Best places to eat in York over the Festive Christmas Season

At Yorkshire Appetite, we love a good market. Honestly, if there were a fan club for them, we'd be fighting over who gets to be president. Whether it's the bustling Marché des Capucins in Bordeaux, the fish-scented charm of Lisbon’s seafood market, the iconic Kirkgate Market in Leeds, the quirky cobbled lanes of York’s Shambles Market, or Ripon’s lively Thursday market — we’re there, nosing around for something delicious. Speaking of Kirkgate Market — it’s not just any market. It’s the largest covered market in Europe and a Grade I listed building (basically the Beyoncé of British markets). Fun fact: Marks & Spencer got their start here in 1884 with a humble penny bazaar. Leeds is so proud of this retail legacy, the University now lovingly guards over 60,000 M&S artefacts. That’s a lot of penny-bazaar nostalgia. Markets go way back — like way back. The Romans were the original foodies, with their bustling forums acting as both gossip central and grocery run. But the word ‘market’ itself dates from medieval times, when towns would proudly flaunt their right to hold one, often by royal decree. In 1086, the Domesday Book mentioned just 50 markets in all of England. Back then, it was all outdoor stalls, muddy boots, and market day excitement once or twice a week. Fast forward a few centuries, and farmers’ markets have become the place to be for anyone who wants to know exactly where their food comes from (and meet the lovely folks who grow, brew, bake or pickle it). These markets are treasure troves of artisan goodies — a perfect blend of foodie heaven and community creativity. With Food Festival season now in full swing, wandering around a food and drink market is a truly delightful way to spend a few hours — snacking, chatting, and discovering your next favourite chutney or sourdough loaf. And keep your eyes peeled — Yorkshire Appetite often pops up at a few festivals in the summer months. If you spot us, come say hi! And if you stumble across an amazing market on your travels, we definitely want to hear about it.

If you are looking for something a bit special this Easter weekend, why not join us on one of our Tours – if you fancy some fantastic classic Yorkshire fare, we have the Harrogate Tour on Saturday, if Indian tastes are more to your liking then we have the Indian Food Tour in Leeds on Saturday or if you fancy a variety of flavours in York’s vibrant food scene, we have our York Foodies Tour on Sunday. All at a flash sale price of 15% off regular price – just use the code EASTER25 on our website. Just like the Easter Bunny above, we love coffee here at Yorkshire Appetite and have come across a whole host of local independent coffee roasters, either through our tasting partners or as we spend time in the towns and cities of God’s own country. Dark Woods is an adventurous, community-focused coffee roastery, dedicated to offering responsibly sourced specialty coffees from some of the world’s best producers. Their home is a converted Victorian textile mill at the foot of the West Yorkshire Pennines, surrounded by windswept moorland, drystone walls, and ancient woodland. https://shop.darkwoodscoffee.co.uk/ North Star Coffee Roasters are based in Leeds and are a coffee company and family united by a love for great coffee and an ethical approach to fair trade. Their approach is based on quality and a more certain future for coffee, free from the volatility of the commodity market and resilient to the impact of climate change. https://www.northstarroast.com/ Divine Coffee Roasters have been in York since 2016 and their core concept Is about roasting fresh, top-quality coffee, delivered with unbeatable service. This concept is supported by nine core values including; small batch roasting and freshness, sustainability and ethical practices. https://divinecoffee.co.uk/ There’s a whole language around coffee that’s grown up and changed our way of life and culture. Our food ambassador Jill started work in the 1980s in central London and there were no coffee shops to sit in and no take-away coffees. There was maybe a styrofoam cup of instant coffee from an Italian sandwich shop or an Irish coffee at the end of the meal at a Berni Inn. Nowadays we can order a latte, cappuccino, macchiato, a flat white, cortado, a mocha…the list is always growing. A recent question on University Challenge inspired Jill to look up the origins of the ‘mocha’ which nowadays is typically a latte with chocolate sauce. The term mocha comes from the city of Mokha in Yemen. Mokha was one of the centres of the early coffee trade, and a well-known port in the 15th to 17th centuries. Small quantities of the coffee grown in the hills nearby were exported and when coffee drinking culture spread to Europe, Europeans referred to coffee imports from Arabia as mochas. The confusion grew as a result of the chocolate tasting notes found in Yemeni coffee. These days, the distinctive Yemeni coffee is rather expensive as it comes from a low production crop with high demand. Let us know if you have a favourite local coffee brand or maybe try some of our favourites available on line.

