plates venture focuses on live-fire cooking, and is a good bet in this thinly provided town.
2. Samuel’s, Swinton Park Hotel & Spa
British, Modern restaurant in Masham
Swinton Park - HG4
“The formal dining room at Swinton Estate” – “a country house hotel in a beautiful setting that supplies much of its food from local sources” and its own 20,000 acres of grounds. Ruth Hansom has been in charge of the kitchens during 2023 – a year that saw solid all-round ratings for its ambitious cuisine – in advance of handing over to former Roux Scholar Nicole Benham-Corlette following a £500,000 refurb to complete in early 2024: part of the property’s ‘estate-to-plate’ philosophy which aims to reduce its carbon footprint to being neutral by 2030.
3. The Old Deanery
British, Modern restaurant in Ripon
Minster Rd - HG4
The Old Deanery is a Jacobean mansion in the shadows of Ripon Cathedral. Acclaimed chef, Adam Jackson is surrounded by a buzz of excitement, having a collection of awards and accreditations to his name, and a list of some of the top restaurants on his CV. Ada...
4. The Blue Lion
British, Traditional restaurant in East Witton
Part of the Marquess of Downshire’s Clifton Castle and Jervaulx estates, this well-known eighteenth-century Wensleydale inn is, apparently, a favourite watering hole of King Charles III. “Well worth a drive” for its high-quality cooking – the kitchen team come into their own during the game season when “they demonstrate their mastery of cooking grouse, in the traditional and best way” – and it’s “dog friendly too”.
5. Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Grantley
This “handsome old house” makes a “brilliant” showcase for Yorkshire-born chef Shaun Rankin’s talents, honed by decades in Jersey and London. Valeria Sykes spent £70 million converting the country pile into a hotel, and given its almost “intimidating” level of luxury naturally “you may need a second mortgage before booking” (“from the iron gates policed by a uniformed guard, along a coiffed drive, we found a forecourt occupied by four Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini and assorted top-model Range Rovers!”). On all accounts, though, it’s “quite outstanding in all respects”, not least results from the ten-course ‘Taste at Home’ menu for £145 per person.
6. ChefsTable at TRUEfoods
British, Modern restaurant in Melmerby
9 Hallikeld Close - HG4
“A true gem” – chef-patron Mitch Mitchell’s utterly unlikely venture, located within a factory unit on an industrial estate that manufactures sauces and stocks. The 14-course tasting menu (Fri/Sat night only) caused Giles Coren to invoke Noma no less, and reporters this year all concurred that it is “an experience not to be missed”. The “only tiny issue is who you sit next to, as your neighbour could be totally loud and full of self-importance – but this place deserves a star at least!”
7. The Sandpiper Inn
British, Modern restaurant in Leyburn
Market Place - DL8
Jonathan & Janine Harrison’s eighteenth-century inn in a Wensleydale market town continues to attract solid ratings all-round for its well-priced, modern bistro fare.
8. Sportsman’s Arms
British, Traditional restaurant in Wath-in-Nidderdale
The Sportsmans Arms - HG3
2021 Review: “Honest Yorkshire portions of high-quality local ingredients” set the tone at this remote seventeenth-century inn near Pateley Bridge, run by Ray & June Carter for more than 30 years. They serve copious amounts of game shot in the immediate area, and have fishing rights on the River Nidd. The décor either “needs a refresh” or is delightfully old-fashioned, according to your taste.
9. Crab & Lobster
Fish & seafood restaurant in Asenby
Dishforth Rd - YO7
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”.
10. The Wensleydale Heifer
British, Modern restaurant in West Witton
Main St - DL8
In a “superb setting in the Dales”, father-and-son team Lewis & David Moss are behind this quintessential gastropub-with-rooms (including one room with a James Bond theme). “The team is superb, and the food (including seafood) speaks for itself as getting a table at short notice is extremely difficult”. NB – canines will love it (“the most dog-friendly pub I’ve ever visited!”), down to getting their very own sausages for brekko.
11. Bettys
Afternoon tea restaurant in Northallerton
189a High St - DL7
An offshoot of the time-capsule tearoom chain offering (once you get past the queues) genteel service, plus afternoon tea, sandwiches and other things more substantial. Fans claim that it’s “great for brunch with very professional staff”, although it’s perhaps not the pick of the Bettys bunch, and there was the odd caveat this year over rising prices and shrinking portions.
12. Fletchers at Grantley Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Grantley
This ultra-opulent seventeenth-century country house was reborn as a hotel in 2019 replete with pool, snow room and altitude training chamber. Its many eateries include a haute operation by former Ormer chef Shaun Rankin – and this tartan-clad, baronial-style brasserie, praised this year for its “amazing welcome and lovely food” (especially patisserie, if you put your trust in Jay Rayner’s otherwise slightly mixed 2022 review).
13. Paradise Café at Daleside Nurseries
British, Modern restaurant in Killinghall
Ripon Road - HG3
“The new venture from the old Yorke Arms team is absolutely perfect in every way” – “to see Frances Atkins preparing your lunch in the open kitchen is a wonderful experience”. Following the sad ending of her long tenure at the famous moorland inn, the first woman to earn a Michelin star in the UK is now wowing guests at a garden centre near Harrogate, alongside her trusted lieutenants chef Roger Oliver and manager John Tullett. There’s “a high-quality menu available throughout the day, while dinner is only on Fridays” (twice a month) – and it’s all “Michelin-quality food without the pretensions of a star”.
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