Culinary highlights
Visitors can dig into Yorkshire’s edible heritage at York’s Chocolate Story, a museum and visitor attraction that charts how chocolate shaped the city’s economy. Through guided tours, interactive displays, tastings and chocolate making masterclasses, it traces York’s confectionery past from Rowntree’s and Terry’s to the creation of the Kit Kat. A 20-minute train-ride from York, Malton is widely regarded as the ‘food capital’ of North Yorkshire. Its monthly food market (March to November) celebrates regional producers, while Talbot Yard Food Court, just around the corner from Market Place, keeps things informal with street food and local drinks in a converted coaching yard.
For hands-on experiences, The Cook’s Place on Market Street runs a variety of cookery courses and workshops, while master pâtissier and former pastry champion Florian Poirot offers macaron masterclasses for those seeking expert pastry tuition. The three-hour gin school experience at Rare Bird Distillery allows visitors to tour the facility and craft their own spirit, followed by a visit to The Library Bar, a hidden speakeasy boasting a collection of more than 200 whiskies.
Fine dining in Yorkshire: from grand estates to village tables
For fine dining with a sense of grandeur, Grantley Hall near Ripon houses five restaurants and three bars within its historic estate, ranging from Michelin-starred Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall, to the Asian-inspired flavours of EightyEight. Rankin’s menus focus heavily on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients, served in the scenic surroundings of the 17th-century Grade II-listed country house, set amid landscaped gardens, green lawns and a shimmering lake.
By contrast, Mýse, a restaurant with rooms in Hovingham – around a 45-minute drive from Ripon – offers a more intimate tasting-menu experience. Set in the historic village in the Howardian Hills, the restaurant and accommodation are run by chef and sommelier duo Joshua and Victoria Overington. The menu showcases seasonal ingredients from local farms and Yorkshire artisans, including produce grown in the gardens of nearby Castle Howard, a filming location for Bridgerton Season 1, paired with a thoughtfully curated wine list.
Several of Yorkshire’s pubs have also joined the ranks of serious foodie destinations. Just a 30-minute drive from Malton, The Abbey Inn in Byland, awarded Best Sunday Roast in Britain by the Good Food Guide 2024, offers cosy guest rooms in a nineteenth-century inn overlooking the historic ruins of Byland Abbey. Michelin-starred chef director Tommy Banks serves a seasonal menu of reimagined pub classics, complemented by a curated drinks list ranging from hand-pumped ales to cocktails. Banks also runs The Black Swan at Oldstead, a Michelin-starred destination just around one mile (1.6km) down the road.
Further east, The Homestead in Goathland offers boutique cottages with an on-site restaurant serving seasonal Yorkshire ingredients, with menus featuring dishes such as creel-caught Scottish langoustine, North York Moors mallard and Whitby lobster when in season. The Homestead also runs food-focused workshops, from baking and foraging sessions to cooking classes, allowing visitors to actively engage with Yorkshire’s culinary traditions.
Off-menu Yorkshire: from dairy to vineyard
Yorkshire’s food experiences are equally as diverse as it’s fine dining spots. In the market town of Hawes, at the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Wensleydale Creamery offers a hands-on glimpse into the region’s renowned cheese-making heritage. The site’s Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese Experience allows visitors to watch cheesemakers in action and sample freshly crafted Wensleydale, while the Cheesy Afternoon Tea at the on-site Calvert’s restaurant showcases the local delicacy in sweet and savoury forms. For afterwards, the gift shop houses over 20 varieties of award-winning artisan cheese and a wide selection of accompaniments.
Over in Beverley, in East Yorkshire, Dumble Farm’s Herd It on the Grapevine tour offers a Highland cow safari across the estate with wine tastings at nearby Laurel Vines Vineyard, a family-run estate boasting more than 15,000 vines. Visitors can learn about the vineyard’s production methods, sample sparkling wines, and watch the cuddly cows grazing in the field.
Yorkshire’s food halls: Old halls, new appetites
Yorkshire’s cities have turned historic food halls into social and culinary hubs. In Leeds, the historic White Cloth Hall - a Grade II‑listed building dating to 1775, once a cloth market – has been transformed into an all‑day food and drink destination with multiple kitchens, a wine bar, and craft beer and cask ales on tap. The line-up ranges from modern Mexican to Asian-inspired dishes and steak, all served in a characterful space with heritage architecture. To explore beyond the hall, Leeds Food Tours offers a mouth-watering journey through the city’s independent food scene. Its guided and self-guided walks visit around seven bakeries, bars and restaurants over roughly four hours, with tastings paired with local history, culinary context and the odd ghost story. The team has recently expanded with foodie tours in York and Harrogate, offering visitors the chance to discover even more Yorkshire culinary hubs with insider knowledge. Sheffield’s Cambridge Street Collective, Europe’s largest purpose‑built food hall, is home to around 20 independent vendors serving global flavours under one roof, with a community kitchen, rooftop terraces and an event programme of cookery workshops run by local charity, the Blend Culinary Foundation. In Bradford, the 2025‑reopened Darley Street Market repurposes a historic market hall for artisan stalls, street food and curated local produce - a showcase of the city’s culinary and cultural diversity. Spread across three floors, the venue includes a lifestyle hall, a fresh food hall and the Darley Street Kitchen on the top floor, where visitors can sample anything from Tunisian street food and Greek gyros pitta to Sushi and artisan bread seven days a week.
