Village pub awarded AA rosette as awards recognise region’s culinary success

The Punch Bowl Inn, North Yorkshire, was recently awarded an AA Rosette for their great quality ingredients, culinary expertise and meticulous attention to detail. This award is reserved exclusively for restaurants that showcase a real talent for their craft, with precision and a passion for excellence apparent in all of their dishes.

Head Chef, Alex Wood is inspired by seasonal flavours and uses these to inform the inspired menu at The Punch Bowl Inn. The village pub takes pride in growing their own, fresh produce at their nearby kitchen garden in Mount St John estate in Felixkirk. The private, walled kitchen garden supplies seasonal produce all year round to the Marton-cum-Grafton pub.

Speaking about the prestigious award that has put The Punch Bowl Inn on the map, general manager, Paul Neesam, said: “We pride ourselves on the provenance of our food so being recognised with an AA Rosette award is an incredible achievement for us. Alex is an accomplished chef who deserves to be recognised for the incredible dishes he creates, supplemented by produce from our kitchen garden. The hospitality industry has experienced such a tumultuous time so it’s a real honour to be recognised in such a way. We are also hugely grateful to the local community in Marton-cum-Grafton for giving us their support and helping us to achieve this award.”

As well as a warm Yorkshire welcome, visitors to The Punch Bowl Inn can tuck into a light lunch menu featuring gourmet sandwiches and light bites such as haddock fishcakes with a lemon and baby caper beurre blanc and Yorkshire Wolds chicken breast with gnocchi. For those looking for something a little more substantial, the a la carte menu packs a punch with sticky beer braised oxtail, Mount St John beetroot cured salmon, Yorkshire wagyu burger and Yorkshire reared free range duck breast with Chinese greens and a hoisin jus, amongst an array of other tasty dishes.

The Punch Bowl Inn is part of Provenance Inns, a group of seven sites based around Yorkshire. Their latest acquisition is The Coach and Horses in Harrogate which is due to open in 2022. Their pubs each have their own personality and attention to detail when it comes to the food they serve. Their passion for the county they call ‘home’ was most recently showcased in sales of their ‘Yorkshire Special’ – a chicken and chorizo pie with £1 from every pie sold donated to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance that ran for one month. The group has managed to raise over £500 to donate to the charity.

Neesam concluded: “We’re really proud of our Yorkshire heritage and this helps to inspire our offering. We hope that this AA Rosette award encourages more people to come and taste the delights on offer at The Punch Bowl Inn. They can be sure of a proper Yorkshire welcome and some incredible food.”

Alongside The Punch Bowl, Roots York and The Row Room Restaurant at Grays Court in York were also recognised in this years list.