The Black Rat

The Black Rat is a white-painted boozer-cum-restaurant that has benefited from sympathetic re-modelling. Old beams & timbers, dark floorboards, exposed brickwork & a big inglenook are reminders of the past & part of its unpretentious charm, while a Michelin star gives the seal of approval to the food. Menus aren’t short on appeal or imagination & the modern British repertoire is built around locally sourced, seasonal produce: expect generosity & punchy flavours in dishes such as Longhorn beef faggot served with shallot glaze, split pea mousse, bone marrow & pea shoots or slow-cooked, five-year-old Blackface mutton breast with pickled turnip, black cabbage, haggis & beech leaf jus. Good desserts too, if poached Yorkshire rhubarb with hibiscus, vanilla cream & a pistachio macaroon is anything to go by.