Review: Small plates menu at FortySix, Malton Market Place

And you can see why. They seem to meet a variety of needs.

Maybe you are not very hungry, but just want a little bit of food or a few snacks to nibble on as you enjoy a glass (or two) of wine. Or you could be culinary curious and eager to try a wide range of dishes? Perhaps you are planning a romantic meal and wish to share your dinner with your partner?

FortySix opened in Malton's Market Place last March and is already proving popular (cue: book ahead if you want a table; they have outside space as well).

The market town itself is already well established on the food scene, running monthly food markets and an annual festival - not for nothing did the late great Italian chef Antonio Carluccio christen Malton "Yorkshire's Food Capital".

FortySix is fronted by partners Oliver Farrar and Gemma Buckett. They really are offering all things to all people because not only are they running a small plates menu from 5pm to 9.30pm every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, they also serve brunch 9am to 3pm Tuesday to Saturday. 

Come Sunday lunch, it's all about big sharing boards giving diners the opportunity to tuck into roast sirloin of beef, roast pork loin and a lamb shoulder Wellington. 
We were invited to sample the small plates menu and arrived at 7pm on a cold Saturday night. It was an easy half-hour drive from York straight down a quiet A64, with free parking right outside the restaurant.

The menu has a satisfying rhythm to it with a selection of five or so dishes under each of the headings: meat, fish, vegetarian, snacks and sides. The dominating influence is Asian flavours - which I love - and the biggest challenge was what to choose.

We parked that problem for a while in order to savour the seafood sharing board as a starter. At £19.50 this proved to be a brilliant deal - a platter laden with locally-made bread, juicy scallops, succulent prawns, a moreish mackerel pate, and crispy squid as well as balls of fish pakora, with home-made dips to take everything to the next level (don't miss out on Ollie's chilli sauce). 

Seafood sharing platter at FortySix, Malton
We enjoyed the platter with a cold drink - a beer (just one) for the designated driver and a deliciously crisp and light rosé for me.

To be honest, this could easily have satisfied us.

But we were here to do a review and we had a duty to sample the menu (well, that's our excuse for a night of indulgence!).

And sample we did. 

First up was Ollie's sticky chicken (£7.50). This has been a best-seller since the business began, so much so that he daren’t take it off the menu for fear or an uprising among locals. One bite and you understand. It's a pleasurable hit of moist chicken thigh, with just the right mix of sweet and salt from the soy and maple glaze.

Pork belly at FortySix in Malton (Image: Newsquest)

We were going to pass on the pork belly (£7.25) which was not a favourite of ours, until Gemma - who brilliantly runs front of house - insisted we had to try it. And we were so glad we did, each of us agreeing it was the stand-out dish of the evening - some praise given the high calibre of the food we sampled. The pork was beautifully cooked, the meat easily falling away from the fat and proving to be impossibly tender in the mouth. The clever bit here was the use of Hoisin sauce, so often accompanying Chinese roasted duck, but proving the perfect match for tender pork.

Close in perfection points also were the manchego croquettes (£6.50) - crispy balls of savoury oozing cheese which we gobbled down with dollops of sweet red onion marmalade.

We also tucked into fluffy bao buns with melt-in-the mouth ox cheeks (£7.50) - another winner.
For dessert, I had a caramelised white chocolate mousse with blood orange sorbet (£8.25), which was tasty, but I will admit to a spot of envy at my partner's baked Alaska (£7.25). This looked as pretty as it tasted: a toasted soft meringue covering a delicious serving of ice-cream. Tonight it featured amarena cherry ice-cream, made by local makers Groovy Moo, based at near-by Talbot Yard.

Baked Alaska at FortySix (Image: Newsquest)

The restaurant has 50 covers but also boasts a private dining room and lounge upstairs which seats up to 20 guests. 

There is a cocktail menu featuring classic cocktails and some bespoke creations. 
On the drive back to York, we were bursting to full, but also bursting with praise for Ollie and Gemma's restaurant which can only help further Malton's reputation as a destination for food lovers.

Fact file:

FortySix
46 Market Place, 
Malton,
YO17 7LW

Closed Mondays

T: 01653 695992

W: fortysixmalton.co.uk