When it comes to exploring God’s Own Country, we are incredibly spoiled for choice when it comes to grabbing a bite to eat. Our high streets and rural villages are packed to the rafters with exceptional gastropubs, fine-dining establishments, and traditional tea rooms.
Sometimes, however, it’s good to try something a little bit different. If you are planning a day out and you’re bored of bog-standard meals, check out our list of quirky restaurants and unconventional dining experiences across the region…
Six by Nico, Leeds
The Experience: A highly conceptual dining journey featuring an affordable six-course tasting menu that completely transforms every six weeks.
Address: 9 East Parade, Leeds, LS1 2AJ
If you struggle with menu indecision, Six by Nico in the heart of Leeds city centre offers the perfect solution. The restaurant operates on a unique narrative cycle, serving a single exclusive six-course tasting menu at a time, based on a specific theme, memory, or location. Past iterations have ranged from an elevated take on a nostalgic British fish and chip shop to whimsical literary concepts. It completely strips away the pretension often associated with high-end tasting menus, delivering precise, imaginative cooking in a vibrant, high-energy environment.
Sky Lounge, Leeds
The Experience: Indulge in a sophisticated afternoon tea or a vibrant bottomless brunch from the highest rooftop bar in the city.
Address: DoubleTree by Hilton, Granary Wharf, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, LS1 4BR
For a proper high-end dining experience that completely changes your perspective on the city, you need to head up to the 13th floor of the DoubleTree by Hilton. As Leeds’ highest rooftop bar, Sky Lounge features floor-to-ceiling windows and a heated outdoor terrace offering breathtaking, panoramic views across the city skyline and the canal basin below.
By day, the venue serves a decadent afternoon tea with a modern twist, featuring delicate seasonal savouries and handcrafted sweet treats, alongside a highly popular weekend bottomless brunch. It’s an exceptional, unhurried escape sitting far above the bustling streets below, making it perfect for a celebration or a refined weekend treat.
Skipton Boat Trips
The Experience: A floating restaurant experience gliding down the Leeds & Liverpool Canal with award-winning fish and chips or a traditional roast.
Address: 3 Coach Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 1LH
Taking a meal on the water completely transforms a standard afternoon out. Departing from the picturesque canal basin in Skipton, these two-hour cruises take you deep into the surrounding countryside while dinner is served straight to your table.
They’ve teamed up with local legends Bizzie Lizzie’s to serve piping hot, award-winning Yorkshire fish and chips wrapped traditionally in paper, alongside a fully licensed bar. If you prefer a Sunday afternoon trip, they also run dedicated Roast Dinner cruises featuring local roast beef and all the trimmings.
The Wensleydale Creamery, Hawes
The Experience: A cheese-lover’s pilgrimage where you can dine alongside a viewing gallery showing master cheesemakers at work.
Address: Gayle Lane, Hawes, North Yorkshire, DL8 3RN
If you want to experience the true heritage of Yorkshire food, a trip to the market town of Hawes is essential. The Wensleydale Creamery isn’t just a shop; it’s an immersive dining destination.
In Calvert’s Restaurant, the menu is a complete celebration of their cheese, featuring iconic dishes like their legendary Wensleydale cheese on toast and robust, cheese-laden rarebits. After eating, you can head directly into the interactive experience to watch the traditional curd-cutting and moulding processes that have been perfected here for generations.
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
The Experience: A historic steam train journey paired with everything from a “Curry Express” to First-Class afternoon tea.
Address: Embsay Station, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 6AX
Settle into beautifully restored 1950s BR Mark 1 carriages or luxury Victorian saloons as a real steam locomotive chugs through the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales. Embsay is the absolute gold standard for dining on the move.
Their evening and afternoon calendar is brilliantly varied, swapping out traditional white-linen afternoon teas for evening fish and chip specials, wine and cheese tastings, or their incredibly popular Curry Express served right to your table with first-class silver service.
Evolution Experience Restaurant, Doncaster
The Experience: An epically immersive, theatrical dinner where you dine among prehistoric islands and mythical caves.
Address: Hurst Lane, Auckley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN9 3HQ
Located within the free-to-enter hub of The Yorkshire Hive (right next to the wildlife park entrance), Evolution takes themed dining to an entirely new scale for the region.
The restaurant is split into distinct, highly dramatic zones that transport you from a lost Jurassic island straight into a fantasy world of subterranean caves and mythical dragons. Boasting animatronics, theatrical lighting, and soundscapes that evolve throughout your meal, it provides a genuinely cinematic alternative to a standard dinner out, paired with a robust menu of family favourites and explorer-themed cocktails.
Stump Cross Caverns, Greenhow Hill
The Experience: Settle in for a comforting, home-cooked meal or quirky afternoon tea before heading down into an illuminated, ancient underground limestone cave system.
Address: Greenhow Hill, Pateley Bridge, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG3 5JL
Sitting high on the Yorkshire Dales moorland between Pateley Bridge and Grassington, Stump Cross Caverns offers a truly wild setting for a meal. Their on-site Time Cafe serves up brilliant, hearty Yorkshire comfort food, from loaded jackets to home-baked treats, with sweeping panoramic views across the moors.
The quirky twist comes after your meal, where you can grab a hard hat and head straight underground into a network of ancient, beautifully lit limestone caves discovered by lead miners in 1860, complete with fossilised remains and incredible stalactites.
As with all our articles of this nature, we’ll be adding to this list as and when we discover other businesses. To recommend unusual dining experiences in Yorkshire or request our media pack, please email business@theyorkshirepress.co.uk
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Afternoon Tea in The Yorkshire Dales
