Flushed with the success of a review in the Guardian / Times / friend of a friend of a friend, we find ourselves in York again. There’s no end to the smart little restaurants popping up and gaining national acclaim. Some survive [Skosh, for example], whilst some disappeared – Blue Bicycle, Le Langhe – replaced by the huge number of chain restaurants – you know who they are. These chains were the death of a number of similarly good/great restaurants in Harrogate. Van Zellers, lauded by Marina O’loughlin no less, finally shut up shop in 2016 as it couldn’t compete. These chains build big [that’s a horrible word…Ed] and then cross-subsidise from their central pot of funds until they drive out the perceived competition. Let us tell you, Ask and Zizzi [good for what they do] were never going to be competition for Van Zellers.

Award-winning chef Tom van Zeller posted the news to his Instagram account this morning and said the restaurant couldn’t cope with the ‘staggering’ amount of recent openings.

York has a deserved reputation as the capital of drunken nights out, or hordes of students [yes, we remember] and the inevitable pre-wedding street crawling [stags and hens to you and us]. We hope the wedding wasn’t the next day, other wise there’ll be trouble ahead…

So to Fish & Forest – this time praised by the Times and in the Michelin Guide. We went at a lunchtime – perhaps not the best atmosphere for a dark room with windows out on to a narrow. gloomy street. The food though, definitely worth the trip.

All parts of the ingredients are used too, so that the constantly evolving blackboard menu produces little waste. The self-taught chef’s cooking has an ambitious edge, with dishes proving to be fresh and vibrant.

Restaurant Fish & Forest York