Review: Forage, Little Stonegate, York - we try quirky menu

But what do you reckon to mushrooms in tiramisu? Artichokes with hummus? Or lamb hearts on a kebab?

If that tempts your tastebuds then make tracks for Forage in the former Mulberry Hall dining shop in Little Stonegate - right in the bustling heart of York's bar-and-restaurant-packed Minster Quarter.

There are plenty of quirky offerings on the menu to tempt daring diners - but also enough choice for people with less adventurous palates. Fried chicken anyone? Oh, and on Sundays, the restaurant serves traditional Sunday roasts at lunchtime. Menus change monthly.

What began as a pop up some 18-months ago is now a fully fledged restaurant for 90 diners with a "secret" Speakeasy bar upstairs (do visit if you can, but you may need to pre-book a table).

Forage in York

Owner Callum Houston and chef Kieran Duffy (formerly of Le Cochon Aveugle and Roots), who invited The Press to try out Forage, have big ambitions for the place. They'd like recognition from Michelin and to expand to other cities, but first is to focus on getting York as good as can be.

The menu takes its direction from middle eastern cuisine and the preferred method of cooking is "over the fire" - so expect lots of griddled/barbecued fare.

Part of the restaurant's ethos is to be as sustainable as possible and effort goes into sourcing local food and foraged ingredients. The kitchen tries to use up its 'waste' in creative and imaginative ways. Put all of this into the pot and there are some interesting and novel ideas to try on both the food and drink menus (the kitchen makes many of its own flavoured alcohols for its extensive cocktail menu).

For example, the menu features lamb heart skewers for £5 a pop. Callum tells us they are delicious and full of flavour and obviously sustainable.

We were feeling adventurous, but not that adventurous, so opted for the pork chop (£13), which was just one of many examples of the kitchen living up to its 'waste-not' philosophy. The meat is first rubbed in used coffee grinds before being grilled and decorated in a home-made kimchi with wild garlic. Like every dish we sampled at Forage, it looks a picture when brought to the table: the meat helpfully pre-sliced into at least ten hearty sections and topped with the pretty looking green and orange-coloured fermented veg. There was a colourful slaw on the side. It was delicious and one of our favourite dishes from the evening.

Pork chop with kimchi

The inventiveness is evident elsewhere too and for us it began with the completely moreish truffle and pecorino mixed nuts which we enjoyed with a pre-dinner cocktail of Pisco mixed with lime and Orgeat, the almond syrup. It's called Dirty Pedro (£9.95). The Pisco (a type of South American grape brandy) is given a spicy kick from chilli tops leftover from the Forage kitchen (chefs flavour a vodka too using carrot ends). The drink is served with a slice of cucumber and tastes incredible: spicy yet clean, and a great way to start the night.

The concept at Forage is for "sharing plates" so food arrives as and when, with the intention that the table tucks into it all. Each diner is given a earthenware plate, knife, fork and napkin in readiness.

Don't confuse the concept with "small plates" - as we sort of did (and then went on to order too much food).

The portions are generous and ideal for sharing if you are the sort of diner who likes to try lots of different foods rather than hoard a whole portion for yourself (no judgement there, by the way, horses for courses!).

The menu is simply listed as a selection of 'Plates', but broken into four sections. Our waiter explained that some dishes - ie the pork and the rib eye with confit garlic, wild garlic pesto and truffle (£28) - were substantial and more like full meals.

And at least four dishes on the menu are really sides - we ordered the confit potatoes with wild garlic emulsion (£6) and the buttered spring greens (£6).

We also picked out the fried chicken (£9), the roasted artichoke hummus (£8) and the crab bon bons (£8) and the flame-grilled prawns (£10).

Food arrived promptly - perhaps too quickly that we were slightly over-faced. My tip would be (A) order less and/or (B) order in batches, so you can have a bit more of a breathing space between dishes.

Staff are super friendly and helpful - Callum has a good team in place.

We each had a glass of wine with the meal - a very good French viognier for me and a lovely, fruitier, Alsace Gewurtztraminer for my dining partner. Wine prices range from £4.50 for a small glass.

We had quite a feast - but we had worked up an appetite from a 30-mile bike ride that afternoon.

All the food was of good quality, but - as you would expect - we enjoyed some dishes more than others.

My partner particularly liked the fried chicken, which was very succulent and drizzled with a tasty smoked chilli mayo, while I enjoyed the blackened prawns which were tender and sweet, if rather messy to eat. Thoughtfully, a bowl of water with lemon slices is served alongside to clean your hands.

I expected the crab bon bons to be light and soft, perhaps like a Spanish croquette, so I was surprised to discover they were more akin to a falafel: firm and dry. On account of that, they were a good choice alongside our dish of artichoke hummus. We only picked this out because our waiter James recommended it. And we were so glad we did. For me, it was the stand-out of the night: creamy and sweet; we piled soft heaps of it on to charred triangles of flat bread. It is so good, Forage should sell it in tubs for diners to take home.

Artichoke hummus - a winning dish

Talking of taking home: unable to finish our pork and rib eye (which comes cooked medium rare), James popped our leftovers in a box.

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Another star of the night was the confit potato (chef take a bow). Layers of wafer thin potato are soaked in fat before being pressed together overnight then fried until crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. Imagine the best ever chip as a giant piece from the Jenga game and you are almost there.

However, there are no chips on the menu, just these confit potatoes (by order of the chef, says Callum).

If the Michelin judge comes a-calling, this dish alone should be enough to get Forage on their radar.

Desserts are also on the menu: we could choose from poached rhubarb with granola and vanilla cream (£7), a rose and white chocolate cookie, with pistachio and rhubarb shake (£5), a selection of sorbets - or a cheese plate.

However, how could we pick any of the above when the utterly intriguing-sounding cep mushroom tiramisu (£7) was listed. Yes, you read that correctly: a mushroom tiramisu. Featuring fermented mushrooms, this amounted to a dark grey-brown (think of a deep mushroom soup colour) mousse upon a small piece of sponge.

Mushroom tiramisu at Forage

It tasted sweet, like caramel, but you could definitely taste the earthiness of the mushroom coming through too. For added interest, tiny caramelised mushrooms protruded from the dish.

It was totally bonkers. Way-out weird. And definitely a talking point. For sure, it was like nothing I had ever tasted before. Would I order it again? Probably not, but I'm glad I gave it a try.

Without experimentation, new flavours and concepts would never happen (I give you the rise of salted caramel).

So (chef) hat's off to the team at Forage for offering up a culinary adventure that is kind to the planet too.