Places to eat in Thirsk

Some of the best food in Thirsk can be found in the town’s pubs, including The Buck Inn and Little Three covered in our nightlife roundup, but there are also plenty of excellent restaurants to discover in town.

One of our favourites is Fantinos, a rustic and romantic Italian restaurant best known for its wood-fired pizzas and fresh fish dishes. Even better, the Front Street restaurant is a short distance from our Thirsk Hotel, perfect for walking off their arancini.

Further in towards the centre of Thirsk, most of the restaurants are centered around Sutton Road, including Racha Thai Bistro. The smart, dark-wood bistro serves up home-made authentic classics and plenty of neat twists (green tea tart or chocolate spring roll, anyone?) and is open Tuesday to Sunday for dinner.

50 metres away is Hung Moey, the leading Chinese restaurant in the region. The compact eaterie is both a restaurant and takeaway, and thanks to crowd-pleasing dishes including their shredded duck and in-house chow mein and generous portion sizes, this spot can get busy on the weekend.

Continuing the international flavour trail is Jaipur Spice to the west of Thirsk just beyond Carlton Miniott. The Indian restaurant housed in a converted pub is a breath of fresh air, with carefully spiced dishes, dozens of signature specials and even some fusion recipes to balance out the menu.

With plenty of sights to see, hiking and cycling routes and jaw-dropping scenery at every turn, it’s no surprise to find plenty of cafés and coffee shops catering to tourists and locals.

In Thirsk itself, Yorks of Thirsk is a firm favourite. The cute, almost old-fashioned café covers plenty of ground including breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks, plus plenty of daily specials that venture into seriously tasty territory (think pulled pork paninis, breakfast brioche and carrot and orange soup).

Over the road meanwhile is Upstairs Downstairs, a multi-hyphenate venue that’s a tea room, café, sandwich bar and deli. With eat-in and takeaway options, it’s a rightly popular venue with fast, friendly service and some genuinely scrummy cakes.

Another strong all-rounder is Bliss Café near Market Square. As good at all-day breakfasts as they are with gluten-free cakes, vegan lunch options and locally-sourced ice cream and sorbet, it’s rightly one of the top-ranked cafés on TripAdvisor for the region.

Over on Millgate, The Pantry continues a fine Thirsk family tradition as James Herriot’s daughter Clare Keel runs the vintage tea rooms. If you’re looking for afternoon tea in fine china, delicate salads and sandwiches, a wide range of tea and coffee options and gentle, lulling views across to the ducks on Cod Beck, this is the place for you.

There are plenty of fish and chip options in Thirsk – the east coast fishing resorts of Scarborough and Filey are less than an hour away – but one of our favourites is the White Horse Café. A landmark in Thirsk since 1982, the café and takeaway do things the traditional way which means huge slabs of freshly fried fish, chunky chips and mushy peas.

For takeaway fish and chips only, try Land and Sea next to Fantinos. Launched in 2011, the chippy has won several awards including being one of the Top 50 fish and chip shops in the UK via Fry Magazine and even offer gluten-free batter on alternating weekends.