Fifty Two at Rudding Park: The 'simply sublime' Yorkshire immersive dining experience inside a shipping container

Simply sublime... Elaine Lemm savours the immersive dining experience with head chef Adam Degg and his team at Fifty Twoin Rudding Park – but finds the cost of the water hard to swallow.

The "Immersive Dining experience" is a trend that has been floating here and there for some time now.

If you aren't clear what this is, I paraphrase – "creating an unforgettable experience by immersing diners in a world that extends far beyond the confines of the plate".

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The description was met with a raised eyebrow when I explained it to my other half.

Adam Degg outside Fiftytwo restaurant built out of five shipping containers at Rudding Park, Harrogate. Picture: Olivia Brabbs PhotographyAdam Degg outside Fiftytwo restaurant built out of five shipping containers at Rudding Park, Harrogate. Picture: Olivia Brabbs Photography
Adam Degg outside Fiftytwo restaurant built out of five shipping containers at Rudding Park, Harrogate. Picture: Olivia Brabbs Photography

Creating new or unique experiences to draw diners in these precarious times for restaurants is understandable, but, for me, it must deliver and keep the food centre stage.

Rudding Park in Harrogate has recently opened its immersive dining restaurant, Fifty Two. Rudding is an absolute favourite of mine.

It has bucked trends many times, and it looks like they are up to it again. So, I was willing to give it a go, though secretly hoped not to share one big table and be forced to chit-chat all evening, my nightmare.

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We arrive early at Rudding as protocol dictates that being late for these events is frowned upon as you hold everything up.

Fifty Two, Rudding Park, Harrogate. Whitby Crab. Picture Jonathan GawthorpeFifty Two, Rudding Park, Harrogate. Whitby Crab. Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe
Fifty Two, Rudding Park, Harrogate. Whitby Crab. Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe

The restaurant is housed in newly installed shipping containers – now, there are two words I would never have associated with the luxury hotel – somewhere towards the golf.

Somehow, we missed the tiny car park the first time, and when we did park, there was no one around, and we only saw a firmly locked, unwelcoming door. All the action, as it turned, was on the other side.

As we stepped in front of the splendid glass frontage, we spotted the staff, and they leapt into action, whisking us from the restaurant and through to the walled garden for the first part of the evening.

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What a garden it is. If the rest of the evening turned into a complete shambles, that quiet half an hour of wandering amongst the 52 raised beds (hence the name here), glass in hand and our first taste of the food to come, a Roscoff Onion sable with Yoredale cheese custard and chive flowers, it was so worth the journey.

Fifty Two, Rudding Park, Harrogate. Confit Potato. Picture Jonathan GawthorpeFifty Two, Rudding Park, Harrogate. Confit Potato. Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe
Fifty Two, Rudding Park, Harrogate. Confit Potato. Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe

We headed back to the restaurant for the rest of the evening, and my fear of one large table swapping names and party games was instantly quelled. The room is beautiful and spacious with exquisite, shared tables large enough to chat or cosy up with no offence to anyone.

A vast copper and stainless-steel demo kitchen runs the length of the back wall. It was here head chef Adam Degg and his team of four were running the whole show, from serving drinks and food to washing up.

They were busy with the prerequisite tweezers preparing our following titbit of apple blini, smoked cod's roe and nasturtium.

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Adam has been at Rudding for a while over at Horto, and Fifty Two was his dream.

He was recently seen on Great British Menu, and his flirting with fame on the programme has stood him in good stead for this new venture.

He handled standing in front of us cooking the most intricate food, chatting, explaining in detail the ingredients, and his ethos with great poise.

We have front-row seats, so I am in my element, watching how they work seamlessly and effortlessly. Adam whips freshly baked bread from the oven in a fog of hot steam. The fermented potato bread is served hot, crusty and moreish with whipped sunflower seeds, cultured butter and garden herbs.

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We devour this eagerly as the team prepare a riot of colour on the plate of Whitby crab, garden pickings and fermented strawberry ice.

I am transfixed by the three-tiered Japanese-style barbecue in front of me. Over a bed of Binchotan, chefs baste confit potatoes, which are served with chalk stream trout, parsley, and malt vinegar. I detected a little seaweed in there, too.

This is a competent, delicious dish, with every element playing well with the rest.

Huge saddles of salt-aged lamb have replaced the potatoes on the grill, and flames are leaping around.

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The saddles are removed, then rested, the meat portioned, and served; it is tender and juicy, and the plate is shared with lamb breast, sweetbread, and lamb sauce.

Last year's beetroot is far more delicious than it sounds.

This is a preserved version served with goat's milk ice cream. Then, my favourite of tart gooseberries from Emma (in charge of the aforementioned kitchen garden) with woodruff ice cream and sweet cicely, which works like magic with white chocolate.

Finally, with a flourish, Adam decants a tray of freshly baked Madeleines from their hot tray and dusts them heavily with sugar. We help ourselves as he walks around with them and chats. This is a theatre that I love.

And, while the food flowed, so did the drinks around us, but not so much with us. I was disappointed they had no organic wine, which restricts what I could drink, and they only had one white by the glass, which I thought was only one size, not so when I saw the bill.

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They do have a range of non-alcoholic drinks, too, though. Water is an astonishing £6.50 a bottle, which is excessive in anyone's budget. At no point were we offered tap water.

Drinks aside, the evening was a triumph. Any 'entertainment' was up to the individual.

As the evening progressed, diners moved around and were invited to come and talk to the chefs, don aprons and do a bit of cooking – I passed on this one; I do enough cooking as it is without doing it while I am out.

There are conversation cards on the tables with prompts should conversation flag; we could even request our favourite tunes on the restaurant playlist. They have nailed the immersive without drowning anyone.

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The food is sublime, the team of five delightful, and the place is stunning – the least-looking shipping container you could ever imagine, and the garden is my dream. I would never expect less from Rudding Park.

Please sort out the water, though.

Fifty Two at Rudding Park Hotel, Harrogate, HG3 1JH. Fri & Sat – 10 servings, 5 drinks pairings -£115 p/p plus £50 p/p drinks pairing. Sun, Wed and Thurs – 6 servings, 3 drinks pairings £85 p/p plus £35 drinks pairing p/p. One sitting at 7 pm, arrival drink included.

Welcome 4/5

Food 5/5

Atmosphere 5/5

Prices 4/5

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