Copthorne Hotel Sheffield

The Sheffield Copthorne's 1855 restaurant sits discreetly in a corner of Sheffield United's football ground. The dining room is a stylishly understated venue done out with a neutral palette of natural earthy tones, soft-focus lighting, and bare darkwood tables to match the creative modern European menu. The kitchen puts its faith in top-grade, often local, materials to create full-flavoured dishes that are not hamstrung by over-complication, but rely on a lively culinary imagination that pulls together some pretty eclectic partnerships. Starters can be as straight and true as bouillabaisse with aïoli and croûtons, or as left-field as Orkney scallops with green peppers, goats' milk curd and charcuterie jus. Main-course venison might appear with the flavours of coffee, hazelnut, praline, pear and frangelico liqueur, while dessert could head for the outer shores with an assemblage of smoked chocolate fondant, frozen mustard, passionfruit and banana.