I keep an eye on the Michelin stars awarded to restaurants in Yorkshire every year. This year we unfortunately lost Michael O'Hare's 'The Man Behind the Curtain' in Leeds, but Yorkshire was able to keep seven Michelin-starred restaurants with the addition of Hovingham's Maise.
Myse will open in summer 2023 in the former Hovingham Inn, by Josh and Victoria Overington, a team of chefs and sommeliers who previously ran acclaimed restaurants in York. Myse and Josh became Yorkshire's newest Michelin star in March 2024 after just seven months of opening.
The guide stated: “Miese brings a Michelin-starred restaurant to the small village of Hovingham. Going straight into the star guide, this restaurant is one of the best openings of the year and with an attached bedroom it is a true It has become a destination restaurant.
“Excellent ingredients are expertly prepared at the heart of our cuisine, creating originality and depth of flavor. With a first-class wine list and non-alcoholic pairings, the food is not the only highlight.”
Now that my busy touring season is over and I have some time off, I thought to myself: “Let's try it!”. So I booked a table for me and my wife and tried the lunchtime tasting menu.
The website describes Josh's philosophy as “bringing an elegant twist to Yorkshire cuisine, drawing on the region's rich history and celebrating the ancient Yorkshire terriers that surround the restaurant.” At Myse, we champion the best local producers and farmers in Yorkshire and beyond, with sustainability at the heart of our thinking.
More than just a great meal, this was a truly special experience. The team that Josh and Victoria have assembled is like a finely tuned machine, and their input helps make our visit a memorable one. When we arrived, we were met in the parking lot by the head waiter and escorted to the bar. This instantly made me feel special.
The bar had a homey, relaxed feel, with a fireplace, fur seating, exposed brickwork, and a carved wooden bar. I was treated to a sloe gin negroni before the meal, followed by some appetizers.
Little Summerfield cheese biscuits with pine cones and black walnut ketchup, and pieces of smoked pork shoulder with Laphroaig sausage. Both are really delicious. Summerfield cheese reappears on the cheeseboard later on, along with the team's homemade dry-sliced sausages, which are sure to give you a real taste of the whisky.
After this we were shown to the restaurant. It was a bright restaurant with cool, natural tones, exposed beams, and wooden tables. At the serving counter in the corner, we could watch the chef finish cooking and plating the food.
My wife, who is participating in a fitness campaign, offered to drive me, and since I didn't want to give her a gift, we decided to go for a wine pairing.
My first wine was Stein Rose, a sparkling wine from the Mosul Valley. This was served with the first two courses and was a good choice. You can really taste the fruit with hints of cherry and especially strawberry.
Notably, Victoria has put together an impressive wine list, hand-picked by the team at Noble Rot, and creates innovative wine pairings. (There were also prestige wine pairings and non-alcoholic pairing options).
At the restaurant, the first two proper dishes came out quickly. First, the charcoal pie with roe deer tartare and smoked caviar – great taste and texture.
This was followed by a small mackerel tartlet with potato and horseradish cream. This looks great with the berries and mackerel on top, but the horseradish in just one bite was a compliment.
The next dish was also interesting. This was a Yorkshire twist with braised beef cheek balls fried in Yorkshire pudding batter and served with fermented cucumber. It was served on a plate with grains on top of thin birch twigs. Very interesting, maybe more akin to a savory donut than a Yorkshire pud, but delicious nonetheless.
Then we were served homemade sourdough with Jersey butter and grains, and 3-day low-sodium chicken drizzled with herbs. The bread was nice as was the butter and the chicken drippings were rich but a little too fatty for my liking.
The second wine was a beautiful crisp French Chablis.
The next dish was one of the highlights. Hand-dived Orkney scallops cooked whole in the shell with sea urchin butter. oh!
