Staithes and the surrounding area is beginning to have all the elements of a foodie’s paradise, here are some of the good places:
In Staithes
Dotty’s Vintage Tea Room on Staithes High Street serves splendid coffee, mouthwatering homemade cakes and the best and largest scones around
The Tea Shop located at the top of Staithes near the car park great for breakfast, brunch or lunch – highly recommend the Welsh Rarebit
Seadrift Cafe by the harbour in Staithes is tiny inside but when the weather is good it is great to get a pot of tea and a piece of coble cake and sit on the outside seats overlooking the harbour.
The Cleveland Corner Cafe (01947 841117) on Staithes High Street does a wide range of snacks and meals and many of our guests recommend it as a simple place to eat on the evenings when you don’t want to cook or go to a more formal restaurant.
Cod and Lobster Pub on the harbour front great for pub food all day, friendly staff, children and dogs welcome.
Royal George Pub on Staithes High Street traditional pub with great friendly atmosphere, good selection of beers and homemade food
Endeavour Restaurant on Staithes High Street bistro style cafe during the day and open for dinner during high season
Captain Cook Pub opposite the car park at the top of Staithes traditional pub offers food all day and good selection of beers and wine
Excelsior Fisheries at the top of Staithes traditional fish and chips to eat in or take out
Food suppliers
Whitby Seafish Unit 1A, Whitegate Close, Staithes (right beside the main public car park). 01947 841236. Monday to Friday 7am-4pm, Saturdays 9.30am-11am.
They are a wholesale supplier of fish to restaurants but they are happy to supply fish to personal callers. The fish is obtained fresh every day from Whitby and Scarborough fish markets so they have whatever has been caught – usually a good range including turbot, brill and halibut but sometimes just cod and haddock. They will prepare the fish in anyway you want – gutted, scaled, filleted.
Fortunes Smokehouse & Kipper Shop, Henrietta Street, Whitby. 01947 601659
This smokery has been on this tiny cobbled street in Whitby (go along to the bottom of the 199 steps to the abbey and then keep going) for many decades. They only smoke kippers (whole or filleted) and they have restricted opening hours (usually 11-3) but if you are in Whitby when they are open it is well worth buying some.
The Whitby Catch, 1 Pier Road, Whitby 01947 601313
Is a first class fishmongers just across the road from the wholesale fish market on the quay at Whitby harbour – so everything is very fresh. They have a wide range of fish and shellfish, are very knowledgeable about fish and how to cook them, and will prepare the fish in any way you want.
Restaurants
The Fox and Hounds, Goldsborough (signposted from the road between Staithes and Whitby, after Hinderwell and before Lythe). 01947 893372.
The Magpie Cafe, 4 Pier Road, Whitby, North Yorkshire, YO21 3PU. 01947 602058
Fantastic fish & chips and other very well-cooked fish and seafood dishes. Rick Stein recommends it for the best fish and chips in the UK (or at least he did until he opened his own fish & chip shop in Padstow). Most people go for the fish & chips but there are many other great fish dishes on the menu. All the fish is extremely fresh, the Whitby fish market is just across the road. The starters and desserts are very good, and very substantial. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The café is easy to find because it usually has a long queue out of the door and onto the street, contrary to popular belief you can book a table outside School Holidays and avoid this.
The Estbeck House Hotel, East Row, Sandsend, North Yorkshire, YO21 3SU. 01947 893424
Restaurant in a fine 18th Century house that was built for the manager of the local alum mines. The menu has a slightly curious mix and match approach – you can choose any fish with any of a choice of sauces, with or without additional items such as scallops or crayfish tails, all the fish is cooked and presented very well. The staff are helpful and knowledgeable. The wine list is extensive with many available by the glass. In the summer you can eat out in the front courtyard with a view over Sandsend.
Cafes and tea rooms
There are too many tea rooms and cafes in the Staithes and Whitby area to mention all of them and we don’t have a particular favourite.
Wit’s End Cafe at Sandsend serves very good coffee and cakes, has an internal courtyard for al fresco tea stops and the staff are pleasant.
Elizabeth Botham and Sons, 35-39 Skinner Street, Whitby, North Yorkshire YO21 3AH 01947 602823
Bothams make excellent cakes and loaves that are widely available in the Staithes and Whitby area. Less well-known is their tea room above their original shop in Skinner Street, Whitby (up the hill from the main town centre and left down Skinner Street – which also has some interesting shops). Here time has stood still for at least 50 years and you can still have a traditional English tea served by polite and efficient staff in a marvellous old room with the obligatory potted palms. It really is a marvellous way to spend a wet afternoon in Whitby (on the rare occasions that this occurs).