York Eats: Rose & Crown and Maxi's

I love heading to York as I always discover great food places to eat. The shopping isn't too bad either with an outlet here and is the only outlet that houses a 'Phaidon' outlet store in the UK. Yes folks, if you want Phaidon books, they are sold at reduced prices here.

I was back recently to attend a birthday BBQ party and stayed a few days more to chill out. I did some lovely walks, book shopping and of course indulged in some gluttony too.

Birthday boy took us for lunch at Rose & Crown. We went for the lunch menu which was priced at £13.95 for a 2 course and £17.95 for 3 courses.

For starters, I had the Crispy Battered Tiger Prawns. Tiger prawns they were not but the batter was light and crispy.

Haddock in Yorkshire Beer Batter with chunky chips £12.95

Mr. Doctor ordered the Haddock in Yorkshire Beer Batter which is basically Fish n Chips! It seems to have gone down well as I did not try it, I did try the chunky chips and they were good.

Whole grilled plaice with chorizo and spring onion risotto £14.5

I usually do not order risotto as it is one of those dishes that seems to have a higher failure than success rate in places that offer it. Seeing that this was the Rose & Crown, I thought that it should be safe to order it here and be rewarded with at least a decent version.

I was so wrong! The grilled plaice was cooked perfectly but I couldn't say the same about its other half – chorizo and spring onion risotto. The spring onions seemed out of place and was conflicting with the chorizo. That is still a minor flaw in comparison to the risotto itself. The rice was drowned in a pool of creamy-rich cheesy sauce that itself was sour. I cannot believe that the chef did not even taste test this or else the sourness would have been picked up. The wine that was used in this has gone sour. I was frankly left disappointed.

At least the side of vegetables were nice and crunchy. The entire meal to me was boring and there wasn't anything that I had which makes me want to come back for more.

Will I recommend: No
Will I come back: No
Have I had better: Yes

Rose & Crown, Main Street, Sutton on the Forest, York YO61 1DP

Maxi's York

Another place that birthday boy brought us was to Maxi's for dinner and dim sum.

Octopus cake with kai lan £10.5

steamed egg with dry scallops £9.8

Yam Croquette £2.4

三色糯米糕 £2.6

美心流沙包 £2.7

马蹄糕 £2.4

云南水饺 £3.6

Not being sure what this 'Yun Nam dumpling' was when we saw it on the menu, it was ordered and out came dumplings in a clear broth. It was good.

Char siu cheung fan £2.6

Porridge £3.9

Will I recommend: Yes

There were some highs and lows in the dim sum offerings here but one that I would happily come back to when I'm back in York.

You can never really go wrong with the cheung fun and porridge and the offerings from Maxi's were satisfying.

Most places tend to have the turnip cake but not the water chestnut cake which I prefer. With a bouncy gelatinous texture and bits of water chestnuts interwoven within it that provides a refreshing crunchy contrast, it was made exactly how it should be and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I fell in love the first time I was introduced to the 'liu sha bao' in Shanghai and try to order this whenever I can find it on the menu. After such a long hiatus, eating this here was bringing back the same wonderful feeling that I had eating it for the very first time.

When I ordered this tricoloured glutinous rice cake, I wasn't expecting what was placed in front of me in the end. The rice no longer retained its stickiness and wasn't very tasty either. 

Mr. Doctor insisted on having his yam croquette which he dutifully received. It wasn't very good though.

I couldn't remember the name of the fish that we had but it was nicely fried with a good crispy skin and sweet tender meat.

I spied a few items in the dim sum menu that wasn't easily available in the London dim sum places that I have been. This led to my convincing the gang to come back for dim sum which we did.

This was a much raved by the birthday boy and I do agree. The entire base is lined with dry scallops which is a lot actually. The steamed egg was smooth and slid down like silk.

During the dinner round, we had the Octopus Cake with Kai Lan. The octopus cake was chewy and with a good rubbery texture to it. The Kai Lan was crunchy and fresh.

Will I come back: Yes
Have I had better: Not at this price and standard

Maxis York, Ings Lane, Nether Poppleton, York YO26 6RA