‘Clever, delicious and often brilliant’ – York restaurant gets stunning review from critic and Masterchef judge
It has already garnered glowing reviews from locals and seen its chef-owner tipped for the top.
And after a glowing review in a national newspaper, it seems nothing can stop the rise of Skosh.
The Micklegate restaurant, opened by chef Neil Bentinck last May, was visited by Jay Rayner, food critic of the Observer. And it is fair to say he liked it.
Rayner, who was also a regular judge on the BBC food competition Masterchef, began by listing the time it would take diners to reach York by train from London, Edinburgh and Manchester.
“All of these (and more) are entirely reasonable journey times to experience Neil Bentinck’s clever, delicious and often brilliant cooking at a price that won’t leave you feeling like you’ve been a willing accomplice in your own mugging,” he writes.
Best dish of the year
With flavours inspired by Japan and the Middle East, the Skosh menu involves a series of small plates of food – most of which delight Rayner.
Skosh, he says, “is, I think, the ideal of what an ambitious, independent restaurant should be”.
One of the dishes is “is half a dozen teaspoons of joy”. Another, featuring mackerel and eel barbecued with a sweet savoury soy glaze is the reviewer’s favourite: “I am willing to declare it one of the best dishes of the year, and I’m eating it in February.”
The review was welcomed by many in and around York…
@skoshyork @jayrayner1 @guardian well done chef fab review!! Fab food !! See you soon #starinnoldboy ??
— Andrew Pern (@andrewpern) March 5, 2017
@skoshyork Fantastic and well deserved review by @jayrayner1 in the @ObsMagazine Great work Neil and team pic.twitter.com/ZeTrXF8fZk
— Field and Fawcett (@FieldandFawcett) March 5, 2017
'Dish of the year…' for @skoshyork from @jayrayner1 I'm not surprised @NeilBentinck much deserved! https://t.co/nbBUELm3DG
— Karen Turner (@karenturneruk) March 5, 2017
Brilliant, this has been a long time coming. Well done @NeilBentinck & @skoshyork, proud to have you @NRBManchester! https://t.co/sqodfBnct4
— Thom Hetherington (@ThomHetheringto) March 5, 2017
https://t.co/y7fH80P03O @jayrayner1 love the write up for @visit york @skoshyork
— York PR (@KayHyde) March 5, 2017
This has been a brilliant few weeks for Skosh.
Recently it topped the list for York restaurants on TripAdvisor and Olive magazine named Neil in its list of the ‘Top Chefs to Watch’ in 2017.
York is certainly going up in the foodie world. Jay Rayner’s review comes nearly a year after his food critic colleague on sister paper The Guardian gave a glowing review to Le Cochon Aveugle on Walmgate.