Harvilles Restaurant
47 Fossgate
YORK
North Yorkshire
YO1 9TF
England
Tel: 0845 4 60 20 20
www.debretton.co.uk/Harvilles-restaurant


Open six days a week from 11am.
Last food orders 9.30pm.
Closed on Sundays.
Express Lunch menu from 11am until 3pm Monday to Saturday.



Fossgate in York was once the restaurant Bermuda triangle of the city; they came then disappeared without trace, never heard of again. All that has changed with the street destined to be York’s culinary epicentre if any more fine eateries open here.

The newest kid on this block is Harvilles Restaurant Champagne and Oyster Bar. The slick, art deco interior is certainly eye-catching as is the menu which states this is one of the finest restaurants in the city, a bold statement. They also say the secret to fine dining is to take the best quality beef and fish available and cook it simply. Very simply. Well it’s not a secret to any good chef, which is why I am surprised so few follow it, but do Harvilles? As the setting for this month’s lunch, I was about to find out.

Each course today came from Harvilles Express lunch menu, which at £7.95 is one of the best value meals in York. The Deutz Champagne and moreish canapés served on arrival, however, are not on the Express menu.

Lunch started with a crusty ficelle of olive oil bread and tiny pots of butter and a starter of potted salmon and tartare arrived looking very smart on a grey slate tile. It is so long since I last had this underrated dish and how lovely to see it revived. Juicy flakes of succulent creamy salmon spread easily on to the chunks of granary toast with the sharpness and crunch from capers and onions in the tartare tantalising the taste buds.

Wine for a dish of this complexity was a tough call for any expert but Francois Morillon of Pagendam and Pratt knows his stuff. He served a bold Italian white made from Vermentino, Viognier and Verdicchio grapes, three tough cookies well able to stand up to the dish.

Main course was simple and direct in an unadorned 8oz Aberdeen Angus steak with just a confit of shallots on the side. The searing on the steak produced a caramel-flavoured gloss and my fork plummeted through the meat as though it were pudding. The steak wasn’t the only delicious item served though; a frighteningly good bowl of fat golden chips and a creamy sauce had me breathless with pleasure. A dark cherry red, rich Rioja from Viña Salceda with its well-developed bouquet and spicy, complex after-taste was a perfect wine for the steak.

So could pudding now deliver the same gasps of appreciation? Not quite. The orange bread and butter pudding though well-executed and bursting with syrupy orange was overpowered by the heavy spicing, as was the delicate, gently sparkling Moscato d’Asti wine.

Not that this spoilt the lunch.

Chef Johnny Davison certainly had shown a sound appreciation for good ingredients. The staff looking after us were excellent, their friendliness and enthusiasm modulated in a way that felt genuine. An extremely enjoyable lunch.