How can something so simple be so amazing? My friend's son Solon lives in the Orkney Islands and is a scallop diver, so he has seen firsthand how sustainable this industry is. I know. Maybe he dived for the scallops I was eating. The scallops were large but very tender and very sweet. The meal could have ended there and I would have been happy.
But there was more to come…
The third wine was another French wine called Ange Noir, but the first one I tasted was quite organic and a bit earthy for my taste.
This included pollock poached in aged beef tallow and served with Roscoff onion jam. The fish was tender and perfectly cooked, and the onions added flavor to the dish. To be honest, my initial reaction to the wine was wrong. The wine paired really well with the fish. A truly innovative pairing.
The last drink, not the last wine, was interesting. Tinto Sortevera from Tenerife. I have a good friend, JJ, who lives there and I visit him every year. I'm sure he'll track me down when I visit next fall. This wine appears to be grown in the volcanic soils of the northern part of the island, which almost enhances the flavor.
The wine had quite a smoky flavour, with hints of pepper as well.
This wine was a perfect accompaniment to the two duck courses. We were earlier shown two mallard ducks that were locally shot, cooked and resting.
One of the duck dishes was wild duck soup and walnut wine. He took a sip of this before eating the accompanying dish. This was a sourdough crumpet stuffed with duck liver parfait and topped with mallard ham.
This was delicious. Duck ham? – I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it did, and it went particularly well with the crumpets.
Two duck dishes are Yorkshire mallard with mountain ash sauce and elderberry. I've never been a big duck fan. Overcooking or undercooking can ruin it, and I've had some bad experiences in the past.
This was great. It's not a huge amount, but it's perfectly cooked, pink and tender inside, with a slight liver flavor. This was a pleasant surprise.
After this we drank small glasses of crushed Castle Howard apples. It was especially fitting because it was not only surrounded by the Howardian Hills, but also right next to a stately home.
A pairing drink was offered at the end, but it was cider rather than wine. It was iced cider made by a manufacturer in Thornburgh, near Masham. I tried icewine in Toronto, which I think is the equivalent of cider. Apples are harvested at the end of the season after the first frost. The cider maker only makes 48 bottles a year, but Myse consumes all 48 bottles. It was an interesting alternative to dessert wine.
Cider went well with dessert.
Start with a bite of aged beef fudge with local truffles and beef heart.
This was followed by a small Bee Stings tart, a small variation on the Yorkshire curd/custard tart.
The third dessert was an interesting presentation of fried artichoke chips on birch twigs and Jerusalem artichoke ice cream with birch sap syrup. Nice.
There was still another pudding coming. Wild quince flame baked cake (cooked Roman style without flour) and malted barley ice cream. This was burnt in front of us at the table using local Yorkshire rum for added theatrics.
These were all different but perfect treats. My favorite was probably the Bee Stings tart.
The cheese board was extra and we were quite full, but when the cheese selection was brought out and shown to the table we decided to share one. I snuck into the port in a hurry to get to this (one of the benefits of not being the designated driver!).
Some great selections, some of them Old Lawn Wensleydale type cheeses from Yorkshire, which went perfectly with the accompanying fruitcake. Leeds Blue made in Otley, Dorston's turret-shaped goat cheese (from Harford) and Summerfield, a sweet, nutty alpine style made at Botton Creamery on the North York Moors. There was also cheese.
In summary, we stayed at Myse for over 3 hours and it was definitely a memorable meal. The food was interesting and flavorful throughout, and every dish had a story to tell. Various staff members, including owner Josh, took the time to serve the dishes and explain the background of the dishes and individual products.
There were innovative drink pairings and just the right amount of theatrics. Nothing was rushed and I felt very welcome by the great team. We found out that Myse has rooms, so perhaps our next visit will include an evening meal and my wife can also enjoy the wine pairing.
The name Myse actually comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to eat at the table,” but this was definitely more than just eating, it was also “an experience.”
Highly recommended. I can see why the Michelin Guide awarded Josh and his team a star so quickly.
