Cora
Boston Spa, West Yorkshire
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Cora is the third in Liz Cottam’s stable of restaurants following on from Home and The Owl in Leeds. This one, in smart Boston Spa, operates as a restaurant and a morning bakery, the counter piled high with bread and pastries to take out or eat in with tea, coffee or perhaps a Mimosa or Bloody Mary. Adam Rasburn transferred here from head-chef roles at the Man Behind the Curtain and, more recently, Home. Cora is not as edgy as either of those two places. This is, after all, a relaxed neighbourhood eatery, but Rasburn’s experience and creativity make it feel like high-end dining, while using modest ingredients and keeping it fairly priced. This is illustrated in a starter of thinly sliced beef bavette, lightly cured in Thai spices, topped with shavings of daikon and breakfast radish, and finished with a coriander emulsion. Another dish uses fennel compressed with lemon and olive oil, prettily garnished with pea shoots and wildflowers then given a bold kick from a powerfully flavoured dashi. Elsewhere, roast chicken breast comes with a cream sauce, seasonal spring asparagus and diced Jersey Royals flavoured with herbs and garlic oil, while a soothing dish of slow-poached trout involves diced courgette and a light caviar and dill sauce. Desserts are fabulous: a dark chocolate tart layered with dark and white chocolate ganache, flavoured with lime and decorated with flower petals, cocoa nibs and lime sherbet; a heavenly tart filled with a sharp blueberry and fennel curd, cleverly balanced by the sweetness of brown-sugar Italian meringue for a superb sour/sweet hit. In all, it is a beautifully balanced menu of well-executed dishes, ambitious and sophisticated without being intimidating. Just remember that Cora is a cashless business.
