This lovely fresh restaurant at number 19 Grape Lane, in the Swinegate Quarter of York is set in one of the oldest Buildings, on the oldest street in the city. The building is 14th Century and it once housed ladies of the night, as in medieval time’s right up until 1850, it was a 'knocking shop'. The church, which coincidentally owned the building, rented it out to unscrupulous characters, but hilariously insisted that the name of the street change from Grope Lane, to Grape Lane, in an attempt to cover up these late night antics. "But of course, everybody would have known that this was a red light district." says Phillip Upton proprietor and chef of Nineteen, he continues "When I am the last one here at night it can get quite eerie, and I have sensed that someone else was present."
Nineteen is gorgeous inside it has been modernized but they have kept all the original old beams, and it is decorated with light natural colors. There are no tablecloths just a simple flower stem on wooden square table and leather chairs. Phillip says: "My friend is a local artist and has drawn a lot of historical pictures depicting the music gardens, York Minster, the Barwalls and the York High Weir, so we hang them on our walls. We try to keep the theme going as we get a lot of tourists here coming for the ghost trails, and so when they are having a bite to eat they like to know what else they can see in York.
The first things you notice are the free nibbles on the tables. Phillip explains: "We make all our own bread. When I do the mini loaf, which we serve with the meal, I also make some long cheese sticks that are brushed with grain mustard and parmesan. The sticks are served with butter, molden sea salt and a little dish of balsamic. Customers really appreciate this and it does not take much to do.
Phillip is refreshingly honest about his background he says: "The truth is
That I come from Barnsley. I did not do very well at school, so I decided to opt for cooking as I did not need any previous qualifications. I trained at Barnsley Technical College for three years. Whilst there I developed a passion for it and really got the bug and have enjoyed doing it ever since. After, I went to work at Congham Hall in Norfolk; I did a stint in London at Bibendum, and then went off to work in Strasbourg at Restaurant La Crocodile." On his return he got a job at Middle Thorpe Hall in York, and then moved to The Grange at Hazel Castle, before making a go of it himself.
Phillip says: "It is very competitive in the Swinegate Quarter of York as there are lots of trendy bars and restaurants opening up all the time. The competition and standards are very high, so you have to work really hard at getting the customers in."
Phillip has three different menus, he explains: "We do a bargain menu for £6.95 for one course it is a classic simple dish like fish cakes, steak pie, home made burgers, French toasties, scrambled egg and wild mushroom. It's for the lunch time crowd and people who want a bit more than a sandwich." They are all done really well but simply. He continues: "Then there is our market menu which you can have 1, 2 or 3 courses. Rib-eye steaks, linguini with pesto, garlic chicken with chorizo risotto, cep and asparagus risotto, smoked poached haddock, confit of fennel."
Phillip is much more adventurous and more refined when it comes to his a la carte menu. He says: "I have hand-dived scallops with bacon and tangerines, beetroot capriccio, goat’s cheese and fennel, oxtail and butternut squash sage reduction, a York ham and pineapple. This is a York ham terrine with a pineapple sorbet, and pineapple salsa. I do a lovely blade of beef, which takes a few days to prepare, curry and monkfish chowder, black bream and artichoke girolles, poached chicken with pearl barley and truffle broth.
The puddings are just as creative. He has a Horlicks' parfait with cinnamon poached fruits, lavender panna cotta with mandarins, warm chocolate brownies with melon and pistachio. Phillip continues: "The way I word it is very simple, but there is always an element of surprise on the dish. The banana mousse is a mango and crème pat biscuit with a Banana mousse and mango sorbet. The panna cotta has soft passion foam surrounding it.
Everything I make is brought in fresh that day and they only thing I don't make is the puff pastry." Continues Phillip, who a change the market menu daily as it depends what produce is good that day. He says: “I only use products that are in season. I won't have strawberries on now. I a root vegetables for all the winter warmers. I like things that are versatile, i.e. butternut squash; I can use pumpkin in many dishes, as they are so versatile. Fruits are the same you can use them in meat dishes 'its puddings and fancy desserts.
