There’s been a lot of excitement about the Man Behind the Curtain getting a Michelin star and deservedly so. We’ve championed Michael O’Hare since his early days in York. Now everyone wants to go and you won’t get a table on Saturday night until 2016! You can see why it’s so important to chefs.
The Good Food Guide doesn’t attract half so much attention, but for good places to eat, it’s streets ahead. I don’t think I’ve ever bought a Michelin Guide which is made up of signs and symbols, but my collection of the GFG goes back to the 1980s and it’s always a good read: honest, independent, sparky, opinionated.
Last year, Waitrose bought the GFG from the Consumer Association. but the guide looks much the same and thankfully continues to take no advertising nor paid-for entries.
It’s wide ranging covering local gems like Zucco in Meanwood and top restaurants such as Man Behind the Curtain. We like it too because as well as professional inspectors, it holds a great deal of store by readers’ comments, so if you eat somewhere that deserves comment or criticism it’s important to let them know. They will act upon it.
Yorkshire is well represented with 67 entries. New this year:
Harrogate: Norse, La Feria, and Stuzzi
Helmsley: The Vine House Café
Hull: 1884 Dock Street
Leeds: The Man Behind the Curtain, Zucco,
Lower Dunsforth: The Dunsforth
Middleton Tyas: The Coach House
Sheffield: Lokanta
Todmorden: Blackbird
Wetherby: Mango
Withernwick: the Falcon
York: Cochon Aveugle
You can buy the Guide from bookshops and from Waitrose. But of course you can check ’em out on Squidbeak, we’ve got most of these covered (and more).