We found our new favorite restaurant last night about 30 minutes from our hotel in Hurworth (Darlington, Durham County) where we joined Will's cousins for an amazing evening what is called pub, but this one is a total fine dining experience.
We arrived and sat in the entry bar which is adorable and I perused the wonderful and large wine list and immediately hit upon a Musita Regie Terre Zibibbo 2020 from Sicily that had citrus, spiciness and was bone dry. Our server Antonio brought the wine and we headed to a small room upstairs which was cozy and delightful. Another party came in, but left complaining of the echo, we loved the room.
Warm breads arrived in the form of a slightly dry tomato-basil brioche and a tasty Hazelnut-Raisin brown muffin. The starters were really magnificently plated (as was everything) and all were beyond excellent:
-Seared Mackerel, King Prawn mousse wrapped in potato, Grannie Smith's apple gel, English mustard cream and candied beetroot got raves while the
-Summer Butternut Squash Risotto had roasted Merguez sausage, basil pesto and caramelized baby onions
-three of us chose the Whitby white Crab which came with a brown crab parfait(an interesting pate like block that was intensely fishy and tasty), English asparagus, cured egg yolk, plum ketchup, parsley mayonnaise, North Atlantic Octopus and seaweed crisp. Each bite had a different flavor, texture and feeling making this dish a real winner.
We moved onto a 2018 Celeste Crianza from Familia Torres in Ribera del Duero that was nice with all our varied mains as well.
The Slow Cooked Sticky Beef is a cheek cooked for 12 hours and served with Salt beef Croquette, Smoked Bacon Macaroni, Roasted Leek hearts, Leek Puree, Baby Leeks, White Onion ketchup and caramelised white onions and was hit (well, everything was!).
Pressed Salted Belly Pork had only a tad of fat and came with Mango ketchup, Tenderstem Broccoli, Broccoli Puree, Toasted Almonds, Pomme Dauphine and braised Toulouse sausage. The only complaint was that the skin could have been crispier.
New season loin of Lamb came with Salted Lamb Belly, Fricasee of Broad Beans, Pan fried Polenta, roast Heritage Cherry Tomatoes, Broad Bean relish, Feta, Balsamic Aioli and Madeira Jus.
You may have noticed these dishes are quite elaborate and while magnificently plated and truly tasty, it was hard to decide where to start and finish!
The Coriander & garlic marinated Chicken breast, , roasted chorizo, sweet potato puree, chilli yoghurt, cous cous, charred pak choi, curried apple dressing and curried granola was another surprisingly exciting dish making a gem out of chicken.
My Ballotine of Rabbit Loin, confit Rabbit boudin, truffle aioli, English Garden Peas, pea foam, Doreen's Black Pudding, mushroom ketchup and sauteed Trumpet Mushrooms was one of the best rabbit preparations EVER!!
We were full but Will had to have his traditional Sticky Toffee Pudding which was gloriously prepared here with Grannie Smith Apple Sorbet, Set Yoghurt, Compressed Apple, Apple Puree and Oat Crumble. Even more divine was the Caramelised Rice Pudding which came with a crunchy creme-brulee like topping, Raspberry Ripple & Toasted Almond Ice Cream, Chambord-soaked Frangipane and Raspberry Jelly.
Kudos to our server Antonio, a truly handsome guy to boot, who ran up and down the stairs all night and kept us all super happy. We later found out that the Bay Horse is owned by the same folks who own The Muse in Yarm where we loved our meal the night before. Obviously, they are doing something (well, many things) right!
