Having made a name for himself over in Jersey where he championed local ingredients at Bohemia and then Ormer – winning a Michelin star at both – Shaun Rankin now heads up the kitchen at Ripon’s opulent Grantley Hall. While he may have swapped the Channel Islands for the Yorkshire Dales, his ethos certainly hasn’t changed.

Rankin’s restaurant is one of four at the ultra-luxurious Yorkshire hotel but the only one to have been awarded a Michelin star. Grantley Hall’s impressive grounds not only provide a stunning backdrop to meals at the restaurant but also play host to a dedicated kitchen garden, where many of the vegetables and herbs on the menu are grown. Rankin’s love of low-mile ingredients also shines through in his use of organic meats from local farms and sustainably caught seafood from the Yorkshire coast.

The grand dining room is decorated in Wedgwood blue and white, with ornate ceiling decorations, chandeliers and pillars only adding to the unmistakably fine dining nature of the restaurant. The colourful paintings hanging from the walls are lit from above and draw the eye in every direction, while pieces of wooden furniture are dotted about the space for a homely touch.

A tasting menu, offered only in the evenings, is named ‘A Taste of Home’, referencing both the homely origins of the dishes and the locality of all the ingredients. Dishes such as bread and butter with beef tea and a treacle tart creatively reimagine British comfort food, sitting alongside some more daring combinations like chestnut, chocolate and mushroom. Meanwhile, a reduced six-course Sunday lunch tasting menu gives diners a chance to enjoy Rankin’s food at a more accessible price. A choice of two carefully crafted wine pairing menus are offered for oenophiles, while various digestifs are also offered at the bar.

It would be all too easy to fall into the ‘style-over-substance’ trap when taking over the kitchen at a five-star hotel, but there’s substance by the bucketload at this already award-winning restaurant.