The Yorke Arms

Tuesday night sees us staying in The Yorke Arms run by the Chef Patron Frances Atkins. 

Our journey had been lovely, but the welcome at The Yorke Arms was just amazing. The Yorke Arms is set in a tiny village in the heart of Nidderdale just 4.5 miles from the town of Pateley Bridge, an amazing setting.

We were taken to our room, no that is probably not the right word, perhaps I should say maisonette, in the original french sense of that word - a small house. One of a series of small houses in the courtyard just behind the main building.


The building had a downstairs sitting area with tea making facilities and fresh milk in the fridge, a lovely touch. 

Upstairs was a desk which led into the bedroom and bathroom which were light and airy. There was a huge wardrobe and the bathroom had a full size bath and a huge shower area, with the best water flow in a shower I've had all holiday. A lovely, lovely place to stay.

This beauty was also carried out into the garden. This was a mix of a large lawn, wild flowers and cultivated flowers, plus, most important of all, a large vegetable and herb garden. There are just two pictures of them here, there are another 30 which will go up on to Flickr later.

We were invited to sit in the shaded area outside our house while reading the menu and making our decisions. This wasn't a hard choice. We already knew we would be going for the 8 course tasting menu, to explore the wonders of Frances' food.

When we had moved into the dining room we were sat at a large table that could easily have seated four. This made for plenty of eating space and meant that we were not crammed close to other diners. There were only 20 people in the dining room including ourselves giving a very personalised feel. 

Our Amuse Boche had an amazing texture. It was a rhubarb jelly with a piece of mozzarella above it and a candied fruit and sorrel leaf. The idea was creative and the food was delicious. Who knew that the sharp, but sweetened, rhubarb would go so well with the salty firm mozzarella, the delightful perfume of the sorrel was clearly not just there for decoration but formed a key part of the flavour explosion that was this dish. A really good start. 

The more observant reader will also see the selection of breads in the photo above. This included an organic white loaf, wholemeal bread with pumpkin seeds, a treacle bread and a cheese bread. These were served with a selection of butter and olive oil. I loved the pumpkin bread, while Drew now thinks making bread with treacle is the only way things should be done. A real find for him.

One next dish was cured halibut, potted shrimp, and dill gazpacho. At least this is what we were told, but that is far too simple a description for what turned out to be a complex and tongue tingling dish. The green bean salad with a pickled flavour was underneath the fish. The shrimp had a crunchy crouton underneath giving it a lovely texture which offset the shrimp well. The halibut had a lovely light pickling and the fresh flavour was complemented not only by the gazpacho, but also by the fresh dill sprinkled across the top. 

If the first two dishes hadn't convinced us that we had been right to make the effort to get to this place in the midst of the dales, the next course absolutely clinched it. Thinking about it as I write has my mouth watering all over again. This was beautiful thin slices of smoked breast along with a lovely piece of pressed duck this was served on a bed of apple and caper jam. Yes stop and think about that flavour and realise how lovely the mix of the sweet fruit and the salty capers could possibly be, it was all of that! Alongside this was tiny, really tiny pieces of two types of melon, each acting like a little bomb of zing to complement the rest of the dish. Not only creative and clever, but wonderfully cooked.  

The next dish engaged me so much that I'm afraid it was after I had finished the plate that I remembered I had not taken a photo of it, so I'm afraid you have the empty plate picture instead. 

The dish was Onion Caramel, St. James Cheese served with a roast garden salad. The slightly charred onion gave crunch as well as a sweet onion flavour, this combined with the lively sheep cheese which had been warmed through and oozed on to the plate to make a beautiful experience on the palate. The cheese had a savoury, rich, meaty flavour with a creamy feel. Think of a baked Camembert but with a more savory flavour. The salad had a story all of its own with carrots, turnip and herbs with a slightly sweetened chutney running through it.

The next dish was new season Grouse, the, so called, Glorious Twelfth was only last week, so this seemed very timely. The grouse was served with bilberry and heather in a heather scented sauce. This idea of cooking the grouse in the products it eats is a long standing one, and I now understand why as it brought out the rich gaminess of the bird. The grouse was served with straws of game chips, broad beans, celeriac and chard. The crisp leg and the meaty breast were delightful and I am certain I have never eaten heather before, even though I have had it in a sauce. What a great idea, this was an absolute success. I'm so glad we came here to eat as my mouth now knows flavour combinations it had never thought of before, let alone tasted.

We now move on to Drew's four desserts, as the reader will know I don't eat sweets, so Drew had to sacrifice himself and eat two of each dessert. I know we could ask to flex the menu, but I wouldn't want Drew to miss out on his favorite part of the meal due to my diabetes.

The pre-dessert was lime ice-cream with pineapple foam and a dried coconut crisp served on a bed of courgette. Just as almost all the savory courses had a sweet jam or chutney through them, so the desserts seem to have a savory element. Drew loved the sharpness of the lime and thought the sweetness of the pineapple blended well with it. The courgette, he felt, was more of a texture than flavour, but the coconut crisp made the whole dish feel like a Caribbean cocktail, which was probably the intention.  

The next dessert and the one Drew was still raving about the next day was a basil mousse on top of a chocolate mousse with a tempered chocolate case with toffee popcorn and apple crisp and a caramel ice-cream which also had spheres of apple jelly and chocolate bits. Drew found the basil taste with the chocolate unusual, but once his palate got over the surprise it worked very well. Overall the dish was very sweet, which is just how Drew likes it.

Our final course was a selection of cheeses served with various flavour crackers, raisin bread, celery and grapes. The six cheeses included a semi-soft St. Oswald, a tangy blue, a local Wensleydale, a cheddar style cheese and a goats cheese. 

We finished dinner with a coffee served in the residents' lounge and were served with petit fours, Drew felt it would be rude not to eat them, so he managed to consume each of them, even though he had been complaining of being over sugared while eating his fourth dessert! He says it was worth making the effort as each of them was perfect. 

Breakfast

We slept well at The Yorke Arms and I got up at 6 and updated the blog for the day before. We went across for breakfast at 8am, when it opened.

Breakfast included lovely freshly squeezed orange juice and freshly baked bread. The main dish was bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomato, mushroom and fried egg. The plate looks a bit empty compared to some of the other breakfasts we have had this holiday. But I guess that this is probably good for my weight. I certainly wasn't hungry when I finished. I suspect I was still a bit full from the delightful meal last night.