Yo! Sushi Masterclass, York

Last night Dan and I popped over to York as we had been invited to take part in a sushi masterclass at the newly opened Yo!Sushi, to get our hands sticky and create some fishy delights!

Now apart from a hap hazard attempt at making sushi a few months ago, to me its always seemed a bit too much hard work but after last night’s masterclass we were shown just how simple making sushi can be, despite the strange equipment and ingredients – which is testament to how well the class was run.

Clockwise from top left: spicy chicken iso, masago gungan, crispy salmon skin hand roll, salmon maki, tamago nigiri, cucumber maki

A Gold Star for the Star Inn @ Harome

This Friday was treat day. Richard and I’s anniversary is the week before Christmas so we tend to go away somewhere a bit nice in lieu of Christmas presents. This year we opted for the Star Inn at Harome. I was taken there in the summer as a 30th birthday treat, and whilst it was a beautiful experience we agreed that it felt like more a winter kind of venue, so we rushed back at the first sight of snow!

The Star Inn has been a pub (or similar) for about 600 years. It’s a gnarled old timber-framed building with loads of exposed beams and character. It was set up in its current format by Andrew and Jacqui Pern. Andrew is a bit of a game guru and has published a number of books, including Loose Birds and Game, which has a foreword by none other than Michel Roux. The Inn is consistently at the top of restaurant and gastro pub awards lists and is generally seen as a place to be in North Yorkshire.

A Meal with a Masterchef

This weekend saw the Dinner at the Manor staff descend upon beautiful York for their Christmas party. The chef was to be Sara Danesin of Masterchef fame and proprietor of Sara at St John’s, York’s now famous supperclub. We had to book months ago for this and even then places were hard to come to by, so we were very excited. Sara was the passionate Italian chef on Masterchef who made it to final three but was pipped to the post by quirky and innovative chef Tim Anderson. She is probably most remembered for the consistent quality of her food, and whilst most of her peers crumbled around her she always kept her cool. I was very excited to try a meal prepared for her as she had been my favourite on the show. I also secretly hoped she’d rustle up the chocolate ravioli for us!