Spoilt for choice
When the Rattle Owl in York closed Jill Turton was dismayed, but with newly-opened Brancusi in its place she couldn’t be happier. Pictures by Jonathan Gawthorpe.
FOR ten years, the Rattle Owl was up there among my top ten favourite restaurants. I’ve written about it numerous times, how a young human rights lawyer named Clarissa O’Callaghan, with no hospitality experience, bought a wreck of a building on York’s Micklegate, carried out a nightmare renovation including a six-month hiatus when the archaeologists moved in after Roman remains were discovered in the cellar.
It was never an easy ride, but she weathered the storms to run a warm and welcoming restaurant with lovely food. I was dismayed, therefore, when in August, Clarrie O’Callaghan announced she was closing the Rattle Owl for good. Happily, when one door closes another opens. Partisan, a few doors down on Micklegate, run by Florencia Clifford and Hugo Hildyard took over the premises and renamed it Brancusi after the sculptor Constantin Brancusi whose work had once transfixed Flo in Paris.
I had high hopes. Partisan has been another favourite since they opened six years ago. It’s a daytime café serving imaginative lunches and brunches under head chef Jim Gilroy. Veggie, vegan and full English breakfast, Persian eggs, scrambled with spinach, dates, yoghurt and spices or Korean bibimbap; a combo of steak strips, veg, and gochujang spicy rice. It is relaxed, informal with food that speaks of itself. Brancusi opens evenings Thursday to Sunday with a comprehensive menu of some 20 dishes, a mix of small and larger plates which range from golden beetroot fritters at £8 to the most expensive dish, beef short rib at £24.
Diners can choose to share plates or go the traditional route with a starter, main and dessert. There’s plenty of choice. Should we go for the artichoke heart tartine or the Spanish Morcilla (black pudding) and egg mayo on toast? What about the golden-topped venison pie heading for another table or the fish stew that a couple leaving recommended? Then I did something I’ve never done before; I asked the restaurant to choose for us. Would our waitress Karlyn just bring us a selection of their best dishes? She admitted she’d never been asked before, and yet wasn’t the least bit fazed.
And so began one of the best meals of the year, first with slices of Haxby sourdough from York’s best baker, with some dipping Arbequina oil – a mild Spanish olive oil. Then Gildas, a Basque inspired pintxo skewer of olive, anchovy and pickled pepper. It was bold, intense and very salty but if you are up for big, flavours then this one’s for you. Match it, as we did, with a Basque Txakolina, a fresh, dry and slightly sparkling white wine. Our third snack is called Food Circle Autumn Giardiniera – or local pickles. Food Circle York is an award-winning (BBC
Food and Farming Award 2021), social enterprise, running twice-weekly markets at Tang Hall community centre where local growers and producers bring and sell their superb produce and are increasingly supplying local restaurants. Chef Jim Gilroy is there too with his mobile food van serving cheap, cheerful and nourishing takeaway dishes to marketgoers, and in a rather neat food circle, he now heads up Brancusi’s kitchen.
Karlyn checks we are happy with her choices and brings us starters: golden beetroot fritters, with whipped ricotta. The beetroot has been cooked down until it is soft and smooth, dipped in batter and deep-fried to a crisp, like an Indian bhaji without the spice. It’s good but not quite as delicious as the pheasant goujons. Here the tender breast meat has been given a fine crisp coating and served with a beautifully creamy peppercorn sauce.
Then the mains: generous and falling-offthe-bone tender, are the slow-cooked beef short ribs, set on a delicate garlic bread sauce served with a little salad of leaves and creamy celeriac remoulade. To go with it, Karlyn chose roasted sprouts, not your normal sprouts but blackened and smokey and still firm, served with a sweet quince sauce. Finally, she brought us an outstanding potato gratin; soft layers of thinly sliced potatoes and melting Gruyere, topped with Brancusi’s own sliced and pickled gher
kins for a touch of vinegary sharpness. Soothing, satisfying, homely and deceptively simple, it was my best dish.
We chose our own desserts, a rich chocolate mousse with crisp honeycomb and a caramel sauce was reported as excellent. My burnt butter semi-freddo was equally good. Anything with burnt butter gets my vote and sure enough this rich, soft and creamy slice with a subtle nuttiness was beautifully partnered with a poached pear and a crunchy walnut biscotti. The interior hasn’t changed a great deal from its Rattle Owl days. A long narrow panelled room, a mix of large and small tables in attractive booths. Chairs are by local craftsman Marcus Jacka, a physicist who gave up a research position at York University to set up Non-Standard, a small company making beautiful, handcrafted furniture. I know because I bought one of his handsome ‘reading chairs’ at York’s Open Studios and I love it.
You can enjoy Brancusi purely for drinks, but if you don’t eat here, you will be missing a treat. Along with the Tommy Banks at the Abbey Inn, Pignut in Helmsley, under ex Rattle Owl chef Tom Heywood and the Homestead Kitchen in Goathland, Brancusi made my year. If it is to thrive though, it needs customers to show up. On this particular Saturday night, two tables of eight failed to show. That’s disastrous for any restaurant let alone a newly opened one. Brancusi don’t yet ask for a deposit, but they really should. In the meantime, I raise a glass to owners Flo and Hugo, to Jim in the kitchen and Karlyn our brilliant server who was genuinely interested in whether we liked her selection. We absolutely did and will return to do the same again.