Award-winning food in the centre of the historic city of York

Having built a national reputation since 2002 for culinary quality and excellence, Café No.8 provides a range of outstanding food and drink in the heart of historic York.

Whether you want a hearty traditional breakfast, a light brunch or home-made cakes, or a sumptuous evening meal in the our intimate-yet-casual bistro, you will find award-winning, imaginative food served by friendly, professional teams.

We also provide event catering (inside or out) and planning services to bring the Café No.8 seal of quality to any event. Sourcing high-quality local produce and ingredients is at the heart of what we do, and our chefs avoid complicating matters by letting the quality of the ingredients do the talking. And we do all of this with first-rate customer service and at excellent value.

Café No.8 – simple, modern, quality.

Café No.8 Bistro

Our small-but-beautiful bistro is found on the busy and lively Gillygate in York. A street full of independent shops and businesses, it leads right into the heart of York through one of its ancient City gates

Café No.8 at home

You are now able to recreate the unique taste of Café No.8 in your own kitchen with our ‘at home’ range. Present bistro-quality meals at home without any loss of flavour or quality – and all without any of the stress!

“Amazing little find! Excellent restaurant!”

What an amazing little place. We visited here for lunch last week during our trip to York. A great value lunch at £12.50 for 2 courses. The gin cocktail was fantastic too. I had the Pate starter and the meatloaf burger, both of which were fantastic. The burger was melt in the mouth with homemade chips, absolutely fantastic food.

Macclesfield, England

“Gorgeous food”

Went for dinner and it was fully booked. The waitres who saw us told us to come back half hour later. She was really nice to fit us in. We had a gorgeus meat dish and excellent wine. The waitres was polite and kind. Bear in mind it’s a bistro. Menu and wine list are not long. Food made with fresh ingredients and carefully prepared takes time and is not the cheapest you can get. Excellent price – quality relation. Would go again and recommend to friends.

Maria C Sao Paulo

“Lovely food, friendly service”

Imaginative menu, very reasonable price, try the mushrooms with brie, and of course, the original dandilion and burdock

Bristol

“Coffee & Cake”

We enjoyed a coffee and cake at the coffee shop in the Merchants House. Table service and friendly staff.

Wendy R Colchester, United Kingdom

“Decent cup of coffee”

Went into the York Art Gallery to escape the rain and found a decent cup of coffee at a reasonable price.

Paul B Nottingham, United Kingdom

“The Guardian”

Whether you’re just dropping in for a bowl of soup – a warming, gently fiery Indian spiced tomato and ginger, say – or a 21-day aged steak with chips and a Yorkshire blue sauce, expect cooking shot through with a quiet, self-confident flair

The Guardian

“Excellent”

A friend and I were staying overnight and wanted to go somewhere unfussy but good quality without opting for a chain restaurant. Luckily we booked because on arrival for our table at 8.30pm we realised the restaurant was totally booked up on a Monday night!

The staff couldn’t have been more helpful, smiley, friendly, knew the menu, busy but attentive – bang on.
My friend chose the hot smoked salmon starter and duck main, both of which she said were perfectly executed – I tasted the starter and it was a well balanced dish with beetroot and a herby spread for the croutons. I had the steak pave which was very tasty and did exactly what you’d expect.

For dessert we shared the house favourite, the name of which escapes me but it was meringuey, gingery and rhubarby and had almond brittle too. personally we’d have had less of the brittle (or had it smashed into small nuggets) and more of the amazing rhubarb compote, but it was really delicious and I rarely have pudding!
Definitely recommended.

Joanna M Edinburgh, United Kingdom

“Would definitely go back for more!”

From the outside this looks like a tearoom, but don’t be put off. Book a table for an evening meal and enjoy a great, modern-style bistro menu. The food was excellent with a reasonably priced wine list and friendly staff. It will be on our list of places to go back to next time we visit York. Highly recommended.

Peterborough, United Kingdom

“Very nice place”

Cafe is part of the restaurant in Gillygate and is modern clean and well presented.

Menu is good choice and reasonable, we had a scone however the compote was extremely runny and difficult to get on scone but was very tasty.

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