Cafe at the Hepworth, Wakefield

If you haven’t been to the Hepworth, go. It’s an astonishing building designed by David Chipperfield, full of great art – not just Barbara Hepworth sculptures (though there are plenty) but you’ll also find work by contemporary artists and there are always new exhibitions to gaze at. It’s easy to spend the best part of a day there so you’ll need a decent lunch. Your luck’s in; the cafe has been taken over by a bright bunch who run House of Koko, a cool coffee shop in Leeds. They’ve put a Masterchef finalist in the kitchen and he knows what he’s doing.

Catering for an unspecified number of people seven days a week is a hard trick to pull off, but Chris Hale has put together a brilliant menu featuring simple, fresh, mostly vegetarian dishes that look and taste terrific. There are good things on sourdough toast including home made baked beans, squished avocado and figs with goat’s cheese, and a very pleasing plate of sweetcorn fritters with tomato and chilli jam. A fabulous salad built of roast beets, toasted walnuts, fig and leaves is the prettiest thing I’ve seen in a while. For the meat eaters there’s a fab pie (‘locally sourced beef slowly braised in Ossett brewery ale with a pastry top, pickled carrots & skinny fries’) and for pud, feather-light buttermilk and berry pancakes with maple syrup. If you just want coffee and cake you can score an excellent flat white and I can vouch for the homemade flapjack. 

We love it when great art and food come together. To mis-quote the 80’s Saachi & Saachi ad campaign for the V&A: ‘it’s an ace caff with quite a nice gallery attached’. Put a date in your diary and head for Wakefield.