MAXINE GORDON savours the menu at Chateau Marmot, a roving restaurant popping up at a secret location in York next weekend.

IT all sounds very cloak and dagger – and delicious too. With the ping of an email you can book a table next Saturday at Chateau Marmot in York. Before you hit Google looking for an address and phone number, don’t bother.

Chateau Marmot is a pop-up restaurant, one of a growing band of rootless eating-out establishments that pitch up in a secret location and serve gourmet grub to those in the culinary know.

Just hours before your meal, the location of the restaurant will be revealed; at the table, the menu will be unveiled.

All you know beforehand is that the chefs have some serious calibre (working at the Ottolenghi empire in London when not moonlighting at secret dining clubs) and that the price for the five-course dinner is £38 (or £29 for the four-course lunch).

Chateau Marmot is the enticing creation of North Yorkshire foodie Danielle Treanor, 36, and her partner Theo Cooper, son of wine writer Ros Cooper, who helpfully selects the wine menu.

The couple hosted their first pop-up dinner last year at Me And Mrs Fisher, the compact café and arts and crafts space on Lord Mayor’s Walk in York. It was a sell-out and equal success has followed at subsequent events in Harrogate, Leeds and London. The pair even took their venture to Australia, hosting a roving restaurant in Melbourne.

Danielle, who grew up on a farm just outside York, off the Wetherby Road, said they got the idea for Marmot while travelling.

“We went to a pop up restaurant in LA and it was totally amazing. It was fun and casual and we had the most amazing Michelin-starred food for about 45 dollars. We thought: ‘Why don’t we try to do that when we get home?’”

Danielle is looking forward to a return visit to York; her parents still live here. Also they are spreading their wings, staging a lunch and dinner on the same day at the secret venue.

Head chef for Saturday is Calvin Von Niebel from Ottolenghi’s flagship fine dining restaurant Nopi in London. He said: “I’m going to be using everything I’ve learnt about flavour and texture from cooking my way around Thailand, India and Malaysia to influence the modern British menu. We’re in the kitchen now testing new dishes which is really exciting, we can’t wait to get to York and serve them.”

Danielle added that Chateau Marmot allowed chefs a chance to experiment and indulge their own culinary passions. “They get to flex their muscles on the menu.”

As you would expect, the emphasis will be on local, seasonal ingredients.

Although the menu is kept secret until you arrive, a glimpse at past events reveal the kinds of dishes that might await: smoked haddock, baby potatoes, spinach, ponzu; sous vide duck egg, cereal, mushroom, consommé; South Coast Gurnard, fennel, dashi, liquorice dust; pork fillet, lemon and chamomile puree, three cauliflowers, nori paint; ox cheek, red pepper miso, seaweed salad, Cornish mackerel foam; and to finish, dark chocolate ganache, crème fraiche, spice salt.

Although the menus are fixed, vegetarian and vegan alternatives will be available too, adds Danielle.

Wine, beer and soft drinks are all extra.

Danielle says the focus at Marmot is on affordable food, served in a fun and relaxing atmosphere, but the standards are still exacting.

“We really want to bring people a high-quality experience,” she says. “People expect a certain level of service. This is not a supper club where everyone goes to someone’s house for something to eat; this is at a much higher level.”

Danielle said she hoped next Saturday would be as successful as last year’s dinner at Me And Mrs Fisher.

“Last year it was a real pleasure to bring chefs that normally cook in internationally renowned restaurants to cook their amazing food for people in my hometown and in such an intimate, relaxed setting. “We’re aiming for more of the same but injecting a bit more culture into the proceedings this time with local artists showing their work and maybe some other surprises in our secret dining room.”

Dinner service for Saturday evening is sold out, but there are still spaces left for lunch.

Find out more at: chateaumarmot.co.uk