Raby Hunt Inn & Restaurant

Amazing food, a must for a fine dining experience The dishes are as pretty as they are delicious, all well thought out to provide a taste sensation, leaving you wishing for more and wanting to return. We chose the wine pairing with complemented the food perfectly.

I dined in Raby Hunt with 2 other companions 2 weeks ago for a birthday celebration. It was a marvellous experience. Every bite of each course was an eye-opening experience (or should I say mouth-opening). The service was unremarkable. 1 of my companions had dietary restrictions, and the team in Raby Hunt tried their best to accommodate it. The meal ended with a surprise that we are very much thankful for. We will visit Raby Hunt again soon.

The food was fantastic here, especially the global menu, what a culinary adventure! Absolutely cannot fault them on their flavours and creativity. The sommelier Daniel was one of the best we’ve had in a fine dining restaurant, thank you! We loved how he explained why he’d chosen the wine with each dish and how it worked with the food. His knowledge of wine and food pairings was superb. However, only giving it 3 stars (3.5 if Google allowed) as we were disappointed by a few things. We could normally live with these things but our expectations were very high for a 2 Michelin star restaurant, with a price to match, and unfortunately it didn’t live up to that level. The dessert selection was all very sweet and sugary, something rich or chocolatey would’ve helped change up the palate. The service was very good but not excellent like we were expecting. And the lighting was incredibly bright, too many spot lights, which after 3.5 hours hurt our heads.

What a great treat. From the moment we arrived to the moment we left, enjoyed every minute. Sitting at the kitchen table and being able to speak to James and all his amazing chefs just added to the experience. Everyone was relaxed, friendly and extremely knowledgable and the food blew us away in texture, taste, looks, serving suggestion and absolute attention to detail, but I guess that’s why you have 2 Michelin stars !! Although all portions are relatively small after 15 courses you are full up and I can’t believe some of the preparation starts 2 or 3 days before you arrive. Breakfast was amazing as well. I don’t know how you can make simple foods taste so good. James - you and your team are ultimate perfectionist, artists and masters of food.

Food is of course amazing, tried hard not to compare with other Micheline star restaurants I ate before. The decor is too bright and cleache, we understand that we asked for substitutes and they kindly did provided for most part of the menu, I think that would have cost them more hence they didn't give us one dish, would have appreciated if they had substituted with another small dish or could have atleast given complementary water (water isn't cheap 😂). The food is a great experience, world course is amazing faultless. Can't say the same for the signature dishes (may be not for my pallet). When it's 2 stars it's not just about food it's also about the whole experience. For a 2 Micheline star and at that price point, you would expect it to blow you away, but it comes a bit underwhelming, I must say. But definetly an experience, If you can you must try this place worth the drive and a visit.

A hidden gem. A fabulous 2-Michelin starred restaurant set in the beautiful village of Summerhouses. Attentive service, great menu and a lovely relaxed atmosphere for such a high end experience. We didn’t stay over as we’re fortunate enough to live local but I’m sure the rooms meet the same high standards as the restaurant. Thank you James, Maria and your team!

Beautiful evening of great food, good service and a very comfortable room to stay in. Wishing James & Co all the very best for the future!

To summarize: good-to-excellent cooking, good but not top-tier service, slightly disappointing drinks selection, reasonable but not extraordinary value for money, good decor. We came for dinner and had the 200 GBP tasting menu which has 14 courses. Some of these courses were extraordinarily good. One highlight was a New York beef pastrami inspired minature "burger" filled with foie gras and a wonderfully tender chunk of beef, coupled with a bun that literally oozed flavour. There were also some extremely delicate seafood offerings: a dish of raw razorclam and brown shrimp was alternately tender, salty and sweet in just the right amounts. An absolutely gorgeous piece of A5 Gunma wagyu was also on offer. Wagyu can be overpoweringly fatty, but this one was tender with just the right balance of fat and slightly crispy "maillard"ed skin. In the desserts section, a poached meringue was soft to the point of being unearthly, and is certainly the best sweet course I've tasted in 2020. Something particularly unusual about Chef James' food is that he knows how to use a light touch of spice in dishes in a very impactful way. A course of Thai-inspired broth is kicked to the next level with sansho pepper powder, bringing a subtle numbing sensation to the palette, and a just few drops of japaleno on a ceviche added a lot of interest to the dish. Some courses failed to reach these heights. For me, the squab leg needed something extra: eating the meaty main portion of the thigh was almost a chore without some sauce or salt to pump the flavour up a bit. (Though my wife rated this dish as the favourite course of the night, so this may just be me!). While his attempt at a nigiri was servicable it doesn't compare favourably with what is available at mid-level sushi restaurants. The other Japan-inspired dish, a langoustine tempura, also felt a bit out of place, lacking the essential fluffiness of a good tempura. I also would not have been sad to see the mille feuille replaced with something else. The bread "course" was nice enough but perhaps should be served on the side rather than as its own thing. Overall, while the cooking was good and I see some unique ideas here which make it well worth a visit, it does fall some way short of perfection. While the staff were friendly, there were some small errors: we were given incorrect information about the ingredients of a dish at one point (another staff member stepped in to quickly remedy the error), and they once tried to remove a course from the table before we had started eating it! I tried the classic wine pairing at 115 GBP. All the wines were pleasant but not super memorable. Perhaps you would fare better with the more expensive "prestige" pairing at 295 GBP. We would also have appreciated slightly more choice of drinks: my wife doesn't drink wine but does enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail, but no cocktails are available. They also don't have much choice of spirits. The decor is quite striking, with a persistent skull motif that is cleverly even reflected in the food: the final course on the tasting menu is a beautiful chocolate skull. Top marks here!