Rish fulfilment

Unlike nearby Leeds, York has never been a city where it is easy for good restaurants to succeed. Leeds is the financial capital of Yorkshire and has the prosperity and corporate expense accounts to meet the bills of a good restaurant. York is the tourism capital of Yorkshire, where whistle-stop customers are more interested in paying as little as possible.

That hasn't stopped one of the best-known head waiters in York from opening a restaurant in the city, with a focus on high-quality food. Rish is a 70-seat fine-dining restaurant situated on two floors. It is co-owned by Sam Abu Rish, previously of the city's Silvano's restaurant, and his wife, Maria Abu Rish.

The restaurant is located in a former Edwardian department store, complete with art-deco windows. But there is nothing bygone about the cooking of head chef Michael Cushing and his two-strong kitchen brigade. Cushing's cooking pedigree encompasses stints at Paris - the Leeds restaurant credited with beginning the restaurant revival in the city - and latterly at David Woolley's in Burley, Wharfedale, another of North Yorkshire's established restaurants.

Cushing has decided to put out a limited, seasonally changing menu. "It's always tempting to run with a big menu, but a new kitchen and new brigade need to work things out. I decided to open with a seven-starter, seven-main and five-dessert menu," he says.

Selling well is the Anton Mosimann-inspired combination of pink grapefruit and crab, used at Rish in a sauce for a starter of fillet of red mullet on a fennel and yellow courgette hash (£6.25).

Among the main choices, a dish centred on blackened duck breast (£14.50) is proving popular. This is made by marinating duck breast in hoisin sauce, garlic and kaffir leaves, before pressing it skin side down on a hot chargrill to crisp and blacken the skin. The breast is then turned and cooked more slowly on the chargrill to leave the centre pink.

Despite the restaurant's city centre location, lunchtime trade has been slow to build, with an average of 20 covers and a spend of less than £15. Mid-week evenings are better, with the restaurant averaging 30 to 40diners and a food spend per head of £30. Predictably, weekends often run at capacity, and there is a plan to try and turn tables on a Saturday night by opening a drinks and coffee area to free up dining tables, thus building on the current weekly turnover of £5,500.