The 12 best restaurants in Yorkshire
Yorkshire folk love their food: Yorkshire pudding, Yorkshire curd tart, Yorkshire dressed crab. Of course, they’re blessed with a fine natural larder: game from the moorlands, a coastline of fresh fish, Dales-reared lamb, Wensleydale cheese and rhubarb from the magical West Yorkshire triangle, to mention a few ingredients.
But it’s not all hearty traditional dishes. The county has a sprinkling of Michelin stars (seven) that rewards restaurants turning out creative terroir-based dishes; gastropubs as well as country pubs; excellent fish restaurants (with closely guarded batter recipes); artisan joints doing the hipster thing; plus a swathe of ethnically diverse places that bring world flavours to Yorkshire. And when it comes to tearooms – posh, funky, vintage – Yorkshire nails it.
For further inspiration, see our holiday guide to Yorkshire and the best hotels, pubs, beaches and things to do in the area.
Find a restaurant by area
North York Moors and the surrounding area
The Star Inn, Harome
Whitby-born chef-owner Andrew Pern was one of Britain’s first champions of local sourcing, and now has a huge kitchen garden at the back of this chocolate-box-cute thatched pub. His Michelin-starred menus are punchy, robust yet skilfully balanced and as much about texture as taste: perhaps charcoal-grilled North Sea octopus with monkfish ‘chorizo’, followed by cannon of Nidderdale lamb with wild garlic crust and caramelised onion and turnip, and a stonking cheese trolley. There’s an element of fun - black-pudding bread is a kitchen favourite – and you get the same menu in the bar as the restaurant.
Contact: thestaratharome.co.uk
Reservations: Essential
Price: £££
Crab and Lobster, near Thirsk
Despite its unpromising setting – close to the A1 and beside a busy road – this seafood restaurant is packed, even on dismal weekday lunchtimes. What it lacks in views it makes up for with an eccentric style; a cross between a bric-a-brac store and a fisherman’s pub. No surface or wall is left unadorned: musical instruments, vintage diving suits, fishing nets, chandeliers, copper kettles merrily hang from the ceiling. Choose to eat in the jolly bar, romantic dining room or brighter conservatory from a magnificent menu that runs from Lindisfarne oysters or shellfish tortellini to lobster thermidor or Goan spiced fish mixed grill. Portions are huge; some meat and vegetarian dishes among them.
Contact: crabandlobster.co.uk
Reservations: Advisable
Price: ££/£££
The Alice Hawthorn Inn, Nun Monkton
In an idyllic village setting – opposite a cow-grazed green, amongst vine-covered cottages – this red-brick country inn shouldn’t really work as a foodie destination. Accessed by a country road that doesn’t go much further and set among quiet water meadows, it’s really on the way to nowhere. But chef John Topham (previously of the General Tarleton at Ferrensby, near Knaresborough) provides a smart menu that gives a clever, but not pretentious, boost to pub classics – perhaps local venison with black pudding boulangère potatoes and blackberry sauce, or roast cod with spicy aubergine plus local cheeses served with that very Yorkshire accompaniment of fruit cake.
Contact: thealicehawthorn.com
Reservations: Advisable
Price: ££
The Owl at Hawnby, Hawnby, near Helmsley
At the top of the hill, in the tiny village of Hawnby – population 193 – this pub manages to be a locals' local, a walkers' refuelling stop, a venue for shooting parties as well as a smart dining spot. While the bar is fuss-free and welcoming with a toasty fire (and Yorkshire hand-pulled ales), the dining room has a stylish, pared-back elegance with forest-green walls, colourful standard lamps and romantic candlesticks on polished oak tables. Chef Sam Varley – who also has a Michelin-recognised restaurant in nearby Helmsley – offers up a deceptively simple yet creative take on pub classics with a surprising depth of flavour: monkfish scampi and tartare sauce, Barnsley chop with Puy lentils, roast cod with girolles and white beans. The desserts are proper puddings, such as steamed lemon sponge and custard.
Contact: theowlhawnby.co.uk
Reservations: Advisable
Price: ££
Yorkshire Dales
Lister Arms, Malham
This is one of those rare pubs where everyone seems to be catered for: village green and stream to keep the kids happy, a decent range of ales for the beer-lovers, and home-cooked food that caters for the traditionalists and those with a fancy for something more. Choose from a range of steaks, sausage and mash, and their famous pies (such as haddock, salmon and prawn) to tandoori chicken and vegetable skewers, and home-made falafel burger with sriracha mayo. The dining room is rustically smart, and walkers and dogs (latter in the bar), very welcome.
Contact: listerarms.co.uk
Reservations: Advisable at weekends and holidays
Price: £/££
The White Lion Inn, Cray
This former drovers’ inn, in the lee of Buckden Pike and all stout stone and low windows, has managed that tricky act of maintaining its original purpose – roving drovers will find well-kept beers and decent sandwiches and pies in the bar at lunchtime – while offering tantalising evening dishes to more 21st-century palates whether muddy walkers or those just enjoying the Dales’ scenery. Interiors have kept their character, just lightened and brightened – white plaster walls, varnished-wood tables, low-beamed ceilings, stone-flagged floors – while the menu is classy Modern European such as avocado and crab tian, coq au vin with potato cake, and beef fillet with porcini mushroom duxelles.
Contact: bestpubinthedales.co.uk
Reservations: Advisable at weekends
Price: ££
Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall, Grantley, near Ripon
You come here as much for the surrounds as for the food. The drive through velvety parkland bordered by a river and sweeping to a halt in front of a period-drama-worthy Palladian-style mansion, is an experience in itself. Yorkshire-born Rankin gained Michelin stars at his Jersey restaurants before setting up Ormer Mayfair, London. Here at Grantley Hall he waves his magic – and a Michelin star since 2020 – over flavour-driven tasting menus that are both creative and fun without being pretentious: baby vegetables sit in mushroom ‘soil’; pine-nut crusted turbot comes with roasted crisps of cauliflower; a roasted tomato breaks open to reveal iced goats’ cheese. Portions are decent, service fulsome yet entertaining.
