Gunter and Dagmar have been working hard breathing life into the charming Victorian building and i know their food has already been a massive hit with locals. The Wienerschnitzel is unmissable, the Bratwurst sausages enormous and the wheat beer and other german delights are already proving a smash hit in town. Best of all it is priced so reasonable too. The website is coming soon but in the mean time give them a call and visit St. Michael’s Tavern, the best German beer cellar in Britain!

St. Michaels Tavern
German Restaurant & Beer Cellar
The Mount Hotel, Yorkersgate, Malton,
Phone: 01653 228 083
web: coming soon

As many of you will know, the hotel has been the subject of a £4m restoration and refurbishment which will see the 17^th century building restored to its former glory.

James Martin was born and raised in Malton so it is fantastic to see him returning home to his North Yorkshire roots.

He said of his new role at the Talbot, “North Yorkshire is in my blood and I’ve watched the town of Malton successfully build a reputation as a foodie destination, with its popular food festival and the abundance of growers and producers in the area. I’m really looking forward to working with the team behind the new Talbot Hotel. The first step is to plan the kitchen that will be equipped to cater for a 70 cover restaurant, lounge bar and private function room. I shall be looking at sourcing local suppliers and guests can look forward to finding all my favourite Yorkshire produce on the menu from Wakefield rhubarb to Whitby crab.”

The Fitzwilliam Estate is restoring the Talbot Hotel to its former glory, creating a stylish and classical country hotel. There will be 26 bedrooms and suites, restaurant, lounge bar, public bar, private function room and landscaped grounds.

Read the full story here and keep your eyes on:

www.talbotmalton.co.uk

Of course we will also keep you up to date with all the latest here at We Love Malton.

 The line-up of this year’s Malton Food Lovers’ Festival has been unveiled as the event carves out a burgeoning reputation for highlighting Yorkshire’s famous food and drink. Among the culinary stars set to appear are James Mackenzie, the chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass Inn at South Dalton near Beverley, and Stephanie Moon, the chef consultant at Rudding Park near Harrogate. Peter Neville, from The Pheasant Inn at Harome, Richard Allen, from Create in Leeds, and Rob Green, the owner of Green’s of Whitby, will also be appearing. Organiser Tom Naylor-Leyland claimed the line-up is the “best of any up-and-coming food festival in the UK”.

The festival will be held on May 19 and 20, and has already attracted the support of patrons including Italian cook Antonio Carluccio and food columnist and television presenter Tom Parker Bowles.

Broadcaster Selina Scott was unveiled last month as the festival’s president after her outspoken criticism of the dominance of supermarket giants. She been one of the leading opponents to plans for a new superstore which is due to open in Malton.

www.maltonfoodfestival.co.uk

Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, and had a number of links with the town.

One of his friends was Charles Smithson, a lawyer who lived at Easthorpe Hall, had a practice in the town and it was his office in Chancery Lane, that is credited with the inspiration for Dickens’s most famous character, Ebeneezer Scrooge, the miser in A Christmas Carol.

The Counting House is now run by the Charles Dickens (Malton) Society and members are inviting people to have a look around the building on Saturday and next Saturday, 11am-4pm, and view new displays to mark his 200th birthday.

Entry is free with the society asking for a donation for their funds.

Members of the society, in partnership with professional actors Garry Cooper and Jane Hollington, are also performing in The Studio at the Milton Rooms on Tuesday, February 7 at 7.30pm.

A Celebration of Charles Dickens will include a series of dramatised readings from Dickens’s novels. Tickets are £5 from Malton Tourist Information Office at the library.

Members of the society will also be at Malton library on Saturday, February 11 at 4.30pm when they will be presenting Dickens and His Characters.

Linda McCarthy, from the society, said a number of shops around Malton had offered to display pictures of Dickens in their windows next week to mark the anniversary.

She said: “It is important that we mark this anniversary because we know how much Dickens enjoyed coming here and spending time with Charles Smithson.

“There is so much negativity and despondency around that people forget this connection Malton has with Dickens and it is something that is worth us all celebrating.”

Linda said the society has recently extended the lease on the Counting House “We now have the building until April 2013 which is great news,” she said.

“It is thanks to many small local donations and the funds raised by members.”

The society meets each month in The Hidden Monkey Tearooms, Market Place, Malton. For details phone Linda McCarthy on 01653 698701.

Anthony Gilham and Gemma Williams took over the tenancy of this rambling corner site last year – like most of central Malton it’s owned by the Fitzwilliam estate – and having gutted the place reopened as a squeaky clean dining pub.

It’s pleasantly done, if a wee bit bare and clinical: cream walls, wood floors,  mismatch furniture are all fine; it just needs a bit more of a signature, a bit of patina that natural ageing will bring.

The menu is long: starters, light meals, mains, sandwiches. puddings and hot drinks. I often worry that a fat menu spreads thin but on our visit Gilham managed to pull it off. Drop in for a lunchtime sandwich by the fire with the daily papers maybe prawn and crayfish with lemon mayo, or poached salmon with cucumber and dill mayonnaise or go the hole hog at lunch or dinner with starters of crab cakes with shredded mooli and pickled ginger; a charcuterie board to share;  roast artichokes and wild mushrooms salad with poached egg. Follow it up with calves’ liver, chicken and ham pie, sausage and mash or chick pea fritters.  Puds are predominantly British favourites.