Phillip buys everything locally and uses Direct Fruit Suppliers from Peter Marcus at Leeds Fruit and Veg market. He uses local fish suppliers get all their fish from Whitby and Scarborough, his meat comes from local butchers in the high street. He says: "I am not ready to use any unusual products yet; we are not ready for that. You know things like MSK Tonka beans in ice-creams etc. I will start introducing new things little and often so that it is not too noticeable to the clientele and so staff cope." There are only 3 chefs in the kitchen and 32 covers, yet they luce a wide range of dishes at a range of prices people can afford. It really is a bargain when you get to eat it in such an atmospheric, where you can always blame the ghost for eating the last chocolate brownie
In the run-up to Christmas, Will and I decided that dinner at nineteen would be the way to go when we returned after the holidays. We took our paramours along to avoid looking too much like conspirators or a couple.
Now, I won't deny we forked out for this one. If you cannot comprehend paying £15 for a main course and you think that the whole economic register of the restaurant business is just unreasonable (and you may be right), don't punish yourself. On a student budget the price is very rarely right and if you think you're being ripped off, naturally, you won't enjoy your meal. Yours is no disgrace. I would not enjoy, for example, being forced to flog lesser-known inner organs to stump up the funds for some labored, ever-waning designer-label zip-top, replete with 'hoodie' and one of those bombastic numerical logos that looks like its been stitched on by a 4-year-old. For all these reasons and more, I never shop at Abercrombie and Fitch.
I priorities food. If you, like me, invest frequently, heavily and unflinchingly in your appetite, you will find Nineteen delightful - and affordable. All four of us went with the Christmas set menu - three courses for less than £20! Mine was the Curried Parsnip Soup with croutons iceberglikc in their almost-but-not-quite total immersion - bobbing happily across the ample surface. It was unsurpassable and, I thought, typified the very inclusive character of British food, which does not hesitate to 'curry' as High English a vegetable as the parsnip.
For the main I had grilled salmon and "spinach crushed potato" in a chive butter sauce. The salmon was pink, sleek and delicious and the sauce complementary. We were for a long time entirely mystified by the spinach crushed potato; the complete absence of any punctuation on the menu had made it difficult to know what would be crushing what, and in what quantities. It turned out not to matter very much; however constructed, the standard template for potato accompaniments had been vastly improved upon.
I am reminded at this point of a lamb shank I ate once in Oxford shire. The potatoes on that occasion (mashed, as it so happened) had been enlivened with squat gargoyles of black pudding; I remember them Crouching darkly between waves of niaLsh, seething...
Our companions ordered bloody steaks; I think they were trying to impress us. When they arrived I was startled to see that the steaks were actually rare - a rare thing to behold in North Yorkshire, where any meat that hasn't been scalded to within an inch of the gates of I fell is commonly regarded with a mixture of suspicion and disgust.
Now, a word on the ambience; once upon a time, 19 Grape Lane, a higgledy-piggledy, early Tudor affair, was a brothel. Grape Lane is apparently a corruption of 'Grope Lane'- but the incumbent proprietor and chef has gone some way to improving the restaurant: image.
The furniture, though powerfully modern, sits comfortably beneath the beamed ceiling; the plates are huge and white: we Even had one of those pressure sensitive table lamps which cycles through four different degrees of brightness when you touch the base - so our companions had something to play with when their attention started to drift from the conversation. All-in-all, an excellent place to splash out.
This may possibly be the oldest restaurant in York, dating back to the 15th century, but when Chef Phil Upton took the reins at Nineteen, formerly 19 Grape Lane, last year, he fast-forwarded it into the 21st century.
The building remains quirky with low beams, tipsy floors and two small yet perfectly formed dining rooms. But the decor is sleek, the dark wood tables sharp and neat, and the service crisp, efficient and friendly.
Phil is better known from his days at the Ivy in York, but Nineteen sees him on his first solo flight and, thankfully, he is keeping it simple.
The menu is small with three starters and main courses on the set menu, and four on the la carte. The prices are slightly larger with two courses for £17.50, three for £21, starters from £5.95 and main courses from £14.50. Side dishes are extra, but we found that opting for a generous serving of warm, fresh bread before dinner instead was great filler.
