Acclaimed food critic Giles Coren heaps praise on 'brilliant and wonderful' Doncaster restaurant

The esteemed reviewer for The Times dropped in for a bite to eat at the DN1 Delicatessen & Restaurant, which was recently named the number one deli in Yorkshire and is fast becoming a hit with food fans from near and far.

And the 54-year-old writer was full of praise for owners Sarah Wilson and Martyn Pippard who have overhauled the deli beneath the Premier Inn in High Fishergate into a treasure trove of fine foods, wines and top notch dining – with dreams of it becoming the city’s first Michelin starred restaurant.

Joining Yorkshire Post editor James Mitchinson, – who had challenged him to eat at the venue - for lunch, he wrote: “How dare he suggest there might be a good restaurant in Doncaster I wouldn’t know about?

He wrote: “Inside, you find first a very chi-chi-looking deli (I’ll explain why in a minute) with a couple of eating tables along one wall and then turn right into a lovely bright little room with soft, comfy seating for 12-14 covers, views out onto the sunlit market square/car park and, on this occasion, the editor of one of our last great local papers.

“Upon us in a trice is Sarah Wilson, chatelaine, spokeswoman, mistress of the house and proud Doncastrian. She introduces her chef, 29-year-old Marcus Ashton-Simpson, and later his juniors, Adam Barratt, 21, and Oska Ready, 20, as and when they emerge from the kitchen to serve our food, in the modern fashion.”

The restaurant offers three tasting menus of three, five or eight courses priced at £39, £64 and £89 respectively. with the pair opting for the eight-strong option.

Sarah told the writer: “Nobody comes to Doncaster. It’s not had a good press. We’ve not exactly shone on the culinary scene.”

“There was nothing in Doncaster,” she said. “There is custom here, people who want to eat good food, but they all head out to Leeds and Sheffield, spending on trains and rooms for the night, taking all that money away from the local economy. We could have gone to a big city and been a small fish in a big pond, but I wanted to do something for Doncaster.”

Giving the venue a rating of 7.5 for its cooking, nine for vision and 9.5 for “Donctasticness,” he wrote: “DN1 is a wonderful endeavour, a brilliant delicatessen, a hub of local enthusiasm and generosity, a showcase for genuinely remarkable local cooking talent and the very epitome of straightforward British hospitality. Surely, before long, they will hear the screech of tyres.”

You can read the full review and find out exactly what Giles and James tucked into HERE

The glowing write-up comes at the end of a difficult week for the couple after the deli was broken into and fine foods and wines stolen earlier this week.

Writing on social media Sarah wrote: “What a roller coaster week.

“What a headline – ‘The Epitome Of British Hospitality’

“My oh My

“Its a honest, fair and fun read. Love you all.”