On a day full of intermittent drizzle, as per the UK weather tradition, I headed out to York with my Mum. Neither of us have been to York for a long time and it was nice to get to explore and just revisit places with sort of fresh eyes.

But naturally hunger started to call at lunch time and we decided to go to the York Roast Co as it is somewhere we hadn’t gone before and it’s always good to try new places, especially local ones, when out and about.

They say they are home to the world famous Yorky Pud which I can only assume became world famous when I was out of the UK and must have been living under a social media rock because I seen a lot on Yorkshire Pudding wraps but never anything about this place or these specifically.

After we had made the order and collected it we went up the old wonky steps, which I’m surprised they don’t have a little health and safety warning sign to let people know they are on a bit of a tilt, and took a seat at some of the tables upstairs.

I didn’t go for the Yorkshire pudding wrap but instead roast pork, stuffing, roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy in a giant Yorkshire pudding with a sblob of apple sauce. I also got a cup of Yorkshire tea in a to go cup.

I want to get one other thing out the way. I am not sure the cups were the right choice. They didn’t put the lid on properly so it spilt onto my hands and even before that happened the heat was burning my hand through the cup. If you find yourself here get a cold drink.

My next point of contention, which is essential to the eating experience of a meal like this, is the cutlery. I am all for restaurants opting for environmentally better options over plastic and not wanting to have real metal cutlery that needs washing up. However, and it’s a big however, if you are going to give people wooden cutlery choose the right sort for the meal. I couldn’t cut this using my knife and fork. I had turn my knife over and tear through this. My mum managed to break her fork with the pressure she was applying to try and get it cut. And this made the whole experience less enjoyable.

I would like to say but it’s all okay because the food was amazing. But I cannot. It was mediocre. I’ve had better tasting food at a carvery. This was nearly £15 and that is not a worthwhile price.

The pork was perfectly fine. The gravy was good too. The vegetables average. The roast potatoes were not overly soft and fluffy and they certainly hadn’t crisped up on the outside and this was clear in their anaemic colour. And the Yorkshire pudding itself, which I can make my own of, was dense. I think it would have been a good texture and thickness for one of their wraps but this wasn’t one of their wraps and using the same one is a cutting corner method that doesn’t work.

If it was a more traditional large Yorkshire pudding then it would have been light and fluffy and that wooden cutlery would have worked perfectly. But it wasn’t. They were using wrap Yorkshires instead and had they made different ones for both things honestly the whole meal would be elevated. And if that takes too much time or space for them then they should decide which to serve because both with the same product does not work.

There are so many local and independent establishments in York that if you are going to spend nearly £15 on a meal then I would suggest trying somewhere else. Or maybe taking the risk on getting a wrap instead. A bit of a disappointment for sure. Edible but not memorable for the right reasons.