Contact: grantleyhall.co.uk
Reservations: Essential
Price: £££-££££
The Old School Tea Room, Hebden, near Grassington
Two miles outside popular Grassington, in upper Wharfedale, in the less-busy surrounds of pretty Hebden, this family-run café in a Victorian former school-room ticks plenty of boxes: garden with gazebos, dog-friendly, child-friendly (playground, pygmy goats and hens), and menus from breakfast through brunch, lunch and snacks to full afternoon tea served on vintage china. Licensed, too. Quiches, savoury pies, soup, ham and chips, super-salads, sandwiches, vegan and gluten-free options… even the fussiest of eaters are catered for. Plus cakes and scones are baked daily.
Contact: theoldschooltearoom.com
Reservations: not necessary, except for afternoon tea
Price: £/££
East Yorkshire and Coast
Magpie Café, Whitby
The fish (almost) leap onto your plate from the quayside opposite this long-established, family-run fish restaurant which sprawls over three higgled-piggledy floors. Fish portions are as huge as the multiple-choice menu (around 20 varieties, from monkfish to turbot) while the waitresses are disarmingly motherly. And you really need to save room for their puddings; the crumble (with custard, naturally,) is one of the best, and one portion is easily big enough for two. If fully booked, their takeaway fish and chip shop next door cooks to restaurant standards.
Contact: magpiecafe.co.uk
Reservations: Advisable
Price: £/££
Pipe and Glass, South Dalton
A village pub that segues effortlessly between locals’ regular and Michelin-starred restaurant, it sits close to the tall-spired St Mary’s church, all low-slung white-washed walls and red-pantiled roof. Chef-owner James Mackenzie, who co-owns with his wife Kate, was head chef at The Star (see above) so you can expect some of the same punchy but skilful cooking that takes the best of local produce and turns up the flavour intensity: barbecued Dales lamb with feta and mint potato croquette, say, or roast guinea fowl with wild garlic persillade. Puddings are not to be missed: Yorkshire rhubarb with pistachio Baked Alaska, for example – while cheeses are taken very seriously.
Contact: pipeandglass.co.uk
Reservations: Essential
Price: ££
Towns and cities
Bettys, Harrogate
The flagship café tearoom of the iconic Yorkshire brand – founded in 1919 – sits on a corner site in one of the town’s most prominent positions, opposite Montpellier Gardens. All cast-iron canopy and grand windows, it is a cut above the average and it’s rare not to have a queue outside (bookings are not possible, except for afternoon tea). Whether you’re here for coffee and scones (try one of its Fat Rascals, a heftier type of scone), something savoury such as fish gratin or the full-on afternoon tea, the service is the same: professional, capable and motherly. Teas are all loose-leaf, while the famed cakes – such as an Engadine torte or strawberry eclair – arrive on gilt-handled trolleys. And you can buy more to take away from the shop.
Contact: bettys.co.uk
Reservations: Not possible except for afternoon tea
Price: £/££
The Owl, Leeds
In the centre of Leeds but away from the commercial bustle, The Owl has bagged an enviable canalside spot. Light floods through the floor-to-ceiling windows while the simple Scandi-industrial design belies the sophistication of the Modern British menu. Dishes might include aged beef and oyster sausage with onion marmalade, Thirsk lamb with buckwheat and mint and sand carrots, and roasted cheddar gnocchi with veggie black pudding and kumquats. There are short tasting-menu options plus, at weekends, a creative brunch menu – crispy duck leg with malt waffle, smoked cod’s roe with wild boar jam on sourdough crumpets - with moreish cocktails such as a Yorkshire breakfast martini.
Contact: theowlleeds.co.uk
Reservations: Advisable
Price: ££
Jōro, Sheffield
Don’t be fooled by the setting – a shipping container development in the up-and-coming industrial-hip Kelham Island area of the city – this place has bags of style, verve and flavour. Run by chef Luke French and his wife, Stacey Sherwood, it offers a sophisticated tasting menu but in a house-party atmosphere; just eight tables, and cool music. Joro means ‘earth’ in Old Norse, and its dishes – which change daily depending as much on weather as market availability – have deep, intense flavours often with an Asian spin: trout with green dashi and sesame, local lamb ‘kofta’ with wild garlic, Yorkshire rhubarb with frozen custard. It's fine dining but without the fine dining fuss.
Contact: jororestaurant.co.uk
Reservations: Essential
Price: ££-£££
Aagrah, Leeds
The family-run Aagrah restaurant began in Shipley in 1977 determined to bring authentic Kashmiri cooking to pallid Yorkshire palates, and at fair prices. It has now spawned several more in and around Bradford and Leeds, each overseen by a member of the extended family. This one, next to Leeds Playhouse, is big, smart and modern with lots of mirrors, blingy lighting, smart waiters and up to 10 chefs in the kitchen. The menu is vast, but well-explained; Hyderabadi, tandoori and Rogan josh dishes are all recommended. The fact 70% to 80% of their guests are regulars – often in the third generation – says it all.
Contact: aagrah.com
Reservations: Not essential
Price: £/££
How we choose
Every restaurant in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, who has visited to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets, from neighbourhood favourites to Michelin-starred restaurants – to best suit every type of traveller’s taste – and consider the food, service, best tables, atmosphere and price in our recommendations. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest opening and provide up to date recommendations.
