Tag: york

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Moroccan BBQ Merguez Sausage Baguette

I was exploring York; the sun was shining and as it was lunchtime I was feeling a little peckish. There are lots of places to eat in York, but after walking down the Shambles I popped to the street food market which is next to the Shambles. There were quite a few options and wasn’t initially sure about what to have. In the end I went to the Moroccan BBQ stall.

I went with the merguez sausage baguette for my lunch. It took a while to cook, normally a street food market is a compromise between freshness and convenience. Luckily, I wasn’t in a hurry but eventually arrived.

These merguez sausages were rather nice, the baguette was okay and I enjoyed the sandwich.

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Gochujang pork ramen

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

My usual go to at Wagamama is mushroom yaki soba, I do like ramen, but find it can be quite messy to eat (drink) and so opt for teppanyaki noodles instead. As I had time, I decided I would go down the ramen route and chose the gochujang pork ramen.

Gochujang pork ramen

The ramen was gochujang pork, ramen noodles, a silky chicken broth, charred sweetcorn, pea shoots, spring onion and a tea-stained egg.

This was rather lovely. The pork was very tender and full of flavour. I really enjoyed the broth, which was as described was silky and smooth. I did enjoy the flavour of the charred sweetcorn as well.

A delicious bowl of food and something I would order again in the future.

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Korean fried chicken bao buns

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

Normally if I have bao buns at Wagamama I go for the mushroom buns, this time though, being different, I went with the Korean fried chicken bao buns.

These are two steamed buns, stuffed with crispy fried chicken.

Korean fried chicken bao buns

According to the menu description, they are supposed to include pickled rainbow slaw, gochujang sauce and yuzu mayo. I think mine were missing the sauce and the mayo. I think they needed that.

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Repeating a disappointment

Yesterday I published a blog post about some disappointing duck gyoza I had eaten at Wagamama in York in April 2026. 

I was not impressed with these and I would not have them again (ever).

When I publish posts to the blog, a (WordPress) algorithm shows some related posts and there at the bottom of the post was a post from September 2011 about some duck gyoza I had had at Wagamama in Leeds. 

duck gyoza

Back then I wrote:

Though generally I enjoy most items I have eaten at Wagamama I was less impressed with the deep-fried duck dumplings served with a spicy cherry hoi sin sauce.

Can I really say I should read what I have written before, this was fifteen years ago. I think now that I will avoid these in future for sure.

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Disappointing Duck Gyoza

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

On my Soul Food app I had some free gyoza, so I ordered the duck gyoza. These were fried duck gyoza with a sweet cherry hoisin sauce.

Duck Gyoza

I was not impressed with these and I would not have them again (ever).

I was expecting steamed gyoza which had been pan fried. What I think I got was, well I am not sure, they tasted more baked than fried, but I am guessing they were fried if that was what was said on the menu. The duck filling was, decidedly unpleasant in flavour and texture.

The sweet cherry hoisin sauce did nothing to help these unfortunate gyoza, and it was too sweet and I did not like the flavour.

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Chilli Squid

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

As well as a chicken donburi, I also had some chilli squid. This has been a staple for Wagamama for many years.  This was a nice generous portion of crispy squid, dusted with shichimi spice, and served with a chilli and coriander dipping sauce. 

Chilli Squid

I do like this dish and I was not disappointed, really tasty squid and the dipping sauce is the perfect accompaniment.

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Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

Though there are plenty of places to eat in York, I headed off to the Designer Outlet to charge my car. While I was there charging my car, so I headed into the outlet and went to Wagamama.

This time I went with the cheaper chicken donburi over the duck I would usually have. I did though add an extra, with a fried egg on top.

Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

I do like the donburi dish, the combination of flavours and textures make for a tasty dish. The chicken was nice, tender and had a nice flavour. The egg was slightly overcooked, but added to the experience. I enjoyed this dish.

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Gatehouse Coffee at Walmgate Bar

On my recent short holiday to Yorkshire, my plans weren’t set in stone, I had planned to visit Fountains Abbey and the National Railway Museum, but anything else would be a bonus. On the day I left York I had planned to visit a couple of National Trust properties on the way back. However I woke up earlier than I expected. So, after getting washed and dressed and a quick breakfast I headed back into York with the idea of walking the walls.

