The Pantry in Harrogate, UK – Great spot to eat during the Yorkshire leg of the Tour de France

This past spring we spent three weeks in North Yorkshire, England – primarily in Harrogate.  We ate out a lot and can honestly say that our very favorite of all meals was at The Pantry.  A small and intimate restaurant, we were there on a Saturday night and within minutes the entire restaurant was full.  We were so glad to have gotten a table and even more glad when we realized how good the food was.  From the handwritten orders to the gorgeous presentation, everything about our night was fantastic.  After a full renovation, The Pantry was reopened in February of 2013.  You will find your favorite British classics presented in a modern way utilizing local suppliers as often as possible.  Chef Owner Jonathan Elvin has a great philosophy when it comes to good food and he has a real skill in both his ingredient selection and his culiniary technique.

With the upcoming Tour de France heading through Harrogate towards the end of next week, we highly suggest that if any of our readers from the US and the UK are heading to North Yorkshire then try to check The Pantry out.

We really love the simple Bistro feel of the Pantry. It has a simple elegance.

The service was attentive and the staff were clearly well versed in the menu and the ingredients. The wine list was modest but all bottles were carefully selected.

Local beetroot (beets in the US) salad was so colorful, fresh and the dressing was a perfect balance for the chèvre and the beets.

In the UK, scallops are rarely the size that we find in New England, but the local scallops with chrizo that Chef Elvin served were deliciously sweet and cooked to perfection.

This simple steak won us over.  Cooked to perfection with a glazed shallot that was the most delicious thing we had tasted in ages, this meal just kept getting better.

Lamb and potatoes does not get much better than this.  In the US we don’t often order lamb as it is not as readily available as it is in the UK.  This lamb dish had so many layers of flavors and the layered potato was melt in the mouth. If we had to choose one dish from all our time in the UK then it would be the Pantry’s Spring Lamb.

Overall we had an exceptional evening at this little Bistro in North Yorkshire and would urge others to give it a try.