Not content with restaurants in York, his home village of Oldstead and neighbouring Byland, to say nothing of a thriving online business selling produce from his Yorkshire farm, Tommy Banks’ reach in God’s Own Country now extends to the coast.
The chef has taken on consultancy duties at this new hotel on an 85-acre Victorian estate, re-fashioning the tired weddings-and-anniversaries venue of Raithwaite Hall into a contemporary vision of country-house chic. Those in search of chintzy comfort should walk on by, not least as the bucolic idyll is rather undermined by the construction work on the long driveway up from the sea.
Saltmoore’s head chef Adam Maddock was until recently the head chef of the Fife Arms at Braemar in the Highlands and will collaborate with Banks on Calluna, a fine-dining restaurant set to open in the spring. For now, diners eat in the Brasserie, an all-day operation (breakfasts are terrific) with a strong focus on local produce, seafood especially: white and brown crab meat heaped in a crisp pastry tart, paired with caramelised cream shot through with pickled cucumber and dill, or fleshy ‘scampi’ of battered cod cheek with a warm tartare sauce and sea purslane.
Meat is handled just as deftly, whether a chunkily cut steak tartare of butchly flavoured beef with nasturtium, confit egg yolk and beef-fat hash browns, or a thick spiral of Mangalitza Cumberland sausage with apple butter, mash, onion gravy and crispy sage. We struggled to make it to pudding; portions are huge – as perhaps they ought to be when starters average £16 and mains double that.
There was very much an air of a new operation finding its feet. Staff, though unfailingly friendly, were often slow or forgetful, while for a half-full dining room, the music was far too intrusive. We also felt the big-windowed but uncurtained room would feel more welcoming in summer. A winter supper overlooking the illuminated terrace brought to mind the spotlit patio scene at the beginning of the first Scream movie; we half expected Ghostface to jump out of the dark bushes.
If you’re checking in rather than just eating in, the hotel’s attractions include a spiffy new pool and spa (complete with wellness café), while Whitby is an easy walk along the beach if the tide is out: just the thing to work up an appetite for fish and chips at the Magpie.
WHERE Saltmoore, Sandsend Road, Whitby YO21 3ST
FOLLOW @saltmoore_
BOOK www.saltmoore.co.uk
The Good Food Guide allows three to six months before anonymously inspecting a new restaurant. Look out for a full review coming soon.
