York café review: Bennett’s Café & Bistro, High Petergate

In the first of her Stir Crazy café reviews, Lucy Briden-Kenny takes tea in the Minster’s shadow

Bennett’s Café & Bistro has the best location in York, fact. Slap bang next to the Minster, this daytime café and evening bistro is currently riding high at number two in York on TripAdvisor, so my trusty companion and I thought we better head down there to investigate.

It was a bright, sunny day so on arrival we were disheartened to see that the outside tables were all taken. However, sat inside the views are almost as good and there is the added bonus of not dealing with pesky bees trying to pinch your jam.

A friendly chap came over to take our order, and in minutes another had brought us our latte, tea, cheese and pickle sandwich and clotted cream scone. As more peckish patrons arrived, we tucked in to our lunch.

Having ordered a latte to combat enforced shopping fatigue, my sidekick declared it “huge, very tasty and rich”. As a one-time barista I noted that the milk looked a little frazzled but there were no complaints from across the table.

The tea was fine and there was plenty of it. Our sandwich came with a dressed salad which I found too sharp, but I wince at the sight of vinegar so perhaps the fact my companion finished it off in double quick time is a better indicator.

The cheese and pickle sandwich was good, with a nice, thick granary bread and no messing about.

But the star of the show was the scone… we regretted sharing it after one bite as it really was so delicious it was difficult to jealously watch another person eat half of it.

A very light and buttery bake, with generous dollops of clotted cream and bright red raspberry jam, it is perfectly summery. A small triumph.

Despite sharing we left feeling full and happy, ready to continue our meander through the York Food and Drink Festival, but not before becoming a tourist for a while and snapping the Minster in the sunshine.

Bennett’s is definitely leaning more towards a tea room, and the pretty décor will be a selling point to visitors to York and the more traditional café seeker.

It’s a nice place for tea and I’m not surprised it’s popular with its customers, especially if they’ve tried those oh-so-light scones.