I walked over to Walmgate Bar and then headed anticlockwise around the city. I noted that there was a cafe, Gatehouse Coffee,  within Walmgate Bar, not sure how long that had been there, I don’t recall one been there when I was living in York in the 1980s. It was early, so was closed.

I then walked the city walls, which took just over an hour. Upon my arrival back at Walmgate Bar the Gatehouse Coffee was open, I thought about it, decided I would stop for a coffee. 

It was quite busy, I placed my order for an espresso and waited. It took a while for my coffee, as there were quite a few orders been dealt with prior to mine. 

I took a seat and enjoyed my coffee, there is outdoor seating in the gate and upstairs as well. As I drank my coffee, I could see that the “delay” was just because I happened to arrive at a busy time, other customers got their drinks in good time. 

The coffee was excellent and I would have probably stayed for another if my car parking wasn’t about to run out. 

If you are walking the walls of York then (depending on where you start) this is an ideal place for an end of walk drink, or a mid-walk stop. 

Service was warm and friendly. I hope to make a return visit soon.

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Slow Yaki Soba Yasai

Needing a quick dinner, a visit to Wagamama was the solution. You don’t need to book and usually service is efficient and quick.

I had a look over the menu and decided what I would have and waited…

I then waited some more…

Then a little more time…

I was about to leave when a member of the waiting team arrived to take my order. They did apologise, but not sure what the issue was.

I went with the mushroom bao buns and the yaki soba yasai with mushroom. 

This was soba noodles cooked with mushrooms, egg, peppers, beansprouts and white and spring onion. topped with crispy fried onions, pickled ginger and sesame seeds.

The yaki soba yasai arrived first.

It was really good. I love the combination of flavours and textures.

 My mushroom bao buns arrived a little later. This was mixed mushrooms with crispy panko-coated aubergine and vegan mayo, topped with coriander.

These were nice but felt that they lacked enough mushroom. I have had these before and wrote back then:

I did feel the mushroom bao buns could have had a lot more mushroom in them, what mushroom was there was slightly overpowered by the crispy panko-coated aubergine.

Pretty much felt the same this time as well.

I did think both dishes needed more mushroom. If there is mushroom in the title of the dish then I think it needs mushroom in the dish.

Overall, I did enjoy the food, the service once it started was good, but I did feel the delay in taking my order did impact on my enjoyment of the dining experience.

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Dinner at the Castle

I had never intended to stay in a castle when I recently travelled up to York, but it was a cheaper option than staying in the centre of York.

Hazlewood Castle Hotel & Spa is nestled in 77 acres of woodland in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside between Leeds and York. It is in the main, or appears to be, in the main a wedding venue. As it was a Monday night, it was considerably cheaper than if I was staying there later in the week.

It is a splendid looking place, though my room was quite plain in comparison to the elegance of the main building. However, I wasn’t complaining as I was there in the main to stay one night, have breakfast the next morning and then head off to York.

It is in the countryside, so rather than venture out into that countryside, I chose to eat in the hotel restaurant.

This is down in the basement, and not that easily accessed from the main hotel area, you do have to go outside to get there, and it was raining.

I sat down and looked over the menu. For my starter I went with the cheddar cheese soufflé. For my main course I decided to have the venison haunch, garlic & thyme crushed new potatoes, roasted banana shallot, honey glazed carrots, cranberry jus.

I had anticipated that my soufflé would be freshly made, and I was expecting something like I had seen on Masterchef. What I actually got was this.

This was a reheated frozen soufflé on a bed of leaves, dressed with balsamic glaze. To be honest it wasn’t that bad, but for the price I was paying I was expecting something better than what I got.

The main course arrived and this was slices of venison haunch with vegetables. 

This was a much better dish than the soufflé. The venison was lovely and tender, and full of flavour. I enjoyed the vegetables, though I think I would have enjoyed having some more jus with the meal.

The service was friendly and efficient.

I did enjoy my meal, and it was all rather nice. Maybe a little overpriced for what I got, but I was in many ways expecting that. The meal was certainly a lot better than the conference dinner I had the following day at the hotel in York.