All dependable stuff and sometimes better than that; I wrote recently in the Yorkshire Post that the mutton and pearl barley stew was a contender for my dish of the year.

http://thenewmalton.co.uk/

THE line-up of chefs and cooks for this year’s two-day Malton Food Lovers Festival has been announced.

Regular top-class foodies and supporters of the event are joined this year by two new chefs, both with a prominence that stretches well beyond Yorkshire.

Ben Cox, from the Star at Sancton, near Market Weighton, and Lionel Strub, chef patron from the Mirabelle in Harrogate, will join a culinary cast of award winners and Michelin-starred professionals at the event on May 19-20.

Those also confirmed include James Mackenzie, chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass Inn, South Dalton; Rob Green, award-winning National Seafood Chef of the Year at Green’s ofWhitby; Robert Ramsden of Deli Fresh; Stephanie Moon, chef consultant at Rudding Park; Peter Neville from The Pheasant Inn at Harome; Priya Raman, from Raman’s Kitchen, winner of the Hairy Bikers Best Cooking Family In Britain; Richard Allen, national executive chef of award-winning Create, Leeds; Dan Farrall, The Jolly Farmers, Leavening, and Bettys Cookery School from Harrogate.

Joining them are Sophie Legard of Malton Relish and Anthony Gillham, joint owner and chef of gourmet pub, The New Malton, in Malton Market Place.

The festival also boasts five patrons: esteemed Italian cook Antonio Carluccio and award-winning food writer and critic Matthew Fort are the two latest additions.

They join food columnist and television presenter Tom Parker Bowles, kitchen grand dame, Rosemary Shrager and Andrew Pern, chef patron of The Star Inn at Harome. All five patrons will be demonstrating in the cookery theatres over the two day event.

In addition, Selina Scott takes up the new role of festival president.

This year’s event will feature a two-day programme of celebrity chef demonstrations, as well as more than 100 food stallholders highlighting quality regional specialties and local seasonal produce, an expanded beer, wine and cider festival in the Milton Rooms and an extended Welcome To Yorkshire Food Lovers Taste Trail.

There will also be a programme of ‘Masterclass’ tasting tutorials and book signings, an army kitchen, street theatre and outdoor music.

Festival organiser Tom Naylor-Leyland, said: “Now in our fourth year, the Malton Food Lovers Festival is a real showcase for our spectacular chef line-up, the best line-up of any country food festival in the UK, and the top quality locally-grown produce.”

The Malton Food Lovers festivals and markets are organised by the Malton Amenity CIC.

Stephanie Moon will be taking to the newly created cookery stage inside the main hall and will be wowing crowds with an array of knowledge, skills and cooking.

for more info click here – www.welovemalton.co.uk/foodmarket

Selina, the acclaimed national journalist who lives nearby, has recently and very publicly shown her passion for local food and retailers.  Her support and enthusiasm for the campaign to prevent the building of another supermarket in the town has triggered much local and national interest.

With the most prestigious line up of champions to date, and the best within the country’s food festival circuit, the Food Lovers Festival is the annual, well established, full weekend, premier food event and showcase for Yorkshire’s finest produce.

Tom Naylor-Leyland, Malton Food Lovers Festival Organiser said: “I am delighted that Selina has agreed to be our first President and know she is passionate about quality, local food and drink, and look forward to showing her round Yorkshire’s Finest”.

The 2012 event which takes place in Malton’s historic Market Place will feature a two-day programme of celebrity chef demonstrations; over 100 prestige stallholders, highlighting quality regional specialties and local seasonal produce; an expanded Beer, Wine and Cider Festival in the Milton Rooms; and an extended Welcome To Yorkshire Food Lovers Taste Trail around the town. There will be a programme of ‘Masterclass’ tasting tutorials and book signings, an Army kitchen, street theatre and outdoor music – in fact everything for a great family weekend.

Recently Selina opened the first ever Malton Food Lovers Market, a progression from the Festival, which was an overwhelming success, underlining the popularity and need for such a high quality, regular local food and drink market.  Selina commented: “The presentation of the stalls at the first Market was of such quality I can only compliment the organisers and each of the producers for their remarkable effort.” The Market will be held once again on Saturday March 3rd 2012, and it is hoped, on a recurrent basis after that.

The Malton Food Lovers Festivals and Markets are both organised by the Malton Amenity CIC, a Community Interest Company.  Its principal sponsors are Fitzwilliam Malton Estate and the Earl Fitzwilliam Charitable Trust.

www.maltonfoodfestival.co.uk

The awards recognise and reward excellence in the wedding industry in wedding suppliers across 19 different categories.

The Topiary Tree was shortlisted in the Florist category for the North East region. Gemma Magson, Manager at The Topiary Tree said “This is a huge achievement and means a lot to us as it’s voted for by our clients.”

You can find The Topiary Tree at 9 Finkle Street, Malton and visit their website at www.thetopiarytree.com