The Old Deanery, Ripon: 'I ate at a luxury restaurant in a Jacobean mansion run by one of the best chefs in Yorkshire'

The city – yes, Ripon is a city, one of the smallest in Great Britain, thanks to its Cathedral and royal charter of 1836 – teems with life, with independent shops, cafes, restaurants, pubs, and a weekly market.

There's the racecourse, museums, and beautiful canal walks.

I love the nighttime custom of The Ripon Hornblower blowing the horn in the Market Place to set the 'watch', a tradition dating back 1100 years.

Yes, Ripon takes some beating for sure.

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Tucked down Minster Road, directly across the green from the Cathedral, is another iconic building, The Old Deanery, which was initially built around 1625 but underwent significant changes in 1799, resulting in the current façade.

Once the home of the Dean, it survives today as a Jacobean mansion, now a luxury restaurant with rooms and is where I am headed in torrential rain on one of the filthiest nights of the summer.

The Old Deanery is now home to renowned chef Adam Jackson and his brigade.

I will admit right here that Adam and I go way back, to when he was head chef at The Black Swan at Oldstead and earned their first Michelin Star in 2012.

I have reviewed Adam's food on numerous occasions over the years. I consider him one of the best chefs in the county, and he has yet to disappoint; however, there's always a first time for everyone.

A tasting menu for me, I cannot speak for others, can sometimes be a daunting task, and my biggest fear always is, will I make it to the end? I have been known not to on a few occasions.

Some have even brought me close to tears; they went on so long, but I consider Adam one of the masters of this genre, so with fingers crossed, off we go with a lamb croustade.

For this, we are surprisingly asked to leave our table and head into the moody chef's lounge next door, where we meet up with Adam as he assembles the croustade, meticulously describing how it is put together.

Before eating it down in one, as instructed by Adam, we take a moment to appreciate the dish.

This delicious little nugget of food is a charcoal croustade made of rye flour, with, from bottom to top, Ratte potato salad, bound with sour cream and crème fraîche, 36-month Parmesan cheese, lamb fillet from Thomas Kilby in Wetherby dressed with homemade hot sauce, red dulce, topped with peppery nasturtium, rock samphire, and Calendula petals.

Phew. The croustade, with ten ingredients, was so beautifully balanced and unquestionably superb, showcasing Jackson at his finest.

Back at the table, we next meet Chef Callum Harding, Adam's sous chef, who delivers another great morsel: a smoked potato layered with seaweed and dusted with malted vinegar powder, garnished with sour cream, shallots, and chives, and topped off with sustainable caviar, which is lovely.

And the last of this group of three is titled Easingwold Pork and a trio of cuts with filet, braised pig's cheek wrapped with ham hock, and, unbelievably, lacy, wafer-thin pig's ears, which tasted just like the best crackling. They come with wooden bowls containing various tastes and textures to dip the pork into, and it was an accomplished piece of cooking from the kitchen.

Young chef Evan then brings out his excellent seeded ciabatta, baked that day, served with a spring herb butter and sweet, juicy slices of Isle of Wight tomatoes, and I am in love (with the bread).

The courses continue at a pace that works well, long enough to savour what was eaten and the wine accompaniment tasted, but not too long ago that that makes the evening drag.

We savour a delicious early-season cured sea trout with elderflower granita, cucumber gazpacho, salted strawberries, and gooseberries; a hand-dived scallop with line-grown mussels stuffed with finger lime and trout roe, accompanied by a sublime coconut Thai curry sauce – this is one of my favourites of the evening, as is the accompanying Spanish Albariño.

Across the way, he loves the saddle of lamb glazed in lamb fat, onion sauce, pea puree, girolle mushrooms, a pea dashi, a sheep's curd, and I agree wholeheartedly with him that this is exquisite cooking.

By now, we have reached the point that always seems to come with a tasting menu, where we suddenly appear to be heading towards the end.

There's a palette refresher of compressed strawberries, pink peppercorn crumb, milk ice cream and green tomato.

Dessert of early summer fruits with baked apricot glazed in raspberry vinegar, apple marigold, ricotta mouse, and teeny tiny sugary doughnuts.

Then, before we know it, we are sitting in the lounge eating gorgeous petit fours of Kirsch jelly with fennel pollen sherbet, Manjari chocolate and pumpkin seed praline, which, with an edible stem, looks like a perfect cherry on the plate, and we are done.

Adam did not disappoint, far from it, he has not lost his touch, but rather it has grown, matured and is truly exceptional.

However, as I teem praise on him, what he also does so, so well, is build a team of talent around him from Jospeh the restaurant manager and Stef Devlin supervisor and sommelier both who are young and are brilliant; the chefs who delivered their food to the table already mentioned plus Joe and John and I am sure there are others.

They are so knowledgeable, and given that I am a nightmare for asking questions, not once did any of them run off to the kitchen for an answer.

I watch the dance they perform as a solid team, and I am impressed.

And I have one final person to add to that team, and that is Eddie, Adam's adorable young son, a keen forager and budding chef, who often helps his dad gather food for the restaurant.

It's heartening to know the talent may continue.

Welcome 5/5

Food 5/5

Atmosphere 5/5

Prices 5/5

The Old Deanery, Minster Road, Ripon, HG4 1QS theolddeanery.co.uk