Three dishes you have to try at… Skosh

I love my job. I get the opportunity to work with really talented chefs and food producers, whose passion for food is tangible from the moment you meet them.

Capturing food on location in restaurants, cafes, bakeries, butchers, farms (and anywhere you can imagine food being produced) makes for a very exciting and varied job, with no two shoots ever being the same.

However the question everyone asks me is ‘do you get to eat the food?’ And the answer is most of the time, yes!

With York fast becoming a real food lover’s paradise, here are my favourite three dishes from a rising star in our wonderful city.

Taste of things to come

I captured Neil Bentinck’s food nearly a year before his now incredibly successful Skosh restaurant opened on Micklegate.

I was honoured to be the first person to sample his Skosh menu when we got together at Rudding Park Hotel to photograph all his dishes. The images were for his website and to promote the restaurant when it opened last summer.

Since then, I never miss an opportunity to visit this wonderful relaxed restaurant, serving sublime Asian influenced small plates.

And a visit wouldn’t be complete without at least these three dishes (and usually many more!)

1. Sensational salmon

These cubes of deliciousness are salmon cured in molasses and kecap manis, with a cloud of whipped lime juice and sugar syrup, topped with a sprinkling of roasted peanuts and lime zest (£6).

They are now beloved by all of my friends who have eaten them with me, and for me they have some of the flavours I love the most together. The rich sweet cured salmon, counterbalanced by the zesty lime and peanuts… they are to die for.

2. A very good egg

I overheard a lady on the table next to me recently saying ‘it was a journey of discovery’ as she finished her Skosh hen’s egg, and I couldn’t have put it better myself!

Neil varies the flavours of his eggs with seasonal ingredients, and each version is a warm creamy journey of taste sensations.

On Skosh’s February 2017 menu for example the bottom layer is a rich, earthy mushroom duxelles, next we have an egg yolk purée with Dale End cheddar crisps, a layer of Dale End cheddar custard, finished with sherry reduction and chives (£3 each).

My mouth is watering just writing this…

3. Marvellous mousse

One dish I can never resist is Neil’s Goosnargh duck liver mousse (£5.80).

The mousse is light, velvety and incredibly rich all at the same time. And this is complimented perfectly with his almond buns and a passion fruit and miso caramel.

The tartness of the pearls of passion fruit add a real zing to each mouthful, perfection on a plate!

*Prices correct at the time of publishing.