The York Food and Drink Report

[Craig1981]

So as some of you might already know, I went on holiday in York from the 13th of May to the 22nd. And a lot of food and drink was consumed in the process. Herein lies a record of my epic Munchtime!

I left early on Monday morning. Was travelling first class on the train, so was provided with some free food and drink on the way.

Firstly some tea and biscuits.



Followed by some macaroni and orange juice. The mac n cheese tasted better than it looks in this picture.

After getting to York and settling into my hotel room I went for dinner at The Olive Tree, having booked a table in advance.



Started with scallops and chorizo, with rocket salad. Very tasty!

For my main course I had the lobster ravioli, in a tomato and brandy sauce. Again very very nice!



And for dessert I went with the pannacotta with strawberry ice cream and fresh strawberries. Delicious!

Went for a couple of post-dinner cocktails at a cocktail bar called Bora Bora, which is somewhere I've been to in the past.

Amaretto Sour - amaretto, apple sour, cherry brandy, lime juice and gomme syrup topped with lemonade. Mmmmmmmmm!!!!



Apple Martini - Vodka, apple schnapps, lime juice and gomme syrup.

On Tuesday I went to Yorks Sweet Story, an exhibit based on Yorks involvment in the confectionary industry. As part of the tour we got to make our own chocolate lolly pops.



Heres mine!

After a trip on the York tour boat I went to Gourmet Burger Kitchen for lunch.



Along with a diet coke and small portion of skinny fries I had this, the Taxidriver. Which has American cheese, onion ring, cajun relish, dill pickle, salad and smoked chilli mayo in a brioche bun. Was good.

Picked up a little snack to take back to the hotel with me. Mozerella and pesto toastie! Nice!

For dinner that evening I went to the Blue Bicycle, which was another fairly upmarket resteraunt like The Olive Tree.



Starter was Confit Pork belly with Apple & Chorizo jam, mustard cress and pig skin Popcorn. Oh my god so tasty!



Main was Char-grilled fillet of locally sourced Beef, pommes Anna, black Pudding meatball, crisp Cauliflower, watercress and a red Wine sauce. NOM NOM!!!

And for dessert I had Pistachio & Jasmine Tea delice, with chocolate & Kaffir Lime leaf truffles and iced Raspberry. Unusual, but nice.

On Wednesday, after a tour around the York castle museam and the Yorvik viking centre I went to a lovely French resteraunt called Rustique for lunch.



Starter was the crab cake served with a sweet chilli salsa.

Main was Steak Frites. Rump steak with pepper sauce and chips. The steak was cooked exactly to my liking, so no complaints at all with this

Dessert was the Pot au Chocolat. Chocolate cream with shortbread.


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[Craig1981]

After lunch I went to the Evil Eye bar/resteraunt for a little tipple.



This is a Cherry Rose. Cherry heering, stoli razberi, cherry marnier, pomegranate and lemon. Yummy!



Also had a shot called Bubblegum, which is meant to be amaretto, midori and cream. However the barman realised they were out of amartto, so asked if it was ok if he gave me double midori and added some almond flavoured syrup to give it the amaretto flavour. As an added bonus he also "accidently" made enough for two shots. Such a nice touch



I went for a walk in the sunshine after that and browsed some shops. I also picked up this waffle cone with banana ice cream from a street vendor.

That evening I went to Yo! Sushi for dinner. Its one of those resteraunts where the food is on plates going past all the tables on a conveyor belt. You take what you want and they charge you based on what plates you have at the end.

Chicken firecracker rice and chicken katsu.

Spicy chicken iso sushi. Had two of these plates.



California rolls and seared beef nigiri.


And for dessert some Dorayaki, which is Japanese pancake with custard filling and raspberry sauce. Really nice!!

For such small individual portions, its pretty easy to get full up eating all that. I went back to Bora Bora for a quick drink before calling it a night.



Creamy Martini - Baileys, amaretto, banana liqueur, mixed with milk and cream. LOVELY!!!

On Thursday I went to the Yorkshire museam and York Minster. For lunch that day I decided to go to Cafe Rouge.



Starter was warm gruyère cheese fondue, with bread.



For main I had Croque Madame with fries. Croque Madame is esentially a cheese and ham toasted sandwhich, with the cheese on top instead of inside, with a fried egg on top. The egg worked really well with the cheese and bread. Really enjoyed this!

That evening I really didn't have an appetite for dinner. So after a long walk around York I stopped in at a Tesco express near my hotel and picked this up for "dinner".

On Friday I spent all morning and the start of the afternoon exploring the National Railway Museam. Really awesome place. For lunch that day I went to Bettys Tea Room.

Not the best lighting cause I was sitting in the dowstairs area, but its Yorkshire rarebit with bacon and chips. This was sooooo good!



Followed by... err... I cant actually remember what it was called. Some kind of chocolate cake, with fresh cream. Tasty

That evening all my travelling round York, stuffing myself silly and sometimes having trouble sleeping due to an unfamilar bed finally caught up with me. By around 8.30 I was so exhausted that I pretty much went straight to bed without even thinking about dinner.

On Saturday I went to Fairfax House, a Georgian style townhouse. Quite an interesting place. After that I went for lunch at a little cafe called Danish Kitchen.

Lunch consisted of a coronation chicken baguette, bowl of tomato soup and some cranberry juice. Nothing fancy really, but still nice.

After a bit more walking round York I was in the mood for a snack. Thankfully the streets of York provided yet again in the form of a crepe stand.

