Two Yorkshire restaurants awarded first Michelin stars

Two North Yorkshire restaurants have earned their first entries in the Michelin Guide, whose new edition was launched in  Manchester last night.

Restaurant Mýse in Hoveringham, on the edge of the Howardian Hills in Ryedale, earned one Michelin star. And Forge, part of the Middleton estate in Middleton Tyas, near Scotch Corner, earned a Michelin green star.

For Restaurant Mýse, the Michelin award comes just two weeks after owners Victoria and Joshua Overington, formerly of Le Cochon Aveugle in York, discovered they’d earned a top five place in Square Meal’s Top 100 UK restaurants.

Last night’s one-star award puts them alongside the likes of York’s Roots and Ripon’s Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall.

Michelin noted, “The tasting menu features prime produce enhanced by a range of techniques, both traditional and modern, as with the subtle, well-judged use of pickling and preserving. A top wine list and non-alcoholic pairings ensure the food isn’t the only highlight, while cosy, simply decorated bedrooms complete the picture.

“Joshua heads up the kitchen, working on an extensive tasting menu of dishes that showcase a wide variety of techniques. Excellent ingredients – cooked expertly – are the backbone of the dishes, which deliver originality and great depth of flavour.”

Michelin launched green stars in 2021 to highlight restaurants at the forefront of sustainable practices. Forge is the first Yorkshire restaurant to win a green star.

The guide notes, “For the chefs at Forge, one advantage of being part of the environmentally conscious Middleton Lodge Estate is that they have a 2 acre walled garden at their disposal. It’s here that the gardeners work closely with the chefs to plant produce for the overtly seasonal menus. To make the most of these fresh, home-grown vegetables, there’s a comprehensive plant-based offering in addition to the main menu. Anything that doesn’t get used in season is saved by the team’s extensive preservation programme or composted down to be used to grow more of those wonderful ingredients. Single use plastic is, of course, outlawed.”