Brief writeup of some highlights from a whistlestop tour round some bits of the North (I’m from Manchester originally, but been on south coast for >25 years!). Not a specifically foody trip, my GF isn’t very adventurous food wise, so a lot of places are out.
Started with a wedding near Sheffield - so wedding food as you expect!
Then up to Whitby on Sunday . Absolute belter of a storm, sea was very wild. Lots of good pubs, particular shout out to the Black Horse, old quirky pub that specialises in what it calls YAPAS, yorkshire tapas. We just had some local cheese, but some of the menu sounded quite interesting. Also did a range of (non yorkshire!) tinned seafood ‘conservas’ which is nice to see geting popular.
Then onto the Magpie cafe, as thought it seemed compulsory. Amazingly busy on a horrible night, ridiculously big menu but somehow they keep the food coming out at reasonable quality. I had their seafood pot, not the most exciting selection in there but well cooked, and had to have a side of impeccable chips. GF surprised me by not having fish and chips, and got a dressed crab (And chips!). Trifle for pudding, because how often do you see that? Spoke to a couple who go every weekend and have done for a decade, and I can see why.
Stop over in Stockton-on-tees to see my nephew. Brief mention for the two incredibly friendly micropubs (Only ones open on monday) in stockton. We just went to a local neighborhood italian (https://laportoitaliano.co.uk/norton/) . Usual massive menu of pasta/pizza options, but it was surprisingly good (Seafood linguini was better than I’ve had at much fancier places and packed with seafood), huge portions and amazingly compared to equivalents near me. GF had lamb shank, which had the look of a Brakes vac pac special, but she enjoyed it.
Seahouses/Bamburgh for a couple of days. Beach house hotel in Seahouses highly recommended for a stay- only had breakfast there, but dinner menu looked decent too. Indian first night - standard BIR fare, but perfectly fine.
Then Potted Lobster. My kind of place, Informal, simple seafood etc. I had local langoustines (Possibly a little overcooked, but not terribly so) then an autumnal hake with wild mushroom and bacon sauce. GF did have fish and chips this time! Mine did come with the biggest portion of well cooked green vegetables I have ever seen - would easily have served 2, and I’ve seen less given for a table of 4. I like my veg so managed it, but I’m sure most wouldn’t. Also not sure why somewhere claiming local and seasonal was serving asparagus and mangetout at the end of October. Pricing did seem a little keen - but was a common theme in the area. Slight warning for anyone not driving there too - there are a couple of local taxis, but they were all unreachable. Had to walk back to seahouses in pitch black on a country road. There was a path fortunately but it freaked my GF out a bit.
Over to Carlisle to see my sister. They had booked a local pub/restaurant they hadn’t tried before. Crown and Thistle in Rockliffe [https://www.crown-thistle.co.uk/]. Definitely best food of the trip. Kind of menu you want to see on a pub menu, but rarely do, with a mix of pub classics and some more cheffy stuff if you want it. GF had a twice baked cheese souffle to start which looked pretty perfect. I had prawns in garlic and chilli butter - fairly standard but the butter was delicious, I think there was a bit of fermented chilli in the mix. And excellent in house bread with both.
GF had a decent looking lamb and mint pie (Proper pie too, not stew with a lid). I had their ‘Duo of Pheasant’, perfectly cooked breast, plus a fab house made pheasant sausage, with some excellent autumnal veg, potato pave thing AND mash (Pie came with mash and a fondant too, obviously a fan of double carbs!) plus a tremendous gravy. Too stuffed for pudding, but they looked good. Incredibly good value too, that pheasant dish was £17. I’ve paid considerably more for a dodgy burger or a microwave special in ‘Gastropubs’ before. Unsurprisingly the place was packed, fairly early on a random thursday. If it was my local I’d be there all the time.
Last stop was Rind in Austwick near settle- the pizza place attached the Courtyard Dairy cheesemongers (We came back next morning to buy too much cheese). Ran by same people as the cheese barge and pick and cheese in London. We had a riff on a carbonara pizza to share, mascarpone base, mushrooms, egg yolk,pancetta and old winchester cheese. Was pretty good. Then shared their cheese selection, same gimmick as they do in there other places, pairing the cheese with all kinds of things, some more successful than others (Blue cheese + parkin, good. Blue cheese with choclate brownie, bit weird. Gouda with fudge - no). Fun place if you like cheese (we do)
So a good trip all in all. Though annoying my sister managed to pick out the best place! 4 days back at work, then off to spain for more seafood and suprisingly, french cheese (I know a guy…)
