Restaurant in Harome, United Kingdom
Michelin star, thatched inn, serious Yorkshire cooking.
A Michelin-starred (2024) thatched inn near Helmsley serving flavour-forward Modern British cooking with Yorkshire provenance at £££ pricing. Warm, knowledgeable service without the stiffness of city fine dining. Book several weeks out — this is hard to get into on weekends — and consider staying overnight to make the most of the trip.
The common assumption is that a Michelin-starred restaurant in a 14th-century thatched inn in a North Yorkshire village will be a precious, hushed affair — the kind of place where the formality undermines the setting. At Star Inn at Harome, that assumption is wrong. This is a working pub with rooms that happens to hold a Michelin star (2024), and the service style reflects that: warm, unpretentious, and genuinely knowledgeable about what's on the plate. If you're weighing whether to make the journey out to Harome, the answer is yes — provided you plan ahead. Booking is hard, the drive is non-negotiable, and Sunday closes at 6 PM, so logistics matter here.
Andrew Pern's inn dates to the 14th century, and the building makes no effort to disguise that history. Low ceilings, the signature carved woodwork of Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson , those distinctive mouse figures worked into the furniture , and charred beams left deliberately exposed as evidence of a past fire all give the dining room a texture that no modern restaurant can convincingly replicate. The smell you notice first, particularly in cooler months, is something between old oak and woodsmoke: it's the building itself, not a styling decision. For a first-timer, this is worth knowing , the atmosphere is earned, not constructed.
Head Chef Steve Smith's cooking is grounded in classical technique with modern presentation, and the sourcing is genuinely local in a way that affects what arrives on the plate. Fish comes from Whitby, game from the North York Moors, and vegetables from the kitchen garden. For a first visit, this means the menu will be Yorkshire-led and season-dependent: expect strong, flavour-forward dishes rather than delicate, minimalist tasting plates. If you're coming from a recent dinner at L'Enclume in Cartmel or Moor Hall in Aughton, the register here is deliberately earthier and less cerebral. That's the point.
At £££ pricing, Star Inn at Harome sits in the mid-tier of starred dining in England , significantly below the ££££ price point of CORE by Clare Smyth in London or Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. The service model here earns that price point. Staff know the provenance of what they're serving , which farm, which coast, which season , without delivering that information as a rehearsed script. For a first-timer expecting either stiff formality or the slightly chaotic warmth of a village pub, the reality sits somewhere useful in between: attentive without being suffocating, and genuinely engaged with the food rather than performing engagement with it.
The 4.7 Google rating across 866 reviews is a reliable signal here. At that volume and score, you're not looking at a skewed sample , the consensus is consistent. Compare that to the peer group of rural British starred restaurants: Gidleigh Park in Chagford or Hand and Flowers in Marlow operate at similar price tiers with comparable reputations for warmth of service, but neither has the specific combination of historic building, Yorkshire provenance, and rooms to stay in that makes Star Inn the more complete overnight proposition.
The rooms are individually styled and worth factoring into your booking decision , particularly if you're travelling from outside Yorkshire. One room includes a snooker table; another, a piano. These are not boutique hotel affectations layered onto a restaurant: they feel continuous with the building's character. Staying the night removes the logistics pressure entirely and means you can drink properly across both lunch and dinner sittings, or use the terrace without watching the clock. Check our full Harome hotels guide for context on the local accommodation options.
Monday opening is dinner-only from 3 PM. Sunday service ends at 6 PM. Tuesday through Saturday runs both lunch (from 12 PM) and dinner (from 6 PM). Walk-ins are not a realistic strategy at a one-Michelin-star inn with this profile , book several weeks out, particularly for weekend dinners and Sunday lunch. The village of Harome sits near Helmsley in the North York Moors, so this is a destination visit rather than a spontaneous booking. If you're building a wider Yorkshire itinerary, our full Harome restaurants guide and our Harome experiences guide are worth reading alongside this. Nearby, The Pheasant is the other significant dining option in the village if Star Inn is fully booked.
For a broader view of how Star Inn at Harome sits in the English starred dining picture, see comparisons against CORE by Clare Smyth, The Fat Duck in Bray, Midsummer House in Cambridge, Opheem in Birmingham, hide and fox in Saltwood, 33 The Homend in Ledbury, and The Ritz Restaurant in London in the section below. Also worth reading: our Harome bars guide and our Harome wineries guide for the full local picture.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Star Inn at Harome | £££ | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | ££££ | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | ££££ | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | ££££ | — |
| The Ledbury | ££££ | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | ££££ | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Lunch is the better entry point. The kitchen is Michelin-starred at £££ pricing, and a midday sitting lets you appreciate the 14th-century building in daylight — the thatched exterior, the carved Mouseman woodwork, the kitchen garden context. Dinner works well if you're staying over, since you can linger without a drive back to Helmsley or beyond. Sunday lunch is the only session that runs without an evening follow-on, closing at 6 PM, so it has a more relaxed pace.
Book at least 3–4 weeks out for a weekend table; midweek lunch is more accessible, often bookable a week or two ahead. This is a Michelin-starred inn in a small North Yorkshire village with a limited number of covers, which means demand consistently outpaces availability on Friday and Saturday evenings. If you're pairing dinner with a room, book both together — the individually styled bedrooms are limited and go separately from the dining.
The Star Inn is a working pub-inn that earned its Michelin star, not a purpose-built fine dining room — low ceilings, charred beams, and carved Mouseman furniture set the tone. Head Chef Steve Smith's cooking is rooted in Yorkshire produce: fish from Whitby, game from the Moors, vegetables from the kitchen garden. Monday is dinner-only from 3 PM; Sunday service ends at 6 PM. The village of Harome is small and rural, so factor in transport, and consider booking a room if you're travelling any distance.
Specific menu items are not listed in Pearl's venue data for this property, so we won't invent dish names. What the database confirms is that the kitchen draws on Whitby fish, Moors game, and kitchen garden vegetables — so dishes built around those sourcing pillars are where Head Chef Steve Smith's cooking is most purposeful. Ask the front-of-house team on arrival what's most current; the menu shifts with seasonal produce.
Yes, particularly for occasions where the setting carries as much weight as the plate. The combination of Michelin 1 Star cooking, a 14th-century thatched inn, and individually styled rooms makes it a strong choice for a birthday, anniversary, or weekend away rather than a quick celebration dinner. For a large group, check room and table availability early — the inn is not a high-volume venue. Compared to CORE by Clare Smyth or The Ledbury at ££££, the Star Inn delivers comparable culinary credential at a lower price point with considerably more character in the surroundings.
Pearl's venue data does not confirm whether a tasting menu is currently offered here, so we won't assume one exists. What is confirmed: the kitchen holds a Michelin 1 Star under Head Chef Steve Smith, cooking at £££ pricing — which sits well below the ££££ tier of London-based starred restaurants. Whatever the format, the value proposition at this price point is strong relative to peers in the Modern British Michelin category.
There are no other Michelin-starred restaurants in the village of Harome itself. For starred Modern British dining in the wider North Yorkshire region, you'd need to travel to York or beyond. If the draw is the combination of inn, rooms, and serious cooking in a rural setting, there's no direct like-for-like in the immediate area — which makes the Star Inn the default answer for that format in this part of Yorkshire. London alternatives at similar or higher price points include The Ledbury or CORE by Clare Smyth, though neither replicates the rural inn format.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
