The Box Tree
THIS was a special treat. The opportunity to eat out at a Michelin-starred restaurant doesn't come around too often, particularly in West Yorkshire where they are decidedly thin on the ground.
The Box Tree's recent elevation to one-star status is a credit to chef Simon Gueller, though older readers will recall that some years ago it boasted two stars - a major accolade, given that the whole of England boasts just one restaurant with the Michelin man's top three-star score.
Originally a farmhouse dating from the early 18th century, the stone cottage that houses the Box Tree sits rather incongruously on the apex of a bend in the A65 Ilkley-Skipton road, a couple of hundred yards north of the town's central crossroads.
It was both an antique shop and a tearoom, before it was opened as a restaurant to almost immediate acclaim in 1962. Renowned chefs Michael Truelove, Edward Denny and Marco Pierre White all cemented their reputations here.
Stepping inside, through the garden and past the large ceramic dogs that guard the entrance, you enter an ever-so-slightly kitsch bar area, with big chairs, lots of flowers, oil paintings in grand gilt frames, and ornate table lamps. We chose instead to take our drinks through to a huge wooden settle in the next room, where etchings of Shakespearean characters gaze down on an unfeasibly large stone fireplace. It could almost be the scene of some pantomime giant's castle, or a set lifted straight out of Disneyland.
Here we were brought menus whose short list of starters nonetheless managed to cover a lot of the major bases. There was roast foie gras with ginger sponge cake, fresh limes and - intriguingly - vanilla foam; a salad of ham hock, smoked eels and Granny Smiths; and a veloute of Styrian pumpkin and girolle mushrooms.
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The latter is the kind of dish which has simple folk like me scratching their heads and wondering what the heck's a girolle mushroom - and wishing I had a laptop handy so I could Google "Styrian pumpkin". It's a good job I hadn't mind, because one of the first pages returned under that search tells me: "The Styrian pumpkin itself is not used as a food item" and is "considered suitable for animals only". Still, you don't get a Michelin star for serving food unfit for human consumption, so I'm sure Mr Gueller knows what he's up to.
From here we were whisked through into dining room where the decor is simpler - hessian walls and halogen spotlights - and the atmosphere far less forbidding.
An amuse bouche of bright green pea soup greeted us almost as soon as we sat down, though to be strictly fair it was sweeter, creamier, smoother than that traditional rustic winter warmer. And it hadn't been near a ham bone.
The Michelin guide describes the Lobster Risotto (£15) as one of the Box Tree's specialities, and I certainly didn't regret ordering it as my starter. Here a bowl of soft fluffy rice was liberally tossed with chunks of the delicate seafood, drenched in an assertive sauce of lobster essence and fresh tarragon.
The waiter had recommended the Roast Sea Scallops (£15) when we ordered, so that was my partner's choice. They were beautifully tender and exquisitely presented with a celeriac mousseline and topped with thin shavings of truffle.
These two added up to a great start - which the Box Tree somehow managed to maintain right through the evening.
There is plenty of fish among the short list of main courses. There's smoked Cornish seabass, turbot with herb risotto and more scallops, and a John Dory broth. Other main courses included roast calves' liver with Savoy cabbage and pigeon breasts with foie gras, yet after both starting with seafood we then chose to follow it up with some real beef.
My partner went for the Grass-Fed Beef (£25) a sizeable still-nicely-pink fillet served with buttered spinach, and a rich vigneron sauce; while I had opted for the Glazed Veal (£23) - chunky slices of rump served with yielding asparagus, big tasting morels and potato gnocchi and a slightly sweet Madeira jus.
A plummy, fruity, fulsome red wine was the ideal accompaniment to these two red (well reddish) meat dishes. We had opted for the Merlot from the acclaimed Cavas de Weinert in Mendoza, Argentina - a spicy, yet smooth and graceful red which feels beautifully luxurious on the palate. At £25.50 you might say "well it ought to be at that price" - but it is one of the cheaper bottles on the Box Tree's extensive, stellar wine list.
Service was genuine, attentive and friendly throughout - and yet informal enough for us not to be afraid to admit our ignorance and ask about something unidentifiable among my partner's vegetables. It turned out to be a stray morel, as it goes. Loose morels and my dining partner are never far apart.
And given the heights reached by the two preceding courses, it was inevitable we would stop for dessert too. I went for the Passion Fruit Sorbet (£8.50), beautifully light and moist, with a generous jug of a sharply tart passion fruit sauce to pour into its opening crevices. My partner hadn't managed to take her gaze beyond the word "chocolate" and opted for a interesting combination of a chocolate mousse, a nutty brownie, Earl Grey ice cream and passion fruit jelly. It looked so good it seemed almost a shame to eat it, but I have to report that she did.
Across the room, two of our fellow diners were making their choices from a weighty cheeseboard, while at a third table, the waiter was tempting customers with the contents of a giant wooden box, the kind in which an old sea captain might keep his charts and best compass. We at first guessed it must contain cigars - though I had a feeling this was a non-smoking restaurant - and only when it was turned to face us did we realise it was packed to the gunwales with choicest chocolates, the best of which was, curiously, dark and bitter and tobacco-flavoured.
These accompanied two strong dark coffees (£4) and softened me up before a bill for £140 landed on the table. I dare say you can eat here more cheaply. A fixed price lunch menu on Fridays and Saturdays offers three courses for £25 while there is a three-course fixed price dinner on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings for £28 - though in both cases the menus offer rather less choice than the main a la carte selections.
In the run-up to the festive season they are offering a three-course fixed price Christmas lunch for £28 per person and Christmas dinner for £35 each. Dinner on Christmas Day itself will set you back £75 for seven courses - while their seven-course New Year's Eve banquet is £100 each.
No one could pretend a meal for £140 is cheap - even for dazzling dining like this - but a night at the Box Tree is a rare delight, a rarefied assault on the senses, and, just once in a while, is worth every penny.
