Small shop crammed with artisanal food
The name is an acquired taste, and some of the more unfamiliar products it sells are too. But if you like food, the Hairy Fig should be top of your list of York places to visit. This strange and beguiling shop pre-dates most of the restaurants which established Fossgate as York’s foodie street. It opened as a deli in 2008 with the refreshingly unpretentious mission to become “purveyors of fine fodder.” And the city fell on its delicious stock, gratefully devouring food and drink which had not been sold here before.
Like a bon viveur’s waistline, the Hairy Fig expanded, taking over a bigger shop and opening a cafe. With its mismatched furniture and vintage crockery, the cafe is idiosyncratically cosy, while the menu is as good as you’d hope.
Info
Address 39 Fossgate, York YO1 9TF, +44 (0)1904 677074, www.thehairyfig.co.uk, sue@thehairyfig.co.uk | Public Transport 4-minute walk from Shambles car park, Garden Place. Closest bus stop: Stonebow | Hours Mon–Sat 9am–5:30pm| Tip Other delis definitely worth a look include Henshelwoods on Newgate and Mannion & Co on Blake Street.
If you possess a set of curious taste buds, take them along for a treat. At the last count, the Hairy Fig stocked 40 types of liquorice, 45 types of tea, 17 different coffees, and 31 varieties of balsamic vinegar – many straight from the tap, and some aged 100 years. Gourmet foods include duck confit, truffle-and-pistachio piglet pate, and aged Serrano and Iberico hams and salamis.
Seasonal offerings range from Kentish cobnuts to prickly cactus figs, marzipan hot cross buns to Christmas sugar plums. And the Hairy Fig carries an unrivalled range of tasty creepy crawlies, such as edible giant scorpions and bug lollipops – or just a bag of ready-salted assorted insects.
Bramble port is one of the shop’s popular homemade liqueurs, while among the local cheeses it stocks are King Richard III Wensleydale, Ribblesdale smoked goat’s cheese, and Yorkshire Blue from Shepherd’s Purse dairy in Thirsk.
The Hairy Fig is run by Sue Hardie, who along with husband Jim also ran the Blue Bell pub a few doors up. As Jim is in charge of the Via Vecchia bakery (see p. 206), they are one of York’s top culinary couples.
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