True hospitality is an art attempted by many but perfected by few. Myse in Yorkshire is of the latter ilk, offering an expertly polished, proper northern welcome and mind-bendingly good, gallery-worthy food.
You start off cinched in around the bar with its log burner and wooden tables. While you get to work on your drinks (there’s an excellent list) the kitchen team brings snacks like a smart venison tartare and fermented plum tartlet covered in smoked caviar and a slow cooked ox cheek bon-bon in Yorkshire pudding batter.
Once in the neutral-washed dining room courses keep coming. All fourteen of them. In less capable hands you’d leave feeling defeated, but here most things are just a couple of restrained bites. Sometimes it’s the absence of things that can make food sing and our favourite things were concentrated around key ingredients.
A scallop drenched in urchin butter and roe powder was insanely good; sweet and briney, tasting of the sharp salinity of British shores. Chef Josh Overington says it’s near flawless, and while the confidence feels at odds with British bashfulness, it’s hard to argue. Other highlights included a sourdough crumpet crisped in fat and topped with liver mousse and ripples of duck ham, and a thin slice of duck sausage made from the neck of the bird. In fact, there’s an honouring of ingredients which feels like the chefs are sourcing and handling their produce with the utmost respect - a suspicion you can see in action as they tweeze plates to perfection from the open plating station.
The cooking might be serious and built on rock solid foundations, but the whole experience is lighthearted and fun. There are plumes of smoke caught under cloches, canapés to be eaten off sticks and whole roast meats wafted at you tableside before being ferried back to the kitchen for plating.
It’s no secret that food brings joy, but this is a particularly special spot that will leave you feeling proud of British produce, grateful for UK talent and thankful to yourself for the treat of restorative, transformative food.