Pignut & the Hare

Deep in a wooded valley, five miles from Helmsley, Scawton is a remote hamlet with a scattering of houses, a 12th-century church and this welcoming mellow-stone inn. It was once a neglected village boozer before former owners Paul and Liz Jackson reinvented it as a tasting-menu-only restaurant with four bedrooms. Now Tom and Laurissa Heywood have taken over – an obvious fit, since they had been running Pignut in Helmsley, serving a multi-course menu similar in style to the Hare. After a gentle upgrade to create a calm, contemporary space in muted, neutral shades, Pignut has been reborn.

The two-tier tasting menu (half £65, full £110), with organic and biodynamic wine pairings, begins with 'Wastage' – trimmings and ‘waste’ from other dishes that chef Tom Heywood transforms into a trio of exquisite canapés: a teeny ricotta-filled cracker made from leftover bread and whey; tiny tarts of smoked hake; and a choux bun infused with spent coffee grounds, black pudding purée and rhubarb vinegar. From here, the full menu takes diners through a dozen or more flawless small courses, notably a delicate trout tartare with a fig-leaf emulsion, fennel vinegar and fennel fronds. A standout dish is the skewered cube of tender, sticky, pork belly from the Konro grill, given a glossy BBQ sauce infused with sweet cicely. Alongside is a soothing dish of brown butter hollandaise, in which a dark, marinated and glazed lion’s mane mushroom lurks. Then it’s on to lamb, mussels, hake, and finally venison,

An outstanding ice cream made with a penny bun and more lion's mane fungi, topped with a mushroom and coffee crumb and a fabulous caramel sauce, was the pick of the two desserts, with the finale being 'Nan’s cake tin' – a retro tin filled with mini butterfly buns in a light-hearted reference to Tom Heywood’s childhood.

The full menu is a three-and-a-half-hour tour de force, a culinary adventure that embraces Pignut’s ethos of local, seasonal and sustainable produce. The front of house team, led by Laurissa Heywood, know their stuff and generate a warmth and informality that's sometimes absent from high-end dining. In this remote corner of North Yorkshire, the Heywoods appear to have found the perfect home for Tom's considerable talent. His Nan would be proud.