Review: Le Cochon Aveugle, York

York is an awesome city to visit, absolutely saturated in history, very beautiful, and more and more full of great places for a coffee or a full-on feast. There’s even a medieval beer hall. And now imma give you a tip on a lesser known place to visit in York that I found every bit as cool as the cathedral: the York Cold War Bunker. The hour long tour is fascinating and the guides are knowledgable and charming, just like service at Le Cochon Aveugle.

See that? That’s a segue. Boom.

The menu at Le Cochon Aveugle is a blind tasting menu, which I guess is a neat way of saving time usually spent trying to decide how to label up a long list of dishes on a menu. Do we go with the stark one-word simplicity of “carrot”? Or the full-on romance of “carpaccio of Wetherby carrot with kumquat granita and Perigord truffle”? Sod it, let’s just not provide a menu, it’s not like they get to choose what they’re having anyway, let’s get back to cooking.

So, let’s talk about the boudin noir macaron. O. M. G. Beautiful to look at, filthy magic in the mouth, absolutely one of those “just give me a dozen of these on a plate and leave me be” snacks that only a few tasting menus ever come up with. It was the last of a series of really very good amuses, including a tiny young red kale leaf with a blob of delicious umami and crunch on top, and a crispy potato bite with silky smoked cod roe on top: the poshest fish and chips.

The whole meal was full of dazzlingly strong dishes. A perfectly poached plump Lindisfarne oyster made velvety with a delicately rhubarby cream. And then a toothy scallop baked in the shell, punched up with powdered scallop roe and an even more powerful sea urchin butter (lucky there was still a bit of bread left to mop this up with!). Eel and charred veg in a dashi was lip-smacking good too. Main course was pared back but very effective: guinea fowl breast and leg, rich jus, brightened happily with two early wild garlic leaves.

I need to talk about the pud, though. Glisteningly rich chocolate. Peppy crisp black pepper tuile. Sea salt ice cream, as refreshing as a walk along Scarborough seafront in a gale. And the gentle grassiness of some excellent olive oil. These elements combined sublimely and I’d have been happy with a dozen of these to follow the dozen boudin noir macarons. A silken custard flavoured with funky Sauternes and bitter caramel on top, served in an eggshell, was a lovely finisher though.

This was an assured, inventive, 100% delicious tasting menu. At the very top of the tree. And for £75 you’ve got 8 courses and 5 snacks, which is dazzling value in my book (and only £60 mid week apparently). We enjoyed the wine pairing but it’s worth noting that they’re passionate about their natural and bio wines, just in case you aren’t! York has a top drawer fine dining restaurant in Le Cochon Aveugle, no doubt.