Scarborough and Ryedale restaurants feature in new AA guide

Restaurants in Scarborough, Scawton, Oldstead, Hovingham, Harome and Gilling East have received recognition by the AA and feature in their 28th edition of The Restaurant Guide, which puts together the UK and Ireland’s top dining destinations, and features over 1,700 restaurants.

For Scarborough, Clark's Restaurant and Lanterna Ristorante have been selected for the guide, and have both received one rosette.

Within the guide, restaurants are marked one - five rosettes. Rosettes are given for culinary excellence by the AA’s professional inspectors. One rosette is given for achieving standards that stand out within the local area, including quality ingredients, food prepared with care and guests being able to eat with confidence. Five rosettes are given to restaurants where the food compares to the best in the world.

Clark’s Restaurant is situated on Queen’s Street. They have been described in the guide as “A very tempting frontage is your gateway into this neighbourhood restaurant where the tables are made from Singer sewing machine bases. The room is dominated by the bar/servery and a big display of gins, including products from Scarborough and Yorkshire. Locally-caught lobsters are a feature of the menus, which are seasonal and dependent on the catch of the day.”

Clark’s Restaurant opened in 2016, and they also have vegetarian items on their menu.

Lanterna Ristorante is also located on Queen’s Street and is an award-winning restaurant which opened almost 40 years ago.

“It has been honoured by Italian newspaper La Stampa as 'the English temple of Italian cuisine', which seems an extraordinary accolade for an unassuming, albeit heartily convivial restaurant. Chef-patron, tireless Giorgio Alessio, oversees a venue done out in reds, oranges, sunny yellow and sky-blue”.

For Ryedale, five restaurants were selected to be featured within the guide. These restaurants were situated in the villages of Scawton, Oldstead, Hovingham, Harome and Gilling East.

For Gilling East, The Fairfax Arms restaurant has been featured in the guide, receiving two rosettes, which means the restaurant has ”higher standards, better consistency, greater precision apparent in the cooking, and obvious attention to the selection of quality ingredients.”

The guide says “Popular with the local farming community, The Fairfax guards the village crossroads, one of which leads to Gilling Castle, prep school for the well-known Ampleforth College. The pub's blackbeamed, open-plan bar and dining area leads out to a beer garden bordered by a stream”

The Star Inn is situated in Harome, and also received two rosettes. It serves modern British cuisine, and has a notable wine list. The owner, Andrew Pern, landed a hat-trick as his two other restaurants also feature in the guide - The Star Inn The Harbour in Whitby and Star Inn The City, York.

“This thatched pub in a moorland village boasts a rustic bar, a dining room with chunky tables, a real fire and knick-knacks galore, and a more modern restaurant. The country cooking places a high premium on big, rugged flavours, seen in a main of grilled fillet of John Dory with Jerusalem artichoke purée, salsify, a lobster fritter, a poached egg yolk and celeriac ash.”

In Hovingham, which is located near Castle Howard, The Worsley Arms Hotel features in the guide. Receiving one rosette, the guide says: “This Victorian hotel is well positioned in a pretty village set against a backdrop of the spectacular Howardian Hills. With its red walls, white linen and floral drapes, the restaurant is an elegant and traditional setting for fine-tuned dishes”

The Black Swan at Oldstead received four Rosettes for it’s modern British restaurant and notable wine list.

“With foraging forays to supplement the growing of fresh produce, it's a very modern enterprise, which is to say it has taken on many of the attributes of the rural life of 200 years ago. James Banks runs a tight ship out front, while his brother Tommy works wonders in the kitchen. It's worth a wander around the kitchen gardens to get a handle on how your dinner will eventually come together.”

The Hare in Scawton, near Ampleforth received three rosettes. The restaurant has 16 seats, 12 parking spaces and doesn’t allow children.

“There’s a wire sculpture of two fighting hares outside the Hare Inn, and it’s possible that they’re arguing about who gets to sit down at one of the restaurant’s 12 covers. It’s a luxurious venue with minimalist design, exposed stonework, and a rich colour palate of dark blues. The approach is a little bit different too; tasting menus all the way. Choose from six or eight courses, which the chef suggests may take around three or four hours respectively”.

The AA’s Restaurant Guide for 2022 is available to order here and is available in bookstores.