We are very excited to announce our new ‘signing’ to our Harrogate Tour. Those of you who watched Bake Off, the Professionals last year may recognize Kian and Ashley from the Pudding Lab . This delightful patisserie and café opened its doors on Cold Bath Road in the town in September last year and has been wowing the residents with beautifully crafted patisserie. They serve great coffee too! Kian, originally from Leeds; and Ashley from Nottingham, met whilst working as chefs, gaining extensive experience working in restaurants and focusing on their passion for patisserie. Before the arrival of Covid, Kian worked as a private chef and Ashley had his own catering company. With the pandemic came new challenges and it was then they decided to take the plunge and fully embrace the patisserie world, opening the first Pudding Lab in Boston Spa in August 2021. Their reputation for carefully crafted patisserie influenced by the expertise of the French but with a modern English twist, reached the ears of the producers at Channel 4’s Bake Off the Professionals and they were invited to compete in 2024’s competition. You can catch up on it on More 4! While they may not have reached the final, they performed magnificently and made quite an impression. Yorkshire Appetite allowed them to settle into their new abode on Cold Bath for a few months but, of course, we had to check out the new arrivals in town. We are so pleased to add the Pudding Lab to our route as our guests will be able to try three mini patisseries along with a hot drink of their choice. Having tried some of the cakes myself (purely for research purposes of course) they are indeed quite spectacular, and our visitors are not going to be disappointed. So, if you haven’t been on the Harrogate Food Tour yet, get thissen booked on or buy a voucher for a loved one. Of course, if you are in Harrogate or visiting the Valley Gardens, we highly recommend checking out this great café and patisserie for yourself! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram (yorkshireappetite) for our recommendations and more!

This month we are welcoming three new Food Ambassadors to our team. They come with a wealth of experience and a love and knowledge of food and the great places to eat in York. People often ask how we find our guides; over the years they have come to us through various routes. Friends, family, word of mouth and job adverts and we have found four new guides for our York team. Jill, you will already know as a guide from our Harrogate and Leeds tours but now she is spreading her wings to York too. Without further ado, let us introduce you to our three newbies: Nikki lives in York with her husband and three cats. She is a local lass and whilst she did live away for a while in Cheshire and Scotland, luckily for us she found her way back. Alongside the food tours, Nikki runs her own copywriting business and at one point ran her own food blog. She loves meeting new people and talking (and writing about food). While she has her own cow’s milk and gluten intolerance, she does not let it hold her back when enjoying delicious food. Kirsty was born in the south, (nobody’s perfect – just joking Kirsty!) but moved to Cumbria at the age of 16 and then to York 27 years ago so she can now be an honorary Yorkshire lass. She moved here after coming to the city on holiday and meeting her husband on the first night! She runs a menopause support service and also volunteers for the local Keep Your Pet scheme, walking pets so their owners don’t have to give them up – perfect for her love of dogs. She loves nature and being outdoors but, of course, loves nothing more than good food and trying new dishes. Sara is an experienced guide living in Skipton. She works in the Entertainment and Cruise Industry, handling onboarding and compliance for a global production company. Outside of work, she volunteers with several organisations - as a guide at The Manor House in Ilkley, a Checkpoint volunteer for the Montane Spine Races, and with The Canal and River Trust. Born in Zimbabwe, where her father worked on the Kariba Dam, Sara lived in the USA and Israel before returning to the UK to be closer to family. Sara enjoys the countryside, travel, history, and food cultures, making her a great fit as a Food Ambassador with Yorkshire Appetite. We hope you will come on one of our York tours and meet one of our new guides. Remember if you have been on the York Tour before – we now have a “Savour the City” route with four great new venues for you to try. If you are interested in being a guide with us or in running your own food tour where you live, then do get in touch through email or the website.

Happy New Year Foodies. I hope your Festive Season was full of gastronomic delights. Now it’s all over and people are holed up for the winter, especially after the recent cold snap. Don’t forget the tours are still running throughout the winter and if you fancy spending those Christmas vouchers or booking a great and flavorsome day out to keep those winter blues at bay, give us a call! Award season is upon us with the Oscars coming up. Whilst we may have missed out on the New Year’s Honours list (again!), we are delighted to shout out about a few of the great achievements of some of our Tasting Partners this last year. We are proud to work with some of the best in the business and congratulations to all of our Tasting Partners without whom we cannot provide our great food adventures. First of all, those of you who have experienced the Indian Food Tour of Leeds know how Delhiwala on Bishopgate Street serve a fantastic variety of mouthwatering dishes thanks to Nitin and his team. They have been showered with awards since they opened in 2023 and quite rightly so, winning the Northern Prestige award for Indian Food Delivery Company of the Year, a Good Food Award 24/25 and the Nation’s Curry Award 2024 for Street Food Restaurant of the Year. In 2025 they are nominated for Street Food Restaurant of the Year, Curry Restaurant of the Year (North) and Manager of the year. Well deserved, their Gol Gappes are to die for and there’s plenty more fantastic food on offer. We are so pleased that Starling Bar Café Kitchen has also had a very good year of celebration. They won Best Small Hospitality Business 2024 in the Harrogate Advertiser Business Excellence Awards and Best Growth 2024 in the Stray Ferret Business Awards. Dan Glover also won the Bar Person of the Year in the Harrogate Hospitality Awards. They’ve supported Yorkshire Appetite since the very beginning in 2017 so we are delighted that Simon, Dan and the whole team continue to provide great food, drink, service and ambiance in the heart of Harrogate and are rewarded for their success. Accolades started soon after they opened when they won Newcomer of the Year at the Harrogate Hospitality Awards in 2018 – beating Yorkshire Appetite! (I’m not bitter – honest!) Good luck for the Yorkshire Post Business Awards coming up soon for which they have been nominated for excellence in business. The Cheeseboard in Harrogate is one of our newer tasting partners and they have been a pleasure to work with. Gemma and her team, with over 20 years of experience, have been providing us with a huge variety of great Yorkshire cheeses over the last year or so. They were awarded the Best Independent Retailer at the Stray Ferret Business Awards this year and more recently were crowned the winner in the Best Christmas Window Competition – there were mice, snow and cheese, and it was indeed a joy to behold. What they don’t know about cheese would fit on a mouse’s eyelid. Worthy winners all of them. We work with the best and are delighted for their successes. Come along and try these great independents!