Too many choices on a menu can be confusing. This smaller selection was good, but two of the four main courses on the a la carte were poultry, giving the set menu containing a rib eye a distinct advantage on value.
We started with grilled mackerel and Caesar potatoes, a fresh easy-eating dish, and a coriander scotch egg on a fruity couscous. I ordered the latter, not because I am a lover of deep-fried sausage meat but out of curiosity. It seemed such an odd combination and defied all culinary logic, but it worked. The shell was crisp, the meat powerful, the egg had a soft, runny yolk and the couscous added a merry combination of flavors that pulled the whole dish together.
Curiosity got the better of me again when it came to the main courses and I opted for a pear and asparagus risotto. A steaming bowlful arrived, bursting with chunks of asparagus, pungent fresh herbs, slivers of parmesan (I would have preferred grated) and peas. I poked around but could not find, nor taste pears. Then it dawned on me; I had misread peas as pears on the menu. It was a lovely, filling dish nonetheless.
Curried monkfish with clam and chorizo chowder was the hit of the dinner. A robust chunk of fish and a liberal serving of clams were bathed in a delicately scented, slightly sweet broth, which got a belated kick from the chorizo. Pleasingly, the set menu desserts include a generous Yorkshire cheeseboard and biscuits that many restaurants would charge extra for.
We got another unexpected bonus when we came to pay. As we had arrived relatively early at 6.30pm, the restaurant was still charging lunch prices, a couple of pounds cheaper for each dish. So, dinner with three glasses of wine came in at a very reasonable £50.
What value for excellent cooking, fantastic service and a great
Atmosphere. Nineteen is a great addition to York's dining scene
A York restaurant with a lot of history has been given a new lease of life ... ROY WOODCOCK names
Nineteen as the Journal's Restaurant of the Month for
November...
If you visit this months restaurant (And I certainly hope you will try) to book well in advance and ask for table nine. If Michael Winner was in town lie would most certainly demand to be seated here, for it is Possibly the best table in town.
Where are we" At Restaurant Nineteen in Grape Lane - part of that fashionable York city centre area branded as "The Quarter". Which is full of lovely independent shops, restaurants. catees and bars.
In an earlier life the restaurant was known simply by its address. 19 Grape Lane and I remember one critic famously describing the surroundings as "intimate in the way sardines would understand the word"
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The restaurant is certainly small ... but perfectly finned, chocolate boxy beautiful and to dine here is like entering some sort of oversized doll's house or one of those film sets for the Incredible Shrinking Man. Just a couple of minutes away front The Minster. It is said to be one of York's oldest buildings: in use as business premises since the 15th century. Although 1 use that term loosely since on one occasions those premises were a house of ill repute
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A small alleyway runs by the side of the premises into the delightfully-named Coffee Yard and it is from here that you enter Nineteen. Ducking your head slightly to
A dog-le_ staircase takes you up to the first floor and a second dining area - around 38 covers in total. It is here you will find table nine.
We had booked in for 8.30pm on a Saturday night and luckily, just as we arrived, the table became free. "If you don't mind waiting a few moments while we reset things. It’s yours:' said our friendly, efficient, waitress - if there was an award going for warm welcomes and impeccable service. Then the staff at nineteen would have few rivals.
What makes it such a good table? The restaurant faces Swine gate and table nine occupies a window giving an uninterrupted view of the comings and goings. On a Saturday night that can be royally entertaining ... Hen parties. Ghost walks. Drunks and domestic tiffs were our side order to the main attraction, some exquisitely cooked food.
Chef-proprietor Phil Upton relaunched nineteen in June of this year after a number of years as head chef at the Ivy Brasserie at the Grange Hotel in York. His food could be described as "modern British with a European twist" and can be sampled via a set "market menu" or an a la carte "epicure menu", plus daily specials.
My bowl of pumpkin soup was brought alive by sensational parmesan ginger dumplings - little "bombs" of sensational flavor that made this dish the hit of the night.
We also sampled delicious hand-dived scallops presented with a shallot puree. Bacon and tangerines as our other starter, while other choices could have been beetroot capriccio with goat's cheese and fennel: spicy fresh crab with broad beans and peas or oxtail cannelloni with butternut squash and a sage and onion reduction.
