Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall review: a Michelin-starred taste of home
Cooking is spectacular and the overall experience is faultless
They say that smell is the sense most linked to memory, the thing that has our minds barrelling to the past, like that scene in “Ratatouille”. Experience suggests they have a point: a hint of pipe smoke and it’s 1978 and I’m back at my grandad’s.
Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall, however, suggests that smell and memory can be easily tricked. One deep, tantalising inhalation of his “Bread, Butter, Dripping, Beef Tea” opening dish and I was deeply nostalgic for Sunday afternoon teas in Yorkshire with my nan. Which will come as a huge surprise to my nan who lived in Enfield for most of her life and was far too middle class for Bovril.
The dish, as explained by the lovely team at Grantley Hall’s Michelin-starred restaurant, is a throwback to Rankin’s childhood memory and, as the above might suggest, it’s a wonderfully intense thing where the apparent simplicity – the menu descriptions focus on, typically, the two or three key ingredients on the plate – masks the remarkable technical skill to make such an unassuming sounding dish so intensely memorable; a pattern repeated across the entire 10-course snacks-to-sweet experience.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The food
The menu is billed as a “Taste of Home” as, while the technique is French and the influences global, the ingredients, for the most part, are from Yorkshire or the Grantley Hall kitchen garden. As a result, there’s an obvious, easy seasonality to the menu. The Yorkshire location also means that, for all its obvious formality and Michelin-starred precision, there’s a relaxed air to service and an underlying sense of fun, for those that want it. If you’re here to worship at the altar of fine dining, go to it. Knock yourself out. There’s more than enough here to keep you delighted. But if you want something a little more… well, northern, they’ll rapidly pick up on that vibe.
The cooking is spectacular and it’s mostly hit after hit. For my palate, only course two – kohlrabi, lovage, Yorkshire Tea – underwhelmed. After that, it’s hard to select a favourite, although the aforementioned beef tea is the one that, several months on, I keep finding myself thinking about.
But even so, other dishes pop into my mind from time to time. A perfectly cooked langoustine, with elderflower and smoked cream, for example, or the venison, blackcurrant and celeriac, a dish of sweet earthiness and very British autumnal/wintery flavours. And it’s impossible not to think of the palate cleansing fennel blueberry “Magnum” – yes, that sort of Magnum – without smiling.
The wines
Wine pairings come at two levels, and the selected “prestige” was every bit as good as you’d expect, and considerably more varied than you might anticipate, with wines from Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Canada and Italy playing as much a part as the French.
Even better though was the non-alcoholic pairing, where there’s nothing off the shelf and, instead, bespoke drinks are created to match the relevant dish, frequently made with the same ingredients or versions of them. “We have a lot of local guests,” our waiter explained, “and there’s usually a designated driver so we wanted to give them something special.” And they have, and the pairings are, perhaps inevitably being so tailor made, even better than the wines.
The verdict
As you’re ushered back to the bar or comfier seating, for tea, petit fours and pastries and perhaps a port poured from one of the largest bottles I’ve ever seen – they breed their waiters strong in Yorkshire – an air of contentment descends. You’ve been well fed, well watered, and thoroughly cared for, by a team of people – those you’ve seen, those you haven’t – who are somewhere towards the top of their respective games. It’s a faultless experience.
Neil Davey was a guest of Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall. Ripon, Yorkshire HG4 3ET; grantleyhall.co.uk
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Captchas are getting harder to solve
Under The Radar If the process continues to get harder, it could cause problems for people trying to book tickets for popular shows
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 28, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - airline safety, teleprompter gaffs, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 doom 'n' gloom cartoons about the mess we're in
Cartoons Artists take on long-term pessimism, dystopian fears, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Tuck in to British fusion cuisine
The Week Recommends The trend for combining classics from two food cultures can result in dishes that are doubly delicious
By The Week UK Published
-
Three Chimneys restaurant and The House Over-By review: Skye's sumptuous rural hideaway
The Week Recommends The award-winning restaurant with rooms is well worth battling the elements to reach
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published
-
9 restaurants primed for spring dining
The Week Recommends Winter be gone. Appetites are ready for the warmer months.
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Good-value restaurants for fine food on a budget
The Week Recommends From an 'immensely likeable' French bistro to a family-run pub in Essex
By The Week UK Published
-
The lasting changes of the post-pandemic dining era
The Explainer The newest of new normals
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
The Westbury Hotel review: stunning suites in charming Dublin
The Week Recommends This hotel is the perfect spot to while away a weekend in Ireland's capital
By Kaye O'Doherty Published
-
Drama movies 2024: new films out this year
In Depth Latest reviews include The Boys in the Boat, One Life and Tchaikovsky's Wife
By The Week UK Last updated
-
Best new hotels and places to stay in 2024
The Week Recommends Featuring stylish island resorts, historical properties and wilderness retreats
By The Week UK Last updated