Oooooh yeah you know how I like it! <3

Banana, nuts and caramel. Yummmmy!!!

That evening I went for dinner at the Biltmore Bar & Grill. This is actually where I had a bit of a disappointing dining experience.



The starter was good. A parfait of chicken liver infused with black truffle. Served with plum chutney & toasted brioche. No problems here.

The main is where things went wrong. I asked for my sirloin steak to be cooked medium to well done. It was seved medium rare!! I know I should have complained and told them to take it back, but since it was still edible enough, in typical British style, I decided not to say anything. Also, its perhaps a minor quibble, but I resented having to pay £3 extra for the blue cheese sauce and another £3 for the chips. The steak was expensive enough on its own, you would think they could have included sauce and chips in the price. *shrug* Oh well...



Dessert was a step back in the right direction. Hot chocolate fondent, with white chocolate sauce and fresh raspberries. If the steak had been cooked properly it would have been a fantastic meal. As it was, it was acceptable, but I would think twice about going there again.


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[Craig1981]

On Sunday I had another go on the York tour boat and for lunch, for a change of pace, I decided to get some takeout.

Had some really fantastic haddock and chips from Drakes Fish and Chips and ate it in the sunshine, throwing little tid bits of fish to the pigeons

That evening I had dinner in Oscars Bistro.



Starter was garlic bread with pepperoni

Main was the chicken tower sandwhich - Spicy marinated chicken breast grilled and served on a bed of lettuce & mayonnaise in a flour bap topped with cheese, salsa and guacamole, served with chips, onion rings and a salad garnish. Good quality, but I couldn't finish it. Just too much fooooood!

Went back yet again to Bora Bora. Never could resist a good cocktail!



The Illusion - Midori, malibu, vodka cointreau, pinapple juice.



Alabama Slammer - Vodka, Southern Comfort, amaretto served with fresh orange juice topped with grenadine.

On Monday I went for a walk around the roman city walls, though I only did about half of the circuit before deciding to give up and go for some lunch. I went to Red Chilli this time. I went for the set course lunch menu.



First had the chicken and sweetcorn soup. Very nice!

Then some salt and pepper ribs. Also very nice!

And lastly chicken in a satay sauce with egg fried rice. The whole meal was only £9, with another £3 for a pint of diet pepsi. Bloody good bargain!



And for dessert I went for a walk along the riverside and bought myself a cone from an ice cream van next to the river boat landing.

For dinner that night I had originally planned to go to Asia Gourmet, based on divaboys recommendation. I even went and found the place a few days beforehand.



See! I even took a picture of the plastic food they had displayed to prove it! o.O

But by this point in the holiday my feet were starting to get a bit on the sore side from all the miles of walking I'd done. Asia Gourmet was located a fairly long walk away from my hotel. Plus I found out that Yo Sushi did a promotion called Blue Monday where all the blue plates are at a reduced price... sooooo.....



Yeah. I went back to Yo Sushi again. Sorry Divaboy! :/



Chicken katsu curry and chicken yakisoba



Vegetable Gyoza



Spicy chicken salad



And then epic dessert time! First some Mochi, soft Japanese rice cake balls with a sweet filling



Then a chocolate ganache cake, with a crunchy meringue centre



And lastly a lemon cheesecake, with some pistachio's on top.



*burp*


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[Craig1981]

Tuesday was the last day of my holiday, and by this point I had pretty much done all the touristy stuff that I wanted to do. So I did the roman walls again, this time going all the way around. And for lunch I went to York Hogroast for a filled roll to eat out.



Sliced roast beef with stuffing below and english mustard on top. Munched this in the sunshine while listening to a street performer playing the violin. Bliss!



Had a hankering for something sweet after that so went to York Cocoa House. Had some moist and delicious chocolate orange cake. And some botanically brewed cherry cola.



After that I fancied a drink. So went to the Kings Arms pub and had a couple of pints of cider. Lovely stuff! Very smooth

I got in some souvenir shopping and then picked up a snack to tide me over until dinner time back at the hotel.



Gotta love a nice toastie!

I still had my suitcase to pack, so decided to have my last dinner in York at the hotel.



Chicken terrine with spiced coleslaw and lemon oil. Quite nice, though the portion was kinda on the small side.



Followed by pork, with crushed parsnip and mulled red cabbage. Reasonably good, though I wasn't really that keen on the cabbage.



For dessert I had wanted the crème brulee with orange shortbread, but alas they didn't have any of that left. So I went for pannacotta with raspberry sorbet. Decent enough.

Wednesday dawned and it was time to go home. On the train they were really generous with the food and drink. I was offered something no less than 7 times over a 4 hour journey! God bless first class!

First up was tea, biscuits and a packet of kettle chips.



Some rose wine.

Some orange juice.

Some lemonade and another packet of kettle chips.



And finally an egg and tomato sandwhich and some more orange juice.


I want to thank everyone who made suggestions for places to go to eat and drink in York. It definetely helped make my holiday a good one

 

[Craig1981]

Craig I've just gone through this thread then walked to the canteen, stood looking into a vending machine and cried....

*bro hug*

 

[Craig1981]

Good write up and glad you enjoyed York, shame about Asia gourmet but may be next time!

Cheers for sharing the love of York its a good city to visit

The next time I go I will definetely make an effort to go there. I would have gone this time if I hadn't skipped dinner those two days. Plus that Blue Monday promotion was too tempting to pass up...

Thanks so much for all the advice you gave me!