I have known the great cooking and service that comes from the dynamic duo, Richard and Lindsey Johns for many years going back as far as my days as the food and wine editor at Yorkshire Life magazine when they were at Artisan in Hessle. Recently they had Raskills in Raskelf and now are to be found in the charming village of Hovingham.
Has much changed over the years? Read on to find out what I had to say in the Yorkshire Post magazine.
The Hovingham From the Yorkshire Post September 2019
There’s only a good handful of chefs in Yorkshire who have stood the test of time and all the changing fads and fancies yet continue to cook great food, food that people want to eat. It is an even rarer gem if the chef has their partner supporting them out front, a role key to the success of any restaurant business.
So, cue Richard and Lindsey Johns, the couple who brought culinary recognition to the Hessle region with the award-winning Artisan. Following a bit of travelling, cooking here and there, they landed in North Yorkshire in 2016 with Rascills at Raskelf. At the time they said this was going to be the last. But hey-ho, famous last words, as after a few years and despite rave reviews, they closed and moved a smidgeon north over the Hambleton Hills to Hovingham. And what a lovely place they have created there.
The former unassuming Malt Shovel pub has been taken apart and put back together to become a cosy, subtly elegant, in a laid-back kind of way, pub-restaurant. The whole place from bar to dining room exudes welcome. I can only imagine in the winter this could also be a super place to hunker down in its cosiness.
Duck Salad – Photo © Yorkshire Post.
The Hovingham Inn, Main Street, Hovingham, York, YO62 4LF. Tel: 01653 628428
Food: Wednesday to Friday, noon – 1.30 pm, 6 – 8.30 pm, Saturday, 6 – 8.30 pm, Sunday, 12.30 – 3 pm. Bar open longer.
Dinner for two with two glasses of wine, £71.
Food 5/5
Welcome 5/5
Atmosphere 4/5
Prices 4/5