Roots York — Modern British / Farm-to-Fork, York
Roots York is the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the city, helmed by Tommy Banks — one of the most celebrated British chefs of his generation — and built around the radical conviction that the most interesting British cooking starts on a family farm in North Yorkshire and proceeds directly to the plate with as little interference from the supply chain as possible.
The 10-course tasting menu at Roots changes with the seasons of the Banks family farm in Oldstead, North Yorkshire, where Tommy and his family grow, forage, and rear the ingredients that define the menu. The result is cooking that is immediately recognisable as British — the root vegetables, the wild herbs, the Dales lamb — yet applied with a precision and imagination that places it firmly in the European fine dining conversation.
The wine programme draws on the emerging English wine scene alongside the French and European producers that have long provided the context for British fine dining. The English sparkling wines are presented with the pride of a kitchen that regards the domestic wine culture as an extension of its food philosophy.
Roots is the restaurant that makes the case for York as a serious gastronomic destination rather than simply a heritage city. The combination of Tommy Banks’s Michelin pedigree, the farm provenance, and the medieval city setting produces a dining experience that is both specifically British and genuinely world-class.
Best Occasion: Proposal
York’s only Michelin star, a 10-course menu of extraordinary British cooking from a family farm, and one of England’s most historically beautiful cities as the backdrop: Roots provides the conditions for a proposal that is both grand and genuinely personal.
Best Occasion: Impress Clients
A Michelin-starred kitchen with farm-to-fork provenance in medieval York communicates a depth of culinary knowledge and a commitment to British food culture that clients from any background will immediately respect.