Main courses were of an equally high standard. My black bream with artichokes. Pesto and wild mushrooms was sublime, while Chris's curried monkfish with shellfish chowder brought together delicate flavors and then delivered them with a mild kick.
Other choices included poached chicken with a pearl barley truffle broth: steamed
Wild mushroom gateau with a port Madeira sauce: and Yorkshire blade of beef with horseradish Dauphinoise potatoes and glared root vegetables. Side orders brought some honey-roasted vegetables and some really thick triple-cooked chips.
To finish we enjoyed a banana mousse with mango and a crème pot and sonic lavender pannacotta with manadarins and passion fruit delicious light choices which rounded off' the meal to perfection. Other choices included a warns chocolate brownie with pistachio and melon: and Horlicks parfait with seasonal fruit. With drinks. Wine and coffee our meal for two had cost £85. With Phil in the driving seat. I expect Nineteen to recapture its former culinary glories.
Now, the best chips are always your mother's (well, my mother's, anyway). Misshapen and bashed-about shards of potato, with the crispness that comes from landing on your plate seconds after leaving the fryer.
They make a pretty good fist of them at nineteen, though: you can expect hefty stacks of browned, but not burned, fries.
Our other main course, a sea bass Nicoise, was delicate and beautiful to behold, with baby glazed chicory and quail's eggs among the imaginative accompaniments. Feeling hungry, we'd ordered side dishes of extra chips and a green salad, and we were glad we had because while the sweet-fleshed sea bass was perfectly formed, it was small. The steak dish was hearty, but that didn't stop my helping out with the chips and an elegant salad of pea-shoots and asparagus which, like the sea bass, demonstrated a creative mind and astute palate at work in the upstairs kitchen.
Service had been helpful and attentive, but we really put it to the test when we asked if we could have one of Saturday's desserts - hot cherries with chocolate brownie and pistachio ice-cream - as well as the Bailey's crème brulee that was the pick of the options on this weekday lunchtime. Not a hair was turned. Our waitress nipped to the kitchen and a chocolate brownie dessert was ours. It was worth asking for. Dark, rich, melting brownie; intense, sweet fruit. The Black Forest never turned out a gateau to touch this.
The Bailey's crème brulee was silky, rich yet light, demonstrating that gran's favorite tipple should not after all be consigned to Room 101. A la carte starters at Nineteen range from £6.50¬£7.50, mains from £ 14.50-£ 17.50 with side orders at £2.50, and puds £5.50-£7.50. There's a light lunch menu, three-course Sunday lunch for £ 12.95 and Christmas lunch/dinner at £ I4.50/£21. The wine list has plenty of choice from around £ 12¬£30. Oh, and a big plus: they'll serve you tap water if you want it.
Have often walked past the alluring 15th-century building at 19 Grape Lane and thought to ii myself: "I really must eat there one day." But, just as you never get around to visiting museums and beauty spots on your doorstep, so I never managed to get over the threshold of number 19 until, in the summer, it came under the management of well-regarded North Yorkshire chef Phill Upton. Time to kill two birds with one stone: lunch with a friend, and check out nineteen restaurants, as it's now known.
A window seat was waiting for us in the intimate, beamed lower dining room when we rolled up after a busy morning's shopping. It's great for people-watching as you gossip: so much so that we hadn't chosen when our waitress stepped up, and we had to beg a couple more minutes' grace. Champagne and Kir Royale helped the decision-making, and tuna wasabi and a tomato and mozzarella salad were soon on the way to our table.
The tuna, delectable pink slivers of ultra-fresh seared fish, was a vital cooling foil to the tear-jerker wasabi.
Quality ingredients made the simple mozzarella dish sing, with clean-tasting cheese, and tomatoes that actually tasted of tomato.
Quality ingredients also made my rib-eye steak and three-times-fried chips a memorable choice. I like a rare steak - and I mean really rare - and for once in an English kitchen, this was about as rare as I wanted it to be. The beef itself was just exem¬plary, innocent of gristle and yielding to the knife.
