We’ve got more than our fair share of award-winning chefs in York these days.
Neil Bentinck saw his Micklegate restaurant Skosh awarded a Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide in September.
Le Cochon Aveugle on Walmgate, run by Josh Overington, was named as one the UK’s Top Scorers in Harden’s Best UK Restaurants 2017.
And Andrew Pern, the man behind both the Star Inn The City and Mr P’s Curious Tavern, won his first Michelin star in 2001.
But soon they might be joined in York by someone with an even bigger title – that of the World’s Best Restaurant.
Homing in on the city
Tommy Banks runs the fabulous Black Swan at Oldstead in the North York Moors National Park about 20 miles north of York.
In October, it was named as the best restaurant in the world by TripAdvisor, based on customer reviews.
It was the first time a British restaurant had taken the travel website’s global top spot.
And now, it seems, Tommy wants to bring a taste of that success to York.
He first hinted at it in an interview with Yorkshire Life, after being named the magazine’s chef of the year.
And now he is homing in on the city.
Next year or so
[arve url=”https://youtu.be/W751nNz9CTQ” title=”The Black Swan on CBS Sunday Morning ” /]
In an interview with Restaurant magazine, Tommy said they would like to open an urban outlet to complement the rural retreat in Oldstead. And York is their preferred location.
While the family have yet to find a suitable site, Banks says the aim is to create a restaurant with a different ambience to The Black Swan which is “literally not on the road to anywhere”.
He tells the magazine: “York is our home city and we’d like to do something more accessible in terms of location and price.
“It is something we definitely want to do in the next year or so.”
Born and raised in Oldstead, Tommy started working in the Black Swan when his farming family first bought it in 2006.
By 2013, at the age of 24, Tommy was awarded a Michelin Star making him the youngest Michelin-starred chef in Britain at the time.
Tommy was a winner on BBC Two’s Great British Menu, in both 2016 and 2017 – in the second series he was joined by Josh Overington in the regional final.