What do you get the foodies in your life? As Food Ambassadors ourselves, we have a few suggestions for those special people in your lives to enjoy as presents this Christmas. Yorkshire Appetite Goodie Box A fantastic selection of Yorkshire produced foods, all lovingly produced by the good people of our county. We have searched all four corners of God’s own country for good quality products and with customers as far afield as Florida, we love bringing the Yorkshire flavours to people. There are five select items that will arrive in time to enjoy for Christmas. Find out more HERE Food Tour (and Vintage Tour) Vouchers What do you get someone who has everything? An enjoyable experience where they can experience several tastings around one of our Yorkshire destinations and savour some excellent cuisine from popular independent eateries. You are supporting our local independents while supporting us, while you and your taste buds enjoy themselves! The vouchers are valid for one year from the date of purchase and can be exchanged for any of our four great tours on an available date of their choice. Email us for vouchers for the Vintage Tours. Click HERE then click on green banner on the right Christmas Package For those who want to gift a voucher but want more than an envelope to present, you can combine a voucher with a goodie box or with a small presentation box with a flavoursome treat inside. Perfect for your friends and loved ones to experience twice – once at Christmas and into the New Year! Find out more HERE and order HERE French Food Adventures: Two Yorkshire Sisters discover French Cuisine A food tour in a book! Kay and Jill, Yorkshire Appetite Food Ambassadors, wrote a book about their food adventures in France. A mixture of travelogue, food journal and travel guide, we examine the regional specialties in France and delve into their origin and their links to our own Yorkshire cuisine. A few choice recipes mean you can eat along to the story! Buy your copy HERE What to do in Retirement? We meet so many people on the tours who are retired, just about to retire or are thinking about it. This book, written by Kay, founder of Yorkshire Appetite, gives you ideas and inspiration for how to spend this new chapter in your life. You can find it here on Amazon OR if you’re on Audible, email us for a special code to receive a free promotional copy. Buy your copy HERE Remember too – if you have any big birthdays or occasions coming up, a food tour is a great way to spend it with friends and family. We can do a tour specially made for your requirements – why go out for one meal when you can try several top places in one go! Happy Christmas Foodies!

Here at Yorkshire Appetite, as you know, we’re passionate about sharing the news about the wonderful food produced here in Yorkshire – God’s Own Country. We love welcoming guests to share our food tours but we’ve also developed the Yorkshire Appetite Goodie Box so that you can gift a package of delicious Yorkshire products to your loved ones this Christmas season, or even spoil yourself! We spend many happy hours browsing through local farm shops, delis, markets and at food festivals meeting producers, farmers, bakers, distillers, cheesemakers, and more… We’ve sourced products from over 112 of Yorkshire’s finest food businesses to include in our Goodie Box. Have a look on the website ( yorkshiregoodiebox.com ) and if you order before the end of November, we’ll make sure to send it out for Christmas and include your own personalized message. If you’d like to include a Yorkshire Appetite Gift Voucher with your goodies, we offer a great Christmas Bundle which includes a discount off any our Yorkshire Appetite Food Tours. A food experience to look forward to in the new year! Perfect Parkin Of course in November in Yorkshire we have mostly been enjoying a piece of Yorkshire Parkin, both at our Bonfire Night gathering, but throughout the month too. Yorkshire Parkin is a very special gingerbread, made of molasses, oatmeal and warming spices. The origin of Parkin is thought to be from the start of the industrial revolution when we started to import sugar from the West Indies, with molasses being a by-product of the refining process. Even earlier, in Pagan times, such cakes were eaten to celebrate the winter festival. We’re not really sure why it’s called Parkin – all we know that Parkin means ‘Peter’ and used to be a common Yorkshire surname. The dates for next year’s tours are up on the website so whether you have a voucher to use or want to book yourself in to enjoy another of our tours – don’t forget we know have a Ripon Tour, a new route around York (Savour the City) and the Indian Food Tour of Leeds which is proving to be very popular! Vouchers are a great Christmas present!, just saying!

