REVIEW: What makes a Highly Recommended Hotel?

Yahoo

08-02-2025

How do you fill a venue midweek and mid-winter?
The White Hart Hotel in Harrogate and its related Fat Badger bar/ restaurant appears to have the answer.
With the hotel owner HRH planning to opening its third Fat Badger in Whitby, it seemed a great opportunity to accept an invite to try out the first Fat Badger, on Cold Bath Road, Harrogate.
This follows a visit to York's own Fat Badger last year, which opened three years ago in High Petergate after a £1million-plus renovation of the former Lamb and Lion.
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This first Fat Badger, which opened in 2010, is part of the White Hart Hotel in the stylish Montpellier Quarter, a few minutes walk from the Valley Gardens and the famous Betty's Café.
The four-star hotel boats almost 100, modern/contemporary rooms, and an AA Rosette Restaurant.
I arrived one Tuesday in February and parked in the hotel car park at the rear (£1.50ph or £15 a night for guests).
It was lunchtime and after a friendly welcome I was off to the Fat Badger a short walk down a classy corridor.
Tuesday lunchtime and doing a tidy trade (Image: Darren Greenwood)
There were quite a few drinkers and diners of all ages and a decent range of beers available at the bar. But as I had work to do after lunch, I resisted temptation, and I also had an invite to Harrogate's famous Fat Badger Beer Club that evening.
I settled for a flat white coffee, which was nice and strong and perked me up beautifully. I ordered lunch from an extensive menu of contemporary classics and favourites. The wifi worked well and was easy to log on to.
For starter, I went for the sticky pork belly salad with roasted sesame dressing and Wakame seaweed (£8.95).
It was a generous portion and the salad was a delight, with the dressing and seaweed combining to deliver interesting and pleasant flavours.
For mains, I chose the 12-hour Lamb Shoulder (£21.95), which came with fondant potato, red wine and minted jus. I added a serving of dressed house slaw (£4.50).
Now, I have never known lamb as tender and there was certainly no fat, but was it too soft in texture and could it have done with a bit more flavour? Either way, it was still lovely. The roasted carrots were soft and superb. I wish I could get my carrots as good.
You should stick to the sticky pork belly, which is a treat. (Image: Darren Greenwood)
The ranch slaw was crunchy and tasting, with again, dressing giving a very pleasant aftertaste.
Well, I had to have a breather before dessert arrived during my second flat white. I had settled for the Black Forest Trifle (£8.95), which featured Kirsch-soaked cherries.
The trifle was very rich and creamy, with plenty of cream, chocolate and a decent amount of black cherry. The fresh mint just finished off beautifully with an excellent array of indulgent flavours.
It was then time to check in and I was awarded a most pleasant room overlooking part of the Stray outside. The room was a decent size, the bathroom was gleaming and spotlessly clean, with fluffy-white towels, and the bed was large, comfortable and also spotlessly clean.
The room was functional, contemporary and modern, just ideal, and the wifi-worked well and easily. Despite the town centre location, it was quiet, with no disturbance from passing traffic.
After several hours of WFH (working from hotel), it was time to head up the hill to the Yorkshire Hotel, a sister to the White Hart, and its Pickled Sprout bar.
While nearby venues seemed quiet that Tuesday evening, the Pickled Sprout was buzzing as people enjoyed their first of four beers. Well, it was actually Veltins Pilsner.
The iconic fat badger greets you (Image: Darren Greenwood)
The Fat Badger Beer Club has operated for about ten years, bar a pause during a pandemic, with the monthly event a popular custom in Harrogate's social calendar.
You get a first drink downstairs on entry, followed by three more beers on the fifth floor upstairs in the Sky Bar. The cost is an amazing £35, a bargain considering you get four beers and a top class three course restaurant meal.
The beers are usually from Yorkshire and were from the excellent Kirkstall brewery the night I was there.
There were 180 guests the night I was there, for an event that often attracts more than 200, and has to spread onto other levels. Don't expect peace and quiet, expect a buzz and plenty of friendly people to talk to.
The meal was superb, consisting of chicken and pork belly terrine, with spring onion and corn fritter and maple bacon for starter. The mains was slow cooked braised oxtail meatball with basil potato and ratatouille, followed by apple and date steamed pudding, cinder toffee and hazelnut ice cream.
All courses offered a grand and diverse range of flavours, well complemented, and were all polished off by my neighbours. Sadly, I was still a bit full from earlier and it was a shame to leave some. I did my best.
After a final gin and tonic from the elegant bar downstairs it was back down the hill to the hotel and bed, where I slept well in the most comfortable bed.
Around 8am, I went downstairs for breakfast in elegant surroundings. The usual cereals, croissants, etc, are available, but I just helped myself to the buffet for the Full English, always an enjoyable treat. The juicy large mushrooms were a standout delight.
The most tender and soft lamb shoulder I have ever had. (Image: Darren Greenwood)
After a little more work, it was time to leave the comfortable and friendly hotel, whose operators HRH rightfully talk about its venues being the 'best loved.'
TripAdvisor awards the White Hart 4 stars, ranking it 5th out of 23 Harrogate hotels and Google awards 4.2 stars. York's smaller Fat Badger scores 4.4 stars with Google.
Work is well underway at the Royal Hotel in Whitby, which remains open, but bit by bit is being transformed into a Fat Badger. The success of the first two augurs well for the third when it opens in the Spring.
So how do fill a venue midweek and mid-winter? Top food, top drink, top service and top value, all making for a HRH (Highly Recommended Hotel).