They say that smell is the sense most linked to memory, the thing that has our minds barrelling to the past, like that scene in “Ratatouille”. Experience suggests they have a point: a hint of pipe smoke and it’s 1978 and I’m back at my grandad’s.
Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall, however, suggests that smell and memory can be easily tricked. One deep, tantalising inhalation of his “Bread, Butter, Dripping, Beef Tea” opening dish and I was deeply nostalgic for Sunday afternoon teas in Yorkshire with my nan. Which will come as a huge surprise to my nan who lived in Enfield for most of her life and was far too middle class for Bovril.
The dish, as explained by the lovely team at Grantley Hall’s Michelin-starred restaurant, is a throwback to Rankin’s childhood memory and, as the above might suggest, it’s a wonderfully intense thing where the apparent simplicity – the menu descriptions focus on, typically, the two or three key ingredients on the plate – masks the remarkable technical skill to make such an unassuming sounding dish so intensely memorable; a pattern repeated across the entire 10-course snacks-to-sweet experience.
The food
The menu is billed as a “Taste of Home” as, while the technique is French and the influences global, the ingredients, for the most part, are from Yorkshire or the Grantley Hall kitchen garden. As a result, there’s an obvious, easy seasonality to the menu. The Yorkshire location also means that, for all its obvious formality and Michelin-starred precision, there’s a relaxed air to service and an underlying sense of fun, for those that want it. If you’re here to worship at the altar of fine dining, go to it. Knock yourself out. There’s more than enough here to keep you delighted. But if you want something a little more… well, northern, they’ll rapidly pick up on that vibe.
The cooking is spectacular and it’s mostly hit after hit. For my palate, only course two – kohlrabi, lovage, Yorkshire Tea – underwhelmed. After that, it’s hard to select a favourite, although the aforementioned beef tea is the one that, several months on, I keep finding myself thinking about.
But even so, other dishes pop into my mind from time to time. A perfectly cooked langoustine, with elderflower and smoked cream, for example, or the venison, blackcurrant and celeriac, a dish of sweet earthiness and very British autumnal/wintery flavours. And it’s impossible not to think of the palate cleansing fennel blueberry “Magnum” – yes, that sort of Magnum – without smiling.
The wines
Wine pairings come at two levels, and the selected “prestige” was every bit as good as you’d expect, and considerably more varied than you might anticipate, with wines from Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Canada and Italy playing as much a part as the French.
Even better though was the non-alcoholic pairing, where there’s nothing off the shelf and, instead, bespoke drinks are created to match the relevant dish, frequently made with the same ingredients or versions of them. “We have a lot of local guests,” our waiter explained, “and there’s usually a designated driver so we wanted to give them something special.” And they have, and the pairings are, perhaps inevitably being so tailor made, even better than the wines.
The verdict
As you’re ushered back to the bar or comfier seating, for tea, petit fours and pastries and perhaps a port poured from one of the largest bottles I’ve ever seen – they breed their waiters strong in Yorkshire – an air of contentment descends. You’ve been well fed, well watered, and thoroughly cared for, by a team of people – those you’ve seen, those you haven’t – who are somewhere towards the top of their respective games. It’s a faultless experience.
Neil Davey was a guest of Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall. Ripon, Yorkshire HG4 3ET; grantleyhall.co.uk