Malton
Where to eat in Malton: restaurants, pubs and cafés
For a market town of about five thousand people, Malton eats unusually well: a courtyard of artisan producers in an old coaching-inn yard, a handful of independent restaurants, a town-centre brewery and a monthly food market. This guide describes what each place actually does rather than ranking them, and tells you where to check opening before you travel.
Independent cafes and food shops along a Malton street, including The Pantry and Purple Carrot.
A note on this guide
This site is non-commercial. Nothing here is paid for, sponsored or ranked, and there are no affiliate links. Independent food businesses in small towns change hands, change hours and occasionally close, sometimes at short notice. Everything below was checked when written, but please confirm on the business's own website or by telephone before you make a special journey.
Talbot Yard: the artisan producers
A converted coaching-inn stable yard off Yorkersgate, Talbot Yard is the core of Malton's food reputation: a cluster of around six small producers working in open units around a cobbled courtyard, where you can generally watch the making as well as buy the result.
Roost Coffee & Roastery is a small-batch speciality roaster with an espresso bar and retail shop in the yard, with a dog-friendly room. Bluebird Bakery produces sourdough, bread and cakes. Groovy Moo makes gelato. Food 2 Remember is a butcher and pie maker. Florian Poirot is a French patissier making macarons and pastries. The Rare Bird Distillery distils gin on a copper still in a Grade II listed former stable block, and runs tours and tastings by arrangement.
Talbot Yard is mainly a daytime destination and each unit keeps its own hours. Several are closed at the start of the week, so a Wednesday to Saturday visit gives you the best chance of finding everything open.
Restaurants
FortySix on the Market Place serves brunch, small plates and Sunday sharing boards, with cocktails and wine; it is closed at the start of the week and its evening service runs later in the week only. Florios on Yorkersgate is a family-run Italian pizzeria and restaurant that has traded in the town since 1984, with an open kitchen. La Trattoria on Wheelgate is a second Italian option. Casa de Vaca on Saville Street is a steak and grill restaurant, and Kerala on Yorkersgate serves South Indian food. The historic Talbot Hotel has a dining room open to non-residents. Booking is sensible at weekends in all of them.
Cafés and daytime eating
Roost in Talbot Yard is the place to go if coffee is the point. Around Market Street and the Market Place you will find further independent coffee houses, a small vegetarian and vegan café and a deli counter that also serves food to eat in. On market Saturdays the street food stalls in the Market Place are often the easiest and best lunch in town.
Pubs and beer
Brass Castle Brewery brews in the town centre and runs a taphouse on Yorkersgate pouring its own range, which is entirely gluten-free and vegan; it also hosts quiz nights and tap takeovers. Taphouse hours are shorter than a normal pub's and are published on the brewery's own site. Elsewhere there are traditional town pubs around Spital Street and the Market Place, and food-led pubs in the villages immediately around Malton, including at Old Malton. For a wider view of drinking in the area, see where to drink well in the Moors.
Food shops and producers to take home
Derek Fox is a long-established Malton butcher, best known beyond the town for its pork pies and its multi-bird Christmas pie. There is a delicatessen on the Market Place and a cheese and wine specialist on Finkle Street, alongside greengrocers, a fishmonger and the Talbot Yard producers, most of whom sell to take away as well as to eat in. More in our shopping guide.
Food markets, festivals and tours
The Malton Monthly Food Market fills the Market Place on the second Saturday of the month from March to November, roughly 9am to 3pm, with specialist producers, street food and cookery demonstrations. It does not run over the winter. The separate traditional street market runs every Saturday year-round; the difference between the two is explained on our Malton town guide.
The Malton Food Lovers Festival has traditionally taken place over the late May bank holiday weekend, though it has not run in every year and the dates move. Rather than repeat a date that may be wrong, we point you at the organiser: maltonfoodfestivals.com publishes the confirmed weekend. Guided food tours and a cookery school also operate in the town, both seasonally and by booking.
Where to eat in Malton: FAQs
Where can you eat in Malton?
Malton has a small but varied restaurant scene around the Market Place, Yorkersgate and Wheelgate, covering modern British, Italian, Indian and pub dining, alongside daytime cafés and the artisan producers at Talbot Yard. Independent kitchens in a town this size open on restricted days, so check the individual website or phone before travelling.
What is Talbot Yard?
Talbot Yard is a converted coaching-inn stable yard off Yorkersgate, now home to around six artisan food producers: Roost Coffee & Roastery, Groovy Moo gelato, Bluebird Bakery, Food 2 Remember (butcher and pie maker), Florian Poirot patisserie and the Rare Bird Distillery. It is mainly a daytime destination and each unit sets its own hours, several of them closed early in the week.
Are there good pubs in Malton?
Brass Castle Brewery brews in the town centre and runs a taphouse on Yorkersgate serving its own beers, which are gluten-free and vegan. There are traditional town pubs around Spital Street and the Market Place, and food-led pubs in the surrounding villages, including at Old Malton. Taphouse and pub kitchen hours vary through the week.
Where can you get coffee and cake in Malton?
Roost Coffee & Roastery in Talbot Yard roasts its own beans and has an espresso bar with a dog-friendly room. Bluebird Bakery, also in Talbot Yard, does bread and cakes, and Florian Poirot makes French macarons and patisserie. There are further independent coffee houses and a deli counter around Market Street and the Market Place.
Why is Malton called the food capital of Yorkshire?
It is a promotional title the town adopted rather than an official designation. It grew out of the monthly food market, which the chef Antonio Carluccio publicly backed, and it has stuck because Malton holds an unusual concentration of independent food businesses for its size: the Talbot Yard producers, a well-known butcher, a brewery, a distillery, a cookery school and an annual food festival.
When is the Malton food festival?
The Malton Food Lovers Festival has traditionally been held over the late May bank holiday weekend, but it does not run every year and the dates move. The organiser publishes confirmed dates at maltonfoodfestivals.com, which is the only reliable source. The separate Malton Monthly Food Market runs on the second Saturday of the month from March to November.