I hope everyone is tucked up warm now that the weather has turned. Soon you will be tucking into parkin and thinking about a certain holiday coming up at the end of the year. We have some exciting news at Yorkshire Appetite. We are delighted to announce the publication of our book, "French Food Adventures: Two Yorkshire Sisters Discover French Cuisine." Yes, now available HERE on Amazon Back at the beginning of 2023 Jill, one of our Harrogate guides (and yes, my sister) and myself decided to embark upon a culinary adventure. Having spent some of our childhood driving round France with our parents experiencing the delights of camping on a budget, we decided to go on a road trip all around France. This time however, it would be different. No more of our mother’s standard lunches (cheese sandwiches, an apple and maybe a piece of fruit cake – it seldom varied), we would dine well. We had our route mapped out -essentially down the West side of France and back up the East side, in my trusty Citroen. We decided to experience as many food experiences as we could. Of course we checked out various eateries – ranging from the Michelin Starred to the Bouchon/Estaminet rustic restaurants - in search of the regional specialties. Food Tours were obviously there to be enjoyed too and we did try a fair few. We also visited food producers, both industrial and artisan, to discover the stories behind these favourite foods. We love a food tour as you know and the particular mix of food, food history, culture and local history and how they all combine together. We sought to recreate this in a travelogue which looked at each region we visited and examined the history, the gastronomic traditions and how you could experience them. Although Jill and I have lived apart for decades, it was great to reunite in this adventure and share our experiences and thoughts from the busy markets of Lyon to the fragrant lavender fields of Avignon, as well as from God’s own country. In addition to serving as a helpful reference for French regional dishes, the book also pays homage to our late parents, Alan and Gwyneth, with whom we shared childhood camping holidays in France – our modest holiday eating habits rather in contrast to the abundant flavors we enjoyed this time. With delicious recipes, useful travel advice, and personal stories tucked into each chapter, this book is the perfect travel partner for both foodies and adventurers. We hope that the book will please and inspire readers of all types, be they seasoned foodies, adventurers, or those who treasure family reunions. To celebrate the publication of our adventures, we are hosting a book launch next Wednesday 23rd October, 6.30 pm at Starling Bar Café Kitchen in Harrogate. We would love to see any of our supporters there at this informal gathering. Please use this link to book yourself a place – it’s free! A toute l’heure or Ah’ll see thee there!

I hope you all enjoyed some gooseberries last month. There is definitely a ‘back to school’ feeling this month as people return to their routines and settle down ready for the nights to draw in. Before you do though, treat yourself to a food tour, no better time! Or how about booking one for that work Christmas Party – something a little bit different! (Forgive me if it’s a bit early) Book here This month we are celebrating cheese after Yorkshire Appetite has recently been to visit some top notch cheese emporiums. Of course, we are big fans of The Cheeseboard in Commercial Street, Harrogate, a specialist cheese shop, guided by Gemma for the last 20 years. Gemma really knows her cheese, as do all of her delightful staff, and she always find some great local cheeses for our Harrogate Food Tour. I finally got the chance recently to visit the Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales. It’s a fantastic experience, reminding you of the wonderful Wallace and Gromit, as well as taking you through the cheese making process and offering tastes of the many different Wensleydale cheeses. There is also a top notch restaurant with a very cheesy menu to inspire you! Recently we also found our way up to The Courtyard Diary , a cheesemongers nestling near the town of Settle in North Yorkshire. They are particularly welcoming and will advise on which particular treasures to try and buy. We had come across the Courtyard Dairy during lockdown with a very enjoyable virtual cheese tasting so it was great to finally visit in person. Some of you may have come across Mario Olianos, a Sardinian now living in Yorkshire who had a bet with this brother as to who could make the best cheese. Now made from local Yorkshire milk at his dairy in Otley, West Yorkshire, his Yorkshire Pecorino cheese is now the proud holder of several taste awards and is hugely popular. Don’t’ take my word for it, taste it. You might be inspired to start your own cheese journey. If you are inspired by any of these cheese experiences then Uniquely Local , a fantastic voucher website, enables you to gift your loved ones a unique experience such as a cheese making course. I, for one, am sorely tempted by that one. A great evening with friends plus some wine and cheese from a local cheesemonger would definitely suit as the days get shorter.