Appetite for change
The Restaurant at the Weston is back in business at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Elaine Lemm reports on different times at a favourite place.
After food, sculpture is one of my passions, be it making or looking at it, so it is no wonder that Yorkshire Sculpture Park is one of my favourite places to visit. In early 2019, I reviewed their newly opened £3.6m visitor centre and home to The Restaurant at the Weston and loved it, especially as it neatly brought my two passions together. So, almost three years on, I was back for what I hoped would be a good lunch and a healthy hike through the park to see my old friends, Frink, Moore, Hirst, Goldsworthy and the rest that I had missed so much during the pandemic.
After several raging storms and floods, this was the most okay day for weather in weeks; it was also half-term, and the Park and The Weston were rammed. There are also changes here too. Post-Covid, understandably there is now a charge to enter the park which replaces the old system of paying for car parking, though if only visiting to eat it’s free. Outside, a new terrace chock full of tables, and both inside and out is fully occupied, but thankfully we had booked. Though the atmosphere is nothing like I remember – or what I feel was the intention of a different offer from the familyfriendly hustle and bustle at the YSP
Centre café – they seemingly are regaining lost ground from the pandemic, and if that means changes, so be it.
The menu is similar, not quite as adventurous or with the admirable food links to the gallery exhibit and fundraising for farmers in the Punjab that I recall.
But times are different, and the menu is still far-reaching, from breakfast with pastries, hot sandwiches, French toast and the like.
Brunch focuses on eggs or mushrooms for vegans. Lunch is extensive with nibbly stuff, delicioussounding lunch plates, meat platters, salads
and soups; there’s a lot of choices. There’s no time to linger either as orders are taken swiftly – and pleasantly – too quick for me to notice their superfood smoothies, so I quickly add to my order only for it to arrive after the food, which was odd. Also bizarre, the smoothie was pink when I had ordered ginger carrot and courgette. I’m told it has berries, too, though there was no mention of this on the menu.
A platter of white and rye sourdough with smoked seaweed salt butter, olive oil aged balsamic and a green sauce we thought would keep us happy until the mains arrived. However, I loved the butter, but there was no joy with the bread; it was so dry it crumbled, which is especially difficult to do with sourdough, and no number of accoutrements would change that. Though barely touched, it was cleared away to the kitchen without question. A salad plate of mixed leaves, beetroot, tomatoes brought back a little spark let down only by a lack-lustre dressing, and we entered the mains feeling a little discouraged. However, a Fritto Misto of cod cheek and squid brought a smile back to my face that I was even willing to overlook the slightly soggy batter on some of the squid. The skin-on chips were hot, crisp and excellent. Across the way, a respectable chunk of slow-cooked brisket elicited a similar response with a big smile.
There was a decent drizzle of cranberry and port glaze, a small mountain of red cabbage and the promised toasted hazelnut crumb had an unusual and unannounced chilli bite to it.
I wanted to end on this high, so I was happy with coffee, but apple and caramel tart was too tempting for my husband. The tart was okay, but nothing too special.
As I sipped my coffee, I looked out to the park and, despite my slight despondency, was so happy to see the fun going on. The happy chatter of families enjoying the unexpected sunshine, yappy dogs, kids rolling down the small hill, all against the beautiful sculpture laden landscape of this fantastic park.
I am so thankful and feel lucky to have this wonderful place to enjoy here in Yorkshire. Maybe the Weston is settling itself into what is needed and wanted now, less a restaurant and more a bustling café, I don’t know. What I do know is that nothing will stop me from going back.
■ The Restaurant at the Weston, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, S75 4BX. Tel: 01924 930004. Open: Tues-Fri, 9am-5pm. Lunch for two, no alcohol: £56.65.
I am so thankful and feel lucky to have this wonderful place to enjoy here in Yorkshire.