Rob Rees Enjoys The Refined And Quietly Brilliant Faru. Michelin-Level Cooking At A Fraction Of The Cost With 10 Tasting Courses.
Just off Silver Street, in the old, cobbled city centre of Durham, Faru is quietly raising the North East’s gastronomic benchmark. Opened in 2023 by husband-and-wife team Jake and Laura Siddle, Faru brings the precision of Michelin-calibre technique to a tasting menu grounded in local ingredients. The restaurant takes its name from Old English meaning ‘journey’.
Faru is unpretentious although food presentation standards are high. The interiors are understated yet elegant – Nordic wood tones, muted colours and an open kitchen, backlit by historical stained-glass windows looking onto the River Wear below. There’s a gentle hum of confidence and culinary dedication in the three-man kitchen. The service is polished but relaxed and Laura calmly leads the dining room, striking the perfect balance between professionalism and approachability. She runs knowledgeable young serving team.
Laura knows her wines intimately and advises on an excellent Riesling from Alsace to cover most of the bases in the tasting menu. She has curated an expertly matched £65 wine flight if you’re really pushing the boat out. It is thoughtful not overbearing – pairings are clever rather than obvious. Wines are sourced from Barrique Fine Wines and Wanderlust Wine, both based in the North of England.
Jake’s culinary pedigree was developed under renowned Chef Kenny Atkinson at ‘House of Tides’ in Newcastle, progressing through the ranks to become head chef of this Michelin 1* establishment. Laura was their front of house. They’re both still in their early 30s.
The Faru menu opens with a Lancashire Bomb mature cheddar cheese and onion beignet, warm and airy, and perfect with the English sparkling wine aperitif from Bee Tree in the South Downs. The mature, nutty cheese adds richness to a delicate interplay of chive, caramelised shallot jam, and an onion ketchup crowned with crispy onion crumb.
Then comes crab with lemon and lovage, briny and bright, an elegant palate teaser. Whitby crab, sourced via their trusted fishmonger Hodgsons, is tucked into a fragile brick pastry cylinder topped with lovage. The white meat is bound with crème fraîche, punctuated by pickled kohlrabi and enlivened with lemon gel and nasturtiums. It’s not flashy, but it lingers on the tongue and in the mind.
R & J Butchers of Ripon supply the duck liver for a silky parfait, piped between delicate duck fat brioche tuiles. Pickled cherries, cornflowers and a sliver of house-cured duck ham lend sweet-savoury complexity.
Trout with beetroot and chervil tart is a masterclass in colour, texture and refinement. The trout, from Hodgsons in Hartlepool, is cured with lemon balm and dill, then diced and paired with smoked and pickled beetroot in a juniper tart case. House-made ricotta, a chervil emulsion and trout roe round out this subtly aromatic dish.
A course of milk bread topped with herb & garlic-infused chicken fat