Hansom is a modern tasting menu experience making use of the best locally sourced produce to create an unforgettable evening. It is the first solo restaurant from Ruth Hansom and her husband Mark Hansom-Rigby. Together they have taken on a late sixteenth-century Grade-II listed property in Bedale with a large central fireplace and Tudor rafters. Seating is made up of rust-toned banquettes, bright mustard and aquamarine modern chairs and marble candle-lit tables. The atmosphere is cool and cosy but with an elegant charm.
Hansom’s star-studded career includes a five-year tenure at The Ritz, and varied experience producing British fine dining dishes. In 2017, Hansom became the first female recipient of the Young National Chef of the Year Award and later reached the 2020 final of The Great British Menu. While head chef at The Princess of Shoreditch, the restaurant was awarded three AA rosettes. Now, Hansom has returned to her native North East.
The Hansom menu showcases British cuisine at its finest, with exemplary technique dishes are worked and reworked according to the availability of produce. The small plates menu includes elevated classics like fresh bread with whipped marmite butter, Dale End cheddar cheese puffs, and a Swaledale lamb, squash, and sage sausage roll.
For elevated dining, look to the tasting menus and an expertly selected accompanying wine pairing. Start with chicken liver served with preserved cherry, before moving on to east cost gurnard with Yorkshire oats accompanied by carrot and lovage, and finish with rhubarb, yoghurt and marigold - to name just a few possibilities. True to the British focus, Sundays provide an opportunity to indulge in an expertly balanced roast, like a salt ages Waterford Farm sirloin with all the trimmings followed by a classic sticky toffee pudding with pear and clotted cream.