KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR PRESS
RELEASES AND SPECIAL OFFERS! SEE BELOW
Autumn Offer at The White Horse and Griffin, The
Boathouse or any of the cottages
Autumn Offer
Why not take a well deserved break and take a lovely
invigorating walk along the beach followed by a cosy lunch
or dinner in the bistro!
Starting Monday 27th September, between Sunday and
Thursday inclusive, we are offering 2 nights bed and
breakfast with the 2nd night half price in any of our rooms,
cottages or The Boathouse. To qualify for this offer, a full
Lunch or Dinner is to be taken at The White Horse and
Griffin on both days.
(This offer ends on 22nd October)
01947-604857 / 825026
!!! SUMMER OFFER !!!
BRING YOUR OWN WINE!
HELP US TO HELP YOU!
LETS BEAT THE RECESSION TOGETHER!
COME & ENJOY SOME DELICIOUS FOOD & BRING YOUR OWN BOTTLE (BOTTLES!) OF WINE
THE ONLY BYO IN THE AREA!
ONLY £3.50 PER BOTTLE CORKAGE
SORRY! THIS OFFER DOES NOT APPLY TO PRIVATE FUNCTIONS & TABLES OF OVER 6 PEOPLE
SUMMER OFFER
!!THE FAST TRACK IS BACK!!
Served between 12 noon and 3.00pm and
5pm and 7pm every day
Thai Chicken Curry, Basmati Rice & Mango Chutney 8.95
Shepherd’s Pie with Peas and Brown Sauce or ketchup 7.95
Roast Breast of Chicken with Hand cut Chips 7.95
Beer Battered Whitby Cod & Home made Chips served with ‘Proper’ Mushy peas or Garden Peas 7.95
Children’s Portions of all the above 4.50
Villa Haziran
NO SPECIAL OFFERS AT PRESENT
Villa Haziran in Kalkan, Turkey, our latest venture, is now very much up and running!
Please click on 'Villa Haziran' button on the Main Menu for full details and lots of photos!
Alternatively click on or copy the link below to view 2010 availability
http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/avail.asp?home_id=24563
DID YOU KNOW?
THE BOATHOUSE
is a gorgeous environment for your special occasion
Did you know that we cater for Weddings, Special Occasions, parties or just a get together with friends?
Did you know that you can have a private lunch or dinner party for up to 10/12 people in The Boathouse. Another alternative is to have a party with our special standing buffet for 20 ish people. Obviously if it is a lovely day, we will set it up outside otherwise there is plenty of space inside. Obviously it is pretty booked up so if you have a particular date in mind give us a ring and we will see what we can do!
PS. There is no charge for the hire of The Boathouse !
Unfortunately, we can't accommodate functions on a Saturday
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SUNDAY LUNCH
After the success of the traditional Sunday Lunch that we served on Mother's Day, we have decided by popular request to continue serving it on a regular basis ! This is how it goes!
Chef’'s Amuse Bouche of the day
(Complimentary - obviously!)
Roast Rib of Sirloin of Beef
(From Wayside Farm, Whitby)Served with Yorkshire Puddings, Roast Potatoes, Seasonal Fresh Vegetables and Horseradish Sauce
( Vegetables all from Thirsk, North Yorkshire)
Complimentary Choice of Fresh Roast Coffees (and fill-ups!) with delicious Choccies!
£12.95
It is not strictly neccessary to book ahead, but if you have aparticular favourite table, it would be adviseable to do so
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WHITE HORSE & GRIFFIN VOUCHERS
Birthday or Anniversary coming up?
Why not treat someone special to a night or two and or a delicious meal at The White Horse & Griffin or perhaps a short break in one of the cottages!
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Private Events in The Endeavour Restaurant
Did you know that we cater for Weddings, Christenings, Birthdays, Private Parties and Dinner Parties?
The Endeavour Restaurant lends itself to Standing Buffet parties of up to 35 people. Sit down, more formal occasions for up to 25/ 30 people. Also as a Private Dining room for 8 – 20 people
We have sample menus available – all of which can be tailored to suit your personal taste and the particular occasion in hand or you may want to stick with something from the main menu
We do not charge anything for using this room, you can personally decorate the room or the table as you wish or we will do it for you. We use lots of candles and you can use our music or bring your own which creates a lovely atmosphere
For events held between Monday and Thursday there is a discount of 10% on accommodation. (Not in conjunction with any other offer)
Please phone or email for details, menus and prices and June, the Events Manager, will get back to you
Unfortunately, we can't accommodate functions on a Saturday .
The outside catering Team !
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WATCH THIS SPACE!
NEW!
LOYALTY CARDS FOR REGULAR DINERS & RESIDENTS
WE HAVEN'T WORKED OUT THE FINER DETAILS YET, BUT THIS IS A WAY OF
THANKING YOU ALL FOR CHOOSING THE WHITE HORSE & GRIFFIN!
COMING SOON !
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REVIEWS
We have had many reviews from journalists in Newspapers and Magazine publications, including The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail, All the Sundays and their supplements at various times, Country Living, Travel Magazine and lots of others. I have listed a couple below and also some lovely (& not so lovely!) guest comments!
(Yorkshire Post)
A winter's tale
There's always tourist traffic on the abbey steps.
Having grown up in Whitby, Helen Hutchinson recently returned to live there and reports on its new off-season pleasures. Wild, gothic, romantic, and now sophisticated. Whitby hasn't changed that much over the years. It's beauty is still unspoilt. It's history is clearly visible at every turn. The abbey's shell-like ruins look out to sea and over the jigsaw puzzle of roofs that tumble down to the harbour.
What has changed though is the volume of visitors. The cobbled streets on the East Side are hardly ever quiet. Gone are the days when it usedto feel like a ghost town from October through to spring.
There are now about as many cake shops as pubs; stylish restaurants, smart wine bars and themed cafés with elaborate care taken over their interiors, none of which has resorted to the excesses of seaside commercialism. It's posh and we're quite proud of it. No McDonald's, Starbucks or any kind of chain here.
It wasn't always like this, of course. We didn't have a lot of choice, but growing up in Whitby we had the beach, and freedom.
As a child I'd often take the dog for a walk along the pier. She was petrified by the gaps in the planks of wood. We'd both peer at the men casting off their lines into the sea below. Caught fish lay by their feet, gasping their last breaths, tails flapping helplessy.
Occasionally you'd spot a seal that bobbed its head up like flotsam, floating in an inky dark sea, staring back at you blankly, before it went off to deplete the cod and haddock.
Walking past the whirlpool on to the old wooden part of the pier sent a shiver of macabre fascination down your spine. It was possible to imagine sea beasts lurking and trapped mermaids, and of course, certain death if you happened to slip into it. But Whitby has always inspired the imagination to run riot. If you sit on the edge of the cliff in St Mary's graveyard, the bell tolls as it has for centuries, you're surrounded by the tombs and gravestones of ancient families. It's easy to imagine Captain Cook or Scoresby sailing out to discover the New World.
Caedmon, the first English poet, was inspired by a dream. He herded animals on the Abbey plains and was encouraged by St Hilda to write it down into the first English song. A Celtic cross commemorates him in the graveyard. Simply inscribed it says he fell asleep hard in 680 AD
Still on Church Street is the White Horse and Griffin Hotel. Originally built in 1680, in 1778 it became the inn where the irst stage coach operated from York to Whitby. The yard at the side would have bustled with visitors and coaches, horses changed and rested, luggage removed and weary travellers who would have crossed bleak moors to arrive at the coast.
Chef and owner Stewart welcomes you with tales of his Runswick Bay lifeboat days and how to catch a lobster. His son, surely the best-dressed chef, clad in Paul Smith, is now carrying on the family legacy in the kitchen.
The main dining room is elegant and long. Bare floorboards and high ceilings mean it's sympathetically dark and Georgian. It was here that Captain Cook had his crews sign articles for his voyages to the Pacific. Scoresby planned his epic trips to the Arctic, and George Stephenson held meetings in the Endeavour room to help secure investors in his railways. Charles Dickens once lodged here and you can stay in his room.
At the back is a cosier, low-beamed restaurant. Sitting by the window and near a roaring fire, on a winter's day
this feels like the only place you'd want
to be.
Lunch was of fennel, rosemary and courgette soup, followed by roast halibut – freshly caught – served on a vegetable rosti with chorizo oil. I always used to prefer Whitby in winter, especially if there's a north-easterly blowing.
But these days, there's a lot more to it.
YORKSHIRE POST. Helen Hutchinson. Published Date: 13 February 2009
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TELEGRAPH - Paddy Burt
Finds a gem of an inn - all thanks to Stewart's cut-glass vision.
Ever since I first spotted The White Horse and Griffin in one of Whitby's narrow streets, I have wanted to write about it in this column. Problem was, each time we planned a trip to Yorkshire, there was no room at this ancient coaching inn. At last there is - even if it's in cold old January.
We park long enough to unload the car in the cobbled street, and then find a helpful man with a black beard and ponytail. "No, we don't have any parking, but there's a pay-and-display just down the road, £4 for 24 hours." To us, coming from London, this seems like a bargain.
Our room is at the top of a narrow, twisting staircase... and it's delightful. It is large, with plain carpet, a big, squashy bed with upholstered headboard fixed to the wall and, above that, a grouping of old prints and photographs. An ancient gas coal fire lurks in the pretty fireplace; a 1970s flower-petal lampshade hangs from one of the beams; and, in the up-to-the-minute bathroom - tiled to look as if it is built from York stone blocks - the only hint of things past is the lace window covering. Oddly, there's only one armchair.
Downstairs, it's all restaurant - albeit in three different areas. We are taken to the central section, where the man with the black beard is in charge of the bar. We've got the corner table, next to the door marked "Toilets" but, as it's also in front of the fire, we're not complaining. We order a bottle of Petit Chablis; all's well with our world, especially as the background music - of the Ella Fitzgerald/Frank Sinatra era - adds to the atmosphere.
All the staff wear black. From the jokey sign that reads, "Food refusal will be punished", we're expecting pub food. From their winter menu, I choose spicy banana and chicken soup, but Helen, the waitress, brings something different. My fault, because I had changed my mind and obviously she hadn't noted the change.
"I'm very sorry," she says, "I'll get the chef to make that for you." He does, and it tastes fresh and delicious. In spite of my protests, she says she'll take it off the bill: "Because you've been inconvenienced."
My husband, meanwhile, is eating a mixed cheese terrine with mulled pear and walnut salad. "I would never have thought that a terrine made from different cheeses could taste so interesting," he says.
For my main course I've chosen seared calamari with chilli, spring onion and lemongrass - delicately flavoured and not too filling. My husband's choice - pheasant, rabbit and venison casserole - arrives in a steaming bowl and is, he says, "very good indeed". For puds (their description) I choose crème brûlée with honey-glazed roast figs (my two favourite puds in one) and my husband opts for the apple and Armagnac prune crumble. Both come under the heading of "Yummy".
We ask Helen who the owner is. "Stewart, he's the chef," she replies. "He does breakfast as well." On reading the printed brochure, we discover that Stewart spent 10 years restoring the building before he opened it in 1993, and has been working in the kitchen ever since.
The breakfast room has ceiling-high windows and wide, old floorboards; a fire burns in the grate. Not only does Stewart do breakfast, he does Power Breakfasts: kedgeree; sirloin steak and two fried eggs; lamb's liver with boudin noir and home-made chutney; smoked haddock with poached eggs. There's also a choice of cereals, a bowl of fruit salad, thick-cut toast - but why these horrid plastic containers of jam and marmalade?
When paying the bill, we realise that the large, bearded man in chef's whites reading a newspaper is Stewart. When we tell him how much we enjoyed dinner, he gets up, smiles rather diffidently and thanks us. What a lovely man. No wonder we have enjoyed staying here so much.
White Horse & Griffin, 87 Church Street, Whitby YO22 4BH (01947 604857, www.whitehorseandgriffin.co.uk), has 13 rooms and several nearby cottages. Paddy Burt paid £100 for b&b; £23.40 for wine; £53.30 for dinner. Total: £176.70
The following reviews are from our customers and we are
proud to share them with you!
Dear Stewart &June, Just a line to say what a fabulous evening we had in your beautiful hostelry, on the 16th. The whole evening was brilliant, the food was exellent, even my chat with the chef was enlightening. Nice to see a chef who comes out to converse with your diners, he even pulls a mean pint! I am undecided wether it"s a good thing we are in Lancs, or a bad thing. If we lived any nearer, we would be in every night! But ,we will be back,soon. Yours Sincerely, David Sambrook, Johanna Britt.
20TH October 2010
"Brown Paper packages tied up with string - these are a few of my favourite things - and The White Horse & Griffin food!"
Joni James
"We have travelled far and wide and this is some of the best food that we have tasted. Our 6 year old daughter polished off everything that was put in front of her....testiment indeed! Thank you x . We shall stay next time we visit - didn't realise that you had such lovely rooms and cottages".
Kevin Maxwell
"Lovely to see a real fire when we arrived on a miserable night in February-thoughtful touch and great food and atmosphere. Many thanks"
Candy Lealowe
"Remember this restaurant from 9 years ago. Enjoyed it then and enjoyed it even more now. Lovely! Thank you. Hopefully not leave it so long next time (we live in France now - bit of a long trip for lunch, but it would be worth it!)"
John and Francoise, Piccardy
Thought you may enjoy reading the following interesting guest comments (Complaints!)
"Although the vegetable gratin was delicious, it was much too hot to eat with the main meal "
"Take the Salt Crystals & Dried Tomato from the bread - they ruin the pallette" (sic.)
Proving that you have to be dedicated & patient to be a restaurateur!
If you have any comments to add, please do not hesitate to email us and I will add them to these.
