Quinta, Ilkley: The award-winning Yorkshire eatery which is the very essence of a neighbourhood restaurant

The menu might not be Michelin but on the other hand you know you can ring them up at short notice and there’s every chance there’s a table for you.

None of that being put on a waiting list for a reservation months ahead.

I’ve had an excellent year of eating at neighbourhood joints: The Loft in Ripponden surprised me – in a good way.

I was expecting cocktails and posh nuts – well there were both, but terrific food as well.

The standout dish (and this is a theme) was the least appealing on the looks front, but a plate of courgette, ricotta, basil and pine nuts was extraordinary. Lovely people, too.

I can’t really put a paper between The Nettle at Settle and Harrogate’s Ginkgo, both exceptional restaurants masquerading as cafes by day, with great dishes appearing from tiny open kitchens; Ginkgo’s Tommy Souter and The Nettle’s Iain Graham performing actual magic before your very eyes: wild mushrooms on Japanese bread the star of the show at Ginkgo, and at the Nettle a plate of charred cauliflower, with yeast and apple chutney.

Is the Three Acres at Roydhouse a neighbourhood restaurant? I’m not sure, although I think the owners, Tom and Lauren Truelove would say so.

After the devastating fire on Boxing Day 2023 which ripped through the place, it was hard to imagine this much-loved, elegant old pub opening its doors again – but open they did, and the new incarnation is as warm and welcoming as ever, and the offer every bit as good.

I loved Joro’s new home, a monumental mill in Oughtibridge.

Everything about it is spectacular: the dining room (all blonde wood and sheepskins on the chairs), the atmosphere (cool tunes and super-friendly and informed servers) and of course, the food.

Chef/owner Luke French’s MO has always been to use the best ingredients in unusual and creative ways, and he seems to have found another gear here.

In Sheffield, Mexican Pellizco was vibrant and huge fun – and those quesadillas. Delicious.

There have been a couple of brilliant sandwich shops – not restaurants, you might argue, although you can sit down and eat in both.

In prime position overlooking the North Sea, Mary’s Sandwich Shop in Sandsend was a great place to go for lunch, a crispy buttermilk chicken beauty in homemade focaccia (great fries, too) and watch the sea crash spectacularly over the road.

In the evening, turn up for a tandoori smash burger and a bottle of Spanish beer.

There’s not much sea to be seen in Bramley at Silver’s Sandwich Shop, but there were compensations: the best salt beef on (my) record and an Italian Hot that got us properly warmed up.

All ingredients are top-quality and cooked onsite, served up in homemade hoagies by cheerful staff.

All of this brings me to Quinta, the last place to visit in 2025, and the very definition of a quintessential neighbourhood restaurant; warm welcome, pleasant buzz of folk having fun on a wet rainy Wednesday night, tap water and menus brought to the table pronto and before you know it a glass of very acceptable Tonada Chilean Sauvignon Blanc in my hand.

Quinta’s been around for a decade, and what brought it to my attention is a recent accolade – it’s just won English Restaurant of the Year at the English Business Awards 2025, winning against thousands of restaurants across the country. Got to be worth a visit, right?

Owner Diogo Filipe is from Nazare on Portugal’s Atlantic coast, these days known for surfing, but originally a fishing village, which goes partly to explain why the fish dishes are so good here.

Grilled sardines, prawn arancini, lobster money bags and lemon sole – all exceptionally good.

There are other things to eat of course: chicken breast stuffed with Limiano cheese and wrapped in Parma ham, fillet of beef wrapped in puff pastry, Iberico cheese and Serrano ham, and chestnut soup with grappa cream, amongst other things. But we’re here for the fish.

Arancini is bursting with fat prawns and in a beautifully light tempura.

The last time I had seafood money bags was at the Angel at Hetton back in the ‘80s. It’s said that the late Denis Watkins coined the term gastropub for the Angel; lobster money bags became his signature dish.

I’m very pleased to eat it again at Quinta, and I can report that it’s as good.

Grilled sardines on bruschetta is very typically Mediterranean and takes me to a warm, sunny bar a long way from the grim rainy night up a side street in Ilkley.

Crayfish and prawn tagliatelle is bursting with flavour – perhaps a little too much as the pesto dominates, but it’s good nonetheless, and very generous with the seafood.

But then comes an extraordinary dish - and it’s all down to smoked leeks. It’s new to me: perfectly cooked lemon sole (so easy to overdo) placed on hickory smoked leek risotto.

How can this work without the smoke dominating such a delicate fish? It shouldn’t work, but it does. The rice is properly al dente too.

There’s no doubt there’s someone in the kitchen who knows what they’re doing.

The other half is very pleased to see there’s a glass of port and pasteis de nata for pud.

I ate my weight in them in Portugal recently and can’t really look one in the eye yet, so it’s almond tart for me – very obviously made in house, and I liked the caramelised apple accompaniment a lot.

Thank you, Quinta, for rounding off twelve months of happy eating. More of the same, please in 2026.

Welcome 5/5

Food 5/5

Atmosphere 4/5

Prices 5/5

Quinta 10 Wells Road, Ilkley LS29 9JD t: 01943 602670 www.quintarestaurant.co.uk dinner for two with wine £115