I'm just been for Sunday lunch at Melton's in York. This is easily the best non-ethnic restaurant in York and for a number of miles around. I rate it easily as good as a Michelin 1-star place, but it probably doesn't qualify for that because of the informality (it isn't a jacket & tie place, although people do wear them) and the decor (a trifle suburban). For a starter, I had scallops in beurre blanc in a crown of filo pastry. This dish has been on the menu for ages due to its popularity, but I've never tried it before. Good filo, excellent generous portion of scallops and a good beurre blanc. For the entree, I had Steak and Kidney pie - Melton's has a habit of turning up one *School Food* dish on each menu and I'm always a sucker for them. For those who have suffered the nasty microwaved rubbish that you can find in many pubs in this country, this would be a revelation. Good puff-pastry hodls together a selection to top-class shin of beef, lots of kidney and some mushroom with a gravy that is more like a stock-reduction. Good mashed potatoes (creamed, although the olive-oil mash here is very good) and a julienne of vegetables. For dessert, I managed get over a 10 year aversion to rhubarb just because the rhubarb fool looked so good. It tasted better, although my cholesterol quota has probably been exceeded for a month or so. It had the essential earthy taste of rhubarb whilst still being mild on the palate. To drink, we had a glass of Califorian Chardonnay and a bottle of Chateau Cissac 1970, the Cissac was extremely good with the pie, but as a fairly venerable bottle for its classification, it started to wear quite quickly. Cost was 75GBP for two, 45 of which was aperitifs and wine. A bargain. 8 out of 10. (10 being Maision du Bouche, Brussels).
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