On the Seventh Day of Christmas
“Your 2010 Christmas present is 12 memorable meals out over the next 12 months, featuring:
Michelin Stars
Celebrity Chefs
Spanish Tapas
Modern Seafood
Modern Italian Cuisine
High Class Dim Sum
in London, Surrey and farther afield.”
“On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” dinner at Green’s of Whitby.
We originally discovered Green’s of Whitby last year when we had our first holiday in North Yorkshire. The freshest seafood and intriguing flavour combinations brought us back for more during this year’s repeat of what we have called our “Heartbeat Holiday” for all the places you can visit that feature in the cult ITV series, Heartbeat, like the nostalgic village of Goathland and its iconic station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. And of course, Whitby.
With appropriate kudos to the prose of Irene Myers, Green’s multi-award-winning Restaurant & Bistro has one of those enviable, picturesque settings, nestled close to the busy fishing harbour of this charming, bustling coastal town in Whitby, North Yorkshire, and the stunning backdrop of the North York Moors.
Rob and Emma Green have created a winning combination at Green’s Restaurant & Bistro by offering two distinct dining experiences – a buzzy Bistro atmosphere downstairs, and the more formal – but equally welcoming – ‘Upstairs at Green’s’.
As National Seafood Chef of the Year, Rob offers a menu that is attentive to the surrounding bounty from the coast, and with his daily contact with the skippers of the local trawlers, he can ensure a menu that boasts the best of ‘The Catch of the Day’ – which Rob collects fresh each morning from the Quayside near the Restaurant.
Prime local meats and game are also a speciality, and by making the most of the landscape as his larder, with its abundance of fresh local produce, means that Rob changes the menu frequently to offer you “the best of the day”. This has been instrumental in Green’s Restaurant & Bistro being recognised as not only one of the finest restaurants in Whitby, but one of the finest restaurants in North Yorkshire.
Our two dining experiences at Green’s confirmed this. Both times we were seated in the downstairs Bistro, whose cosy atmosphere quite well suited a couple on holiday. The walls of the bistro are covered with blackboard specials and lists of Whitby fishing boats and their skippers who provide the oh-so-fresh seafood catch for customers to appreciate. This provides perfectly traceable provenance for the fish we enjoy at Green’s.
We dined this time on a Wednesday, which is Green’s Steak Night: two 8-oz chargrilled rump steaks, French fries, garden salad and a bottle of house wine for just £34 per couple. This great-value offer does its trick to fill the restaurant and we saw many lovely steaks come off the pass for the pleasure of our fellow diners, as we also saw several tables turned away during this busy evening. The place was full by 7.30 pm – on a Wednesday night!
As we were in a North Sea fishing port, John and I chose seafood starters and mains. The choice was difficult because Green’s menu proposes a very wide selection of excellent offerings. It suits all manner of customers in a tourist town, from good solid burgers all the way to delicately flavoured local fish dishes. Except for the Catch of the Day, the menu was ostensibly the same as last year, but why change a good thing?
Once we had placed our order we were brought some homemade tomato and basil bread which was pleasant but lacked a hint of salt and had sat too long under the heat lamp so it was toasted on one end.
The rest of our meal was virtually faultless. Chef Rob Green was off fishing in Lincoln and had placed the kitchen in the very capable hands of quite a young sous chef. I was seated close to the kitchen and watched in awe as order after order was prepared and sent to the pass in an ambiance of calm and control that was worthy of many a more experienced chef.
For his starter John chose the Catch of the Day, a very delicious fillet of Whitby brill with a little Whitby crab cake, a very tasty creamy crab sauce and a fabulous crispy deep-fried crab claw. I chose a starter portion of Thai style seafood broth with red curry, lemon grass and coriander, which John had had for his main course last year. It was just as good, presenting loads of just-cooked fresh seafood including mussels, tiger prawns, queen scallops and salmon along with leeks and kaffir lime leaves. The broth was nicely balanced with red curry paste and just the right amount of Thai fish sauce.
I chose the same main course that I had last year, the fillets of Whitby turbot (my favourite fish) with truffled vegetable nage and poached mixed seafood. This featured a goodly amount of fish wish a julienne of carrot, green beans and spring onion in a delicate yet deep and flavoursome nage made with a wee drop too much cream but just the right amount of truffle.
John ordered the shellfish linguine where an abundance of prawns and other shellfish were presented in the shell in a cream, cherry tomato and basil sauce with just a tad too much salt. A much-appreciated finger bowl accompanied the dish which required much removal of heads and shells from the fresh and unadulterated shellfish.
I have more of a savoury palate than a sweet one, so when it comes time to choose what to order after my main course I can easily be swayed by a proper cheese plate. At Green’s of Whitby there’s a whole menu of artisan cheeses from which to choose, selected and carefully ripened for Green’s by Cryer & Stott Cheese Mongers, Wakefield. My three cheeses were beautifully presented on a slate which made it simple to identify them with chalk. Fruit, nuts and biscuits/crackers rounded off this delightful end to my meal.
My husband John can easily be swayed by a sweet finish, so he chose the intriguing ginger beer sorbet, “posh” rhubarb crumble and ginger jelly. This turned out to be a very pretty creation of biscuit, hot rhubarb and cold sorbet. The rhubarb compote was a perfect balance of sweet and sharp and according to John it made the dish.
Service on this busy night was earnest and hard-working if not particularly polished, but well-suited to a bustling bistro. Our delightful dining evening was overseen by the charming Emma Stothard (aka Emma Green) who in addition to being a partner in the restaurant is also a talented willow sculptor.
As we left the restaurant I spotted Green’s seaside plate (described as a great fun dessert with all the fun of the seaside on one plate), the quirky and imaginative dessert that John had last year. Being the cheeky thing I am, I requested and received permission to photograph another diner’s plate 😉
With our palates tickled and our tummies satiated, we stepped out onto the street, expecting to find the driving rain that had been falling all afternoon. To continue our delight after our meal, the weather had broken and we were treated to a glorious sunset over Whitby and the coast – a lovely end to a lovely meal.
