Sunday Times, 9 July 2017

TABLE TALK: ED BALLS REVIEWS SKOSH, YORK

Perhaps I'm easily pleased. But being served hot soup at 125 mph, hurtling along in the restaurant car as Stevenage, Peterborough and Grantham stations flash by, has always seemed to me the height of decadence.

It was a great day when the original East Coast rail franchisee, GNER, re-introduced a proper restaurant car on trains to Leeds and Edinburgh. What better way to end the week and leave Westminster behind: napkins and china, steak and a cheese selection, all washed down with that Lebanese giant of a wine, Chateau Musar.

Sadly - perhaps inevitably - GNER's parent company went bust and lost the franchise, so that was the end of that. And while Virgin does a very good bacon sandwich, and a proper cooked breakfast if you book in first class, it's not quite the good old days.

Today, though, I've eschewed the fry-up for a delicate yoghurt and muesli compote. Because this Friday morning I'm dashing up the east coast mainline for lunch at an exciting new York restaurant, Skosh, opened last year by highly trained and much praised local lad Neil Bentick.

With my old constituency just 40 minutes down the road, I've travelled to York to eat many times over the years, especially when the children were young. Lunch at Pizza Express, tea at Bettys or cake from the cafe at the National Railway Museum - any excuse to strap the toddlers in their car seats and have a breather in the car. Leeds Pizza Express was closer, but the journey would have been over before you could sing eight verses of The Wheels on the Bus.

Today I am travelling alone and pizza is definitely off the menu. At the station, I'm met by my old office and campaign manager. Jo has picked me up at the station many times before - but back when I was an MP, it would have been for a day of school visits, meetings and surgeries with lunch just a Greggs sausage roll wolfed down on route. Not this time. When I arrive, the station is thronging with York race-goers and we pick our way through the crowds, dodging the punters with big hats and bigger heels, the sun glinting on their sunglasses, the occasional tattoo laid bare by bare-arm finery.

Our destination is on Micklegate, still the York pub-crawl venue of choice but now becoming trendy with new restaurants and cafes popping up in newly renovated historic buildings. Skosh is modern British eclectic with a strong Japanese and Asian tilt. Neil's father was born and raised in India and Skosh is derived from the Japanese word 'sukoshi' meaning 'a small amount, a little'. Yes, small plates again. We arrive early at 1230, and there are just two other pairs of diners in the house. But an hour later, the restaurant is full with a chattering York lunch crowd. I was expecting an austere canteen-like atmosphere, but the decor is warm and soft, with lots of cushions and wood, plus bar stools around the open kitchen giving the place an informal yakitori feel.

Our waiter is attentive and keen to help. He advises six to eight dishes to share - we could have ordered all of them, the menu is so enticing - and points us in a couple of directions, suggesting that he chooses to get the balance right. Good we both reply: none of the current, trendy and annoying 'as it comes out of the kitchen, famine to feast' nonsense here.

As we settle down to wait, we reflect on the past two turbulent years since we last worked together at the 2015 general election. “Could you ever have imagined back then that that you would make week 10 of Strictly and be nominated for a Bafta?” Jo laughs. “No,” I reply” but then again nor would I have guessed that Jeremy Corbyn would be leader of the Labour party, David Cameron would lose the Brexit referendum, Donald Trump would be elected US President and George Osborne appointed Editor of the Evening Standard.”

We definitely need a drink now. I start with a glass of Portuguese Rose, Jo an Italian white, and our first course arrives - a truly breath-taking egg mousse, re-united with its shell with small hunks of local cheddar and rich sherry-infused mushroom bits at the bottom. It's rich and creamy and fabulous: 'Definitely beats a sausage roll' is my companion's rather under-stated verdict.

And so it went on. Tangy cauliflower pakora with crunchy coconut and a sweet chutney; a rich and crispy pulled pork cube with tart gooseberry relish; and then cleansing cured sea trout with a salty Thai fish sauce.

Our next dish was less to our taste, a rather heavy and bland steak tartare paired oddly with avocado. But Skosh stormed back with a truly arresting crab mousse, so full of the sea it was like being dunked headfirst off Bridlington pier; followed by a meaty piece of hake on a cheesy risotto with a crunchy sesame crust.

By now we were flagging a little, overwhelmed by the generous Yorkshire portions. But we fortified ourselves with a glass of Venetian red from the very affordable list. And after a cube or two of melt-in-the mouth lamb, with sweet and tiny chick-pea panisses and garden-fresh peas, we decide to go the whole hog, finishing with two deserts: first a savoury piece of cheese on toast with rhubarb chutney; and then a creamy Bengalese baked yogurt with strawberries and cardamom.

What a treat. If you love flavour and are off carbs, this is the place to come. My only small gripe was that, by the end, I was desperate for something green and simple, a side of unbuttered spinach or beans. But that is quibbling. It was a sublime lunch.

With the afternoon racecard under way, the streets of York were quieter as we strolled back to the station. And for all their betting and munching and quaffing and roasting in the sun, none of the racegoers will have had a lunch anywhere near as fabulous as ours. Better even than the GNER restaurant car - miles better in fact - and worth all the miles travelled to try it out. As I arrived at the platform, I didn't give Greggs a second thought.