There are hundreds of amazing places to eat in York city centre, from cute little teashops to fancy wine bars and loads of your favourite chains like Byron Burger and Nando’s but these are the five places that we really loved when we visited the Northern city recently.

1. Drift-In

One of the cutest cafes in York is Drift-In, a smoothie bar and coffee shop with incredible sandwiches that’s actually attached to Fat Face. The decor is really cool, full of surf boards and bikes with a proper beachy feel whilst still feeling like it really fits well into the windy streets of York. The staff were lovely and it’s a great place to chill out and grab some lunch on a busy weekend.

With juices, smoothies, coffee and your fave fizzy drinks there’s a huge selection of drinks at Drift-In as well as amazing sandwiches that they can toast up for you and make the cheese go all melty! We had brie and bacon ciabattas of dreams and they were amazing, perfectly for re-fuelling after our drive to York. If you know me then you’ll understand how much I love a good sandwich, it’s probably my favourite food group and I’d massively recommend Drift-In for a beaut lunch.

2. Ambiente Tapas

Ambiente Tapas have two restaurants in York, one in Leeds and one in Hull. We headed to the Goodramgate for some Tapas before heading to see James Acaster at the Grand Opera House. We had some lovely Rose and enjoyed a few of the tapas dishes. We had PANCETA DE CERDO £5.25 – Confit belly pork, pan fried & tossed in cumin, paprika & rock salt which was our favourite dish, absolutely amazing. We also tried the CROQUETAS DE PESCADO £4.95 – Salmon & hake croquettes served with a wild mushroom aioli which was also lovely – mushroom aioli is a revelation. A dish we wouldn’t recommend was the CHICKEN MARRAKECH £5.95 – Shredded free range chicken, mixed with Moorish spices & served on a flatbread with pickled onion. It’s a nice lunch time thing but it didn’t go well with the other dishes – should have had calamari instead!

3. Lucky Days

We spotted a few Lucky Days in York as we were walking around exploring and the cakes in the windows drew us in! We decided to check one of them out for breakfast on our first morning and it really didn’t disappoint! If you want proper homecooked food with loads of flavour and no messing around, Lucky Days is the place. From paninis and loads of different lovely fresh salads for lunch, blueberry scones baked fresh that morning to amazing home cooked breakfasts – this is such a find in York for food.

Our breakfast was their classic bacon sarnie which came with mushrooms and balsamic tomatoes on super thick bread. They also had ‘Unlimited Toast’ on the menu which I thought was amazing as well as Eggs Hollandaise and all your other breakfast favourites. We also tried another one of the Lucky Days cafes around the corner for tea and a scone and it was equally delicious. I think it’s a family business and all of the staff were so lovely and helpful in both of the cafes we tried. Check them out on TripAdvisor for loads of pics of their lunches and breakfasts.

4. Brew York

Brew York is a gem of York city centre! About 5-10 minute walk from the Minster is York’s beer hall and they had 40 taps on of different beers and ciders – we tried at least 8 or 9 of the different ones on offer because you can grab a third of each! It’s really good value for money too as a third is bigger than you think and means that you can buy more of the ones you really like the taste of.

When we headed to Brew York they didn’t actually have any food on but I’ve heard from lots of friends that have been that the food is incredible there. They have their own purpose built street food style kitchen with Born To Lose offering burgers and Korean inspired sides amongst other one off specials! Would massively recommend heading to Brew York if you’re a craft beer fan.

5. House of Trembling Madness

House of Trembling Madness is amazing! There are two, a bigger one near the river that’s a bit more ‘fancy’ and a smaller, twisty and turny with loads of taxidermy and crazy wooden seating which is part of the Shambles. We went to them both and they’re both fab for a huge range of beers and amazing hearty food. We tried one of their incredible boards that was packed with cheese, ham, apple, olives, gorgeous bread, pickles and slaw. We shared one of these boards for a lunch and it was more than enough for two – they’re around a tenner each so they’re amazing value. They also had some awesome looking burgers and pie and mash which smelled so great.

There’s a bottle shop below the taxidermy-stuffed House of Trembling Madness on the Shambles which is literally packed to the rafters of amazing craft beers. Another recommendation if you’re a craft beer fan visiting York!

There are five of my favourites from our trip to York – from cheese and ham to craft beers and loads of amazing sandwiches. Whatever you fancy in York you’ll be able to find it, there’s loads of places on TripAdvisor to check out too. We wandered around to find some places and had a few recommendations from friends and family that had visited York too. Hopefully, if you’re visiting any time soon, this might help you!