Budget
We’ve said it before and we’ll no doubt say it again – choose well, and you can eat top quality food for much the same price as at your local pizza joint.
The respected online news service The Huffington Post reported recently that dining out at a Michelin-starred restaurant might be cheaper than you think.
It quoted a survey conducted by website Kitchen Knives, which had analysed the menus of the UK’s 163 Michelin-starred restaurants and come up with an average price at each for a starter, main course and pudding from the evening menu.
The Pipe and Glass, reported The HuffPost in a piece snappily headlined ’10 Michelin star restaurants you can dine at in the UK for less than £35’, came in at a healthy number six on the overall list of 151 (just to complicate things, they discounted 12 of the garlanded restaurants which served mainly small plates as being not comparable). “The majority of the places in the list are located in London, seven to be exact, but there are a few further afield,” it said. “The Pipe and Glass, a gastropub in Beverley, East Riding, Yorkshire, costs as little as £31.50 and come in at number six on the list.”
…or posh?
An endorsement as one of the country’s top 10 best ‘budget’ Michelin-starred restaurants is all the more remarkable when you consider that less than a fortnight after that survey was published the Pipe and Glass was also named by The Daily Mail as one of Britain’s 10 ‘poshest pubs’.
“These incredible elite inns have one thing in common – they all offer great big dollops of luxury and fine food, as well as real ales and cosy atmospheres,” said the Mail Online of a list which also included Josh Eggleton’s The Pony & Trap at Chew Magna in Somerset, Nick Parkinson’s The Royal Oak Paley Street at Littlefield Green in Berkshire, and Tom Kerridge’s The Hand and Flower at Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
“A former coaching inn in South Dalton, East Yorkshire, the Pipe and Glass has been run since 2006 by James and Kate Mackenzie – and we really, really like what they’ve done with the place,” the Mail continued. “They have created a warm, comfortable Yorkshire country pub – parts of which date back to the 17th century - where customers can drop in for a pint, or enjoy exceptionally high standards of modern cuisine. Should you wish to stay the night – and since you’re there, why not? – you can choose from five [now nine!] graceful and well-equipped bedrooms. Think super king-sized beds with Yorkshire handmade luxury mattresses.
Bush Telegraph
The Pipe and Glass also received plaudits in The Daily Telegraph around the same time as one of the 50 best pubs with rooms in England. Giving it a 9 out of 10 ‘Telegraph expert rating’ (we’re not going to worry about that missing mark – not a single pub on the list merited a 10, apparently, and the majority were rated 8 out of 10), the venerable newspaper said: “This formerly run-down old coaching inn… doubles as a popular bar and a destination restaurant with ease. There's something for everyone: from pub classics in the bar to short menus in the Michelin-starred restaurant embellished by daily specials and a comprehensive choice of vegetarian dishes. There's no tasting menu – it doesn't suit the pub setting.”