Beverley restaurateur John Robinson certainly has the recipe for success.
His restaurant, based in the Beverley Georgian Quarter, North Bar Whites, Without, is celebrating its seventh anniversary by once again being included in one of the country’s top food guides.
It is the only one in the town included in the 2016 Good Food Guide, which went on sale this week, and marks seven successive years of being highlighted as one of the best in the whole of East Yorkshire.
But not content to rest on his laurels, John has his sights firmly set on achieving even greater acclaim.
“I would love to gain a Michelin star, which would be another first for Beverley,” he said. “We’re already listed in the Michelin guide for the quality of our food, so to gain a Michelin star would be the absolute pinnacle.”
The 2016 Michelin Guide is due to be published later this month and John is waiting with baited breath.
“Michelin inspectors visited us during the year and gave us some good feedback so I’m really hoping this could be the year,” he said.
Currently, the Pipe and Glass at South Dalton is the only restaurant in East Yorkshire to hold a Michelin star.
Whites opened in September 2008 and very quickly received praise locally and nationally. Acclaimed food critic Jay Rayner was among a host of national newspaper journalists to wax lyrical about Whites, telling his readers: “It is the sort of smart if understated place that this country needs very badly.”
The restaurant has since gone on to win a host of awards and is the current Yorkshire Life Restaurant of the Year.
John, 30, was born and lives locally and is very passionate about Beverley. “It’s a wonderful town and I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else,” he said.
Before opening Whites, he gained experience working at Winteringham Fields in North Lincolnshire, Gleneagles in Scotland, as well as helping establish a successful gastro pub in Cumbria and becoming a regional finalist of the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship.
“It was always my ambition to open my own place and give people a dining experience to remember. I’ve never wanted to do anything else,” he said.
His restaurant specialises in tasting menus (either four or nine courses) and with its intimate setting for up to 20 people delivers exceptional personal service.
After their meal the Good Food Guide inspectors praised John for delivering “a series of dynamic modern plates” and went on to highlight his “creative mind and grasp of contemporary cooking techniques”.
Dishes mentioned included hand-dived scallop ceviche with cider jelly and slow-cooked ox cheek with a blue cheese foam.
Customers continue to come from far and wide to experience John’s acclaimed food; some taking advantage of the restaurant’s four boutique bedrooms that were added in 2010.
Whites, is at 12A North Bar Without, Beverley, and is open Tuesday to Saturday evening and Saturday lunchtimes. For more information call (01482) 866121 or visit www.whitesrestaurant.co.uk
