So, that old fusty favourite, The Good Food Guide, is under new ownership and has a fresh approach to recommendations. To be fair, long gone is the ‘silver service’ approach of the past and in have come ‘local gems’ and ‘readers recommend’. Actually, for most purposes that’s just what we want: simple, inexpensive, local and with good food and bags of character. Somewhere you can just ‘pop in for tea’ with friends. Ideally a short stroll down the road. In Northallerton we have Origin. Perfect but an outlier. 

In Ripon there’s a choice of Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall (“park your helicopter over there sir, but I’m afraid your tatty old Porsche will have to go round the back – Ferraris only at the front”). Not for us – it’s that stuffy, fusty, up themselves approach that we don’t need thanks very much – and the décor is Fin de Siècle meets Wayfair. And we’ve been around. Instead there’s The Tartine Lounge. Authentically French converted from a butcher’s shop (it just had to be) with ever so slightly eccentric and eclectic décor, there’s 3 courses, some perfectly acceptable wine by the glass or the bottle and a relaxing ambience. Coffee is off – the boiler’s broken. It used to be the ‘supper club’ after Vanora’s bakery had finished for the day but now the roles are reversed – restaurant with home made baguettes. Yes, we could comfortably manage to cook the food they serve – French onion soup, boeuf bourguignon and a tart au pommes – but it’s nice to find someone who does it for you. A genuine local gem.

*Since the visit the menu has become a little more ‘approachable’ [he means pizza…Ed] but some of the French classics still remain.

Restaurant Tartine Lounge Ripon