There’s no shortage of fantastic restaurants here in the North East where you can enjoy some fine dining in style - but the fancy dishes, not to mention the sizable price tag that often comes with them, can perhaps feel too intimidating.
Luckily, fine dining restaurants often showcase their food through tasting menus - giving visitors the chance to sample several small portions to get a taste of the restaurant’s best dishes without having to choose a full-sized meal. Whether you’re new to fine dining, want to see what a local restaurant is all about or simply want to try as many flavours as possible, booking in for a tasting menu experience could be a great option for your next meal out.
Plenty of venues in the North East serve up special tasting menus, from establishments that promise to offer the full flavoursome experience for a lower price to the area’s prestigious and ever-popular Michelin Star restaurants. Here are just seven of the region’s fine dining restaurants that offer tasting menus, how much they cost and what sort of food you can expect to tuck into.
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Nest
With a menu put together by chef Chris Wood using seasonal produce and local suppliers, Nest opened just last year and set out to give visitors a memorable fine dining experience that doesn’t feel too daunting.
Location: Chillingham Road, Heaton
Price: £59 per person. A drinks flight is also available for an additional £44 per person
Five tasting menu highlights: BBQ piri piri monkfish with salt & chilli chips and minted chilli peas; beef cheek bon bons with celery, sweetcorn & radish slaw and mustard crème fraiche; Lamb loin with feta & sun-blushed tomato croquette, ratatouille and gremolata; Dark chocolate tart with chocolate pastry and salted toffee mascarpone; Poached strawberries with basil sponge and strawberry meringue (Vegetarian menu also available)
The Orangery
Many of the dishes on offer at The Orangery feature ingredients foraged or grown in the gardens of Rockliffe to create an ever-changing menu of “carefully crafted show-stopping dishes” - as well as cocktails created by a team of expert mixologists and a wine list featuring 400 wines from around the world.
Location: Rockliffe Hall, Darlington
Price: £95pp. Optional £50 wine pairing or £90 premium wine pairing
Five signature tasting menu highlights: Trompette and truffle macaron; Orkney scallop, pork belly, nasturtium and carrot; Duck liver, rhubarb, smoked eel and brioche; Lavender ice cream, Rockliffe Estate honey and white chocolate; Chocolate pave and raspberry yuzu (Root & Branch vegetarian menu also available)
Dobson & Parnell
Opened in 2016 by Andy Hook, who also runs the popular Blackfriars and Hinnies restaurants, Dobson & Parnell’s menu is headed up by chef Troy Terrington and changes daily to make use of the freshest ingredients available.
Location: Queen Street, Newcastle city centre
Price: Thursday-Saturday lunch and Wednesday-Thursday evening: £45 for five courses, £80 with wine match or £65 for seven courses, £110 with wine match
Friday-Saturday evening: £60 for five courses, £95 with wine match or £75 for seven courses, £120 with wine match
Five s ample menu highlights: Crispy oyster, apple and dill puree; Hereford beef fillet with pommes puree, girolles and bone marrow; Scallop with green strawberry, tomato and elderflower; Peach and raspberry melba with toasted almond and blood peach sorbet; Caramelised white chocolate with treacle caramel and aniseed ice cream (Dishes subject to change; vegetarian menu also available)
Peace & Loaf
Head chef Dave Coulson is at the helm of the Peace & Loaf kitchen, which sells itself as “a restaurant unlike any other in the region” serving up “flavoursome and innovative” locally sourced dishes.
Location: Jesmond Road, Jesmond
Price: £65pp or £85pp options available, with £50pp or £70pp drinks pairings respectively
Five £65pp sample menu highlights: Korean fried chicken in a steamed bun; Beef tartare, sushi rice and wasabi; Tomato Tatin, scallop and meadowsweet; Mango, passionfruit and white chocolate; Rhubarb, ginger and orange
Five £85pp sample menu highlights: Cured duck and foraged chermoula; Mackerel shawarma; Chawanmushi, bone marrow and caviar; strawberry and Szechuan; brown butter, Barkham Blue cheese and Ralphs honey (Dishes subject to change; vegetarian menu also available for both price options)
Pine
Housed in a renovated cow barn, diners can enjoy the picturesque Northumberland landscape while they eat at Pine - as well as being able to see their dishes being prepared in the restaurant’s open kitchen, with a menu co-created by Cal Byerley and Ian Waller to offer “an exceptional and relaxed dining experience”.
Location: Vallum Farm, Newcastle
Price: £120pp. Wine pairing available for additional £85pp
Five sample menu highlights: Garum cured beef; Berwick Edge cheese, dry aged carrot and lovage; Lindisfarne oyster, King Edward potato and runner beans; wild brambles, mahonia sorbet & buttermilk; Jerusalem artichoke and chicory root cone (Dishes subject to change; vegetarian menu also available)
Restaurant Hjem
This Michelin Star restaurant is run by Swedish chef Alex Nietosvuori and his partner, Northumberland-born Ally Thompson, to bring the flavours of Scandinavia to the North East using ingredients from the surrounding farms and gardens of Northumberland.
Location: The Hadrian Hotel, Wall, Hexham
Price: £120pp. Wine menu £95pp
Five sample menu highlights: Chicken liver, cep mushrooms and blackcurrant; Northumbrian lobster claw beignet; Aged beef tartare and smoked aubergine; Blackcurrant, hazelnut and waffles; Horseradish, apple caramel and oats (Dishes subject to change)
House of Tides
Newcastle’s only Michelin Star restaurant House of Tides opened in 2014 by Kenny and Abbie Atkinson in a Grade I Listed 16th century merchant’s house, offering a truly unique place to dine where the owners hope that “everybody should feel comfortable and relaxed with no compromise on quality”.
Location: The Close, Newcastle Quayside
Price: £125pp. Wine pairing £70pp
Five sample menu highlights: Gougere choux pastry; Mackerel, apple, buttermilk and dill; Salt aged lamb, broccoli, kohlrabi and marjoram; Peach tart, lemon verbena and almonds; Dark chocolate cremeux, Thai basil and lime (Dishes subject to change; vegetarian menu also available).
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