So! Bar (Knaresborough and Harrogate)

Cards on the table: I love So! Bar (though from hereon in I refuse to add the quirky “!”).  As a Knaresborian I tend to stick closely to my local branch however, when feeling adventurous, I have occasionally ventured to Harrogate.  I once ate there every Sunday for approximately 3 months and now visit at least once a month, so I have a fairly in depth knowledge of the menu and all of the offerrings therein.

So Bar make a point of explaining that they are not a restaurant, they are a bar that does food, bloody good food at that.  The menu, as you would expect, is “bar-food” driven, but with a bit more personality: thermos flasks of soup, “Yorkshire Nachos” (fat chips with pulled beef and gravy), a full English Breakfast served straight up in the frying pan, all great stuff.  Then there’s the sharing platters, small sharers such as “Posh” curry and chips or larger options such as the platter of sliders, it’s in keeping with the bar ethic: social food for socialising.

The Individual mains, again, take familiar dishes and just give them the right amount of finesse: an extensive array of burgers such as The Italian, with salami, cheese and fennel, or The Garlic Melt, with blue cheese and field mushrooms, steaks, roast chickens, and “Posh” fish and Chips (a selection of fried seafood with crispy chips). There are also sandwiches, the Po Boy (Cajun battered shrimp, a favourite of my other half), Philly Cheese steak or Sausage and Onion marmalade.  However there is one dish, one above all others worthy of note.

A couple of years ago, So Bar stopped serving the Slow Dunkin’ beef.  It was a dark time, I was annoyed, my friends and family were annoyed.  This sandwich, simply yet brilliant, should be untouchable, it should be adopted as the national dish of Yorkshire.  In an age where you can’t walk down a high street without being overwhelmed by “slow-cooked” this or “pulled” that, the dude food revolution it was almost unforgivable that this beauty was ever withdrawn.  Luckily, and curiously timed to coincide with the opening of Wetherspoons in Knaresborough, the beef came back.  So Bar’s Slow Dunkin beef is a combination of slow-cooked, shredded beef and horseradish mayo, served not on bread but (and this is where the magic happens) on a rolled Yorkshire pudding!  All served with chips the size of RSJ’s and a pot of gloopy gravy, it is nothing short of magnificent and if you’ve never tried it then I strongly suggest you stop what you’re doing right now and head to the bar.

Slow Dunkin' Beef.  I mean...come on!

So Bar is a great place to spend time, a relaxed atmosphere, great food, a small but good-quality selection of beers and a fantastic wine list with a strong showing of English wines.  Sunday night in Knaresborough (my usual appointment) sees acoustic music provided, it seems, by anyone with a guitar and the ability to play 4 chords, it is almost always awful, but that doesn’t detract from the gem that the bar is.