The three best restaurants in Yorkshire according to the National Restaurants Awards' top 100 restaurants

At a glitzy ceremony earlier this week Myse, in Hovingham, The Black Swan at Oldstead and the Angel at Hetton were all named in the top 100 restaurants for 2024 by the awards.

There was also a double win for the owners of Myse, husband and wife duo Josh and Vicky Overington, after they picked up the Restaurateurs of the Year award at the ceremony.

Myse was the top ranked Yorkshire restaurant, coming in at 17th on the list, while The Angel at Hetton was in 37th and the Black Swan at Oldstead followed close behind in 41st place.

The Ledbury, in Notting Hill in London, was named as theh number one restaurant in the country, while also scooping the National Restaurant of the Year and Best Restaurant in England awards.

Here are what the National Restaurant Awards said about the three restaurants:

Myse

Launched in 2023, Mýse follows the success of Joshua and Vicky Overington’s now closed Le Cochon Aveugle restaurant in York. Located about 30 minutes’ drive north in the village of Hovingham, their new project is intended as a softer-edged, more experiential counterpoint to the urban and, at times, edgy restaurant with which the pair made their name.

Another important difference between Mýse and Le Cochon is that its culinary inspiration and to some extent its ingredients come from closer to home. This is partly due to its rural location and also because the pair are now looking to create a narrative-driven restaurant experience with the menu referencing the food Joshua ate as a child. Described by the chef as ‘elevated grandma cooking’, the food is high-end and creative but is largely inspired by hearty dishes.

Overseen by Vicky, the 300-bin wine list is big on classic wine regions with a focus on producers from eastern France (both originally from the UK, the pair met in the Alps). The site that Mýse occupies was formerly home to a gastropub but is now pretty much unrecognisable as such thanks to a total refurbishment that has seen the interior brightened and comprehensively decluttered and the rear of the site remodelled to create an open kitchen that befits Joshua’s considerable talent (the kitchen at the Overington’s last place was laughably small).

With a dining room staffed by young, enthusiastic and largely local staff, Mýse dazzles, delivering an experience that is unapologetically geared toward special occasions with an impressive lightness of touch.

The Angel and Hetton

This Yorkshire institution was one of the county’s first gastropubs when it was made famous by the late chef Denis Watkins in the 1980s. Now its reputation is on the rise again under new owner Michael Wignall, who took over the pub with his wife Johanna in 2018.

Wignall is one of the UK’s most respected and accomplished chefs and has so far won a Michelin star in every kitchen he has helmed since 1993. The last two venues he has headed – The Latymer at Pennyhill Park in Surrey and Gidleigh Park in Devon – won and retained two stars under his stewardship.

At The Angel Wignall is serving up more than mere pub grub, either through his à la carte menu or multi-course tasting menus that are available at both lunch and dinner. Expect a trio of snacks as well as freshly made sourdough and a selection of cultured butters before tucking into some of the most inventive cooking and immaculate plating in the country at the moment.

The 15th century pub building is situated on a quiet road in the picturesque village of Hetton and features nine bedrooms, making it an ideal base for visitors to explore the wider Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The Black Swan at Oldstead

The Black Swan at Oldstead went from being a North Yorkshire restaurant with a solid reputation for food to a place gastronomes across the world were getting excited about, thanks to it being named The Best Restaurant in the World by TripAdvisor in 2017.

While it’s an accolade that detractors of the controversial reviews website might take with a pinch of salt, it does give some indication of the high quality on offer at this pub-turned-restaurant.

The food at The Black Swan is very much of its location. Chef-patron Tommy Banks’ menu is inspired by the ingredients that are grown in its fields, in the two acres of growing beds in the adjoining garden, or foraged in and around Oldstead. The restaurant opts for a tasting menu-only approach, which it says allows it to bring together everything grown and developed into a purposefully designed experience.

Dishes are seasonal and based on what has been grown as well as what’s available from the seas. But the menu is not completely dictated by the seasons, with the restaurant regularly using pickled and preserved ingredients in the more fallow months, particularly early on in the year. Banks’ menu of small plates changes regularly but expect premium ingredients such as scallops, aged beef and langoustine paired with stellar homegrown produce.

Located in the tiny village of Oldstead about an hour’s drive from York, The Black Swan is not a place you pass on the way to somewhere else, you need to want to get there. But it’s well worth the pilgrimage.