Thank you Skosh

So far our celebratory weekend away had proved somewhat of a damp squib. Now it was all down to 'Skosh' to live up to Jay Raynor's assertion that 'right now Skosh – taken from the Japanese sukoshi for “a little” or “small amount” – is, I think, the ideal of what an ambitious, independent restaurant should be'.

It proved a little trickier to find the place than we had imagined, across the bridge to the eastern part of the old city, then up Micklegate. We had booked for 1.15pm, but aimed to arrive earlier. In fact we turned-up bang on time. This resulted in the only table available for us was not in the main part of the restaurant, but at a narrow bar opposite the open plan kitchen situated conveniently next to the toilets. Not exactly a romantic spot, but in the end, what it lacked in atmosphere was more than compensated by being close to the culinary action, there was a certain theatricality about Skosh's kitchen - the cook as conjuror - and we had a front row seat.

In truth, if a candle-lit romantic spot is what you hanker after Skosh is destined to be a disappointment. However, we happen to be to be the world's least likely couple to go on a 'date night', indeed I suspect neither of us have much of a clue as to what that might entail. What we hanker after are places that serve a a simply delicious lunch at a price commensurate with our 'reduced circumstances'. If the place throws in a modicum of style and panache into the bargain, even better. Skosh delivers all these things and more.

In terms of style the place leans towards contemporary cool with a 'skosh' of funky thrown in for good measure. The style of main part of the restaurant is understated  - pale oak flooring, mid-grey furnishings with a touch of bright yellow here and there. Around the open kitchen at the rear its all a bit quirkier, the metallic sheen of the equipment contrasts with  a wall of banana yellow ceramic tiles at the back of the place.

Amid the action is a small bar style table for two - so titchy that in order to accommodate wine glasses as well as plates a small additional shelf has been added; depending on your outlook this might be regarded as either annoyingly cramped or charmingly intimate. Our initial thought was it too 'skwoshed', but over the course of our meal we softened towards the latter point of view. Skosh is a charming place, not just its innovative, quirky take on a tapas style menu, but the enthusiastic staff  who take time to suggest the best way to combine the small plates on offer. After a moment of uncertainty, once the delicious food began to arrive we both perched happily on our bar-stools by the kitchen watching other dishes being magicked and chatting to the server about what to try next.

The main menu consists of  about fifteen or more small sharing plates ranging in price from £6 to £16; it's up to you how many you try and how much you wish to spend. Here's a screen-shot of part of the menu -it draws on Japanese, Middle-Eastern and Northern Spanish influences but with a unique twist. We know from our travels in Greece, Southern Italy and Spain you sense in the first bite when you have come across an exceptional cook able to tease mouth-watering taste from simple ingredients. In the UK, outside of establishments that aspire to fine dining with all the formalities that involves, it is almost unheard to find delicious food which  is accessible and affordable - like you find in Sicily or the Basque Country, for example. We had planned to have our big anniversary lunch by Lake Garda or overlooking the Adriatic but fate intervened and we ended up in York. In fact the lunch we had at Skosh was just as delicious anything we have experienced in the south in Gythion, Bologna, Syracusa or San Sebastian.

A skosh of the inspired menu

Gill chose the Verdejo - I went for the Zibibbo

We shared four mains and a dessert, had a glass of white wine each with the savoury plates, and a glass of fizzy with pud. The sparkling wine was new to us, 'Pignoletto' - from the hills of Emilia Romagna near Bologna. We made a mental note to look out for it again - fresh and fruity with a hint of herbs too. At first the menu is somewhat bewildering, it was good that the staff were on hand to give advice.

What to choose - a serious business, we went for....

House sourdough, acorn dairy butter & 'gunpowder' spice. Brusnswick nursery tomatoes with burrata, lovage & black rice vinegar.

Skosh fried chicken with brown butter hollandaise. Crispy chilli beef rolls with oyster & yuzu cream.

Our cosy spot.

OK, its crackers, cheese and pickle, but it's very special cheese and pickle. Our server did explain it all, we should have made  notes!

To finish - Goats curd marshmallow with raspberry, lychee & olive oil - accompanied with a glass of fizzy Pignoletto - happy anniversary to us!

Over recent months, as we cleared Gill's father's house we came across a number of 'big anniversary' photos, not just of her parents, but also of aunts and uncles, and older pictures stretching back to the 1950s and earlier. A party with family and friends seems to have been the norm, either at home or in a local pub's 'function room'. Even if we had been so inclined, this was not really an option, our family is spread all over the place and since we began travelling for months on end contact with friends has diminished. I suppose we should have asked one of the staff to take a photo of the pair of us to mark the occasion. Somehow among all the chat about the food it slipped our minds. However our moment was not entirely a solitary affair, social media came to the rescue. Gill's sister was on a 'gastronomic weekend' with a Nordic walking club in the Ardennes. She posted photos of French culinary delights and we reciprocated with Skosh's plates. A bit of a competition ensued. When a  particularly sculptural dessert Whatsapped its way across the Channel and we had finished ours,  Skosh came to the rescue; there was no way we could be outdone by the French. Our server borrowed Gill's phone and snapped a particularly picturesque plate waiting for collection from the kitchen counter.

Abstract doodle with food

Part way through the Anglo-French Whatsapp exchange Lisbon joined in, Sarah from her sunny terrace overlooking the Tago - 'Happy Anniversary, btw. how's lunch?'

Thinking of the photos of family anniversaries down the years as we sat on our own to celebrate ours it would be all to easy to bewail a loss of community or decline in sociability. However, this is not quite the case, technology has widened community, our locale is no longer wedded to place and there are up-sides as well as challenges to 'glocalisation'. A case in point is Skosh's menu, how it draws on food cultures from across the world but melds them into something unique and individual.

As we left I picked-up Skosh's card and slipped into the pocket in my phone case. It joined a handful of others collected from out travels. A few minutes ago I took them all out - a random collection of foody moments from across the continent - each one a memento of a special plate - the seared Tuna at the Cabanas beach restaurant in the Western Algarve, the awesome ragu from Osteria dell Orsa in Bologna;  pintxos from Bar Akenza in San Sebastian - all places where we've had outstanding food.

The lunch at Skosh was as good as any comparable place we have been in all our ten thousand miles of wandering through southern Europe over the past four years, including the restaurants we visited in notable culinary hot spots like Bologna and San Sebastian. So, Mr Raynor was perfectly correct, the place is 'the ideal of what an ambitious, independent restaurant should be'. So a big thank you from us for providing a memorable 40th wedding anniversary lunch on what otherwise was a cold, wet and windy weekend in York. It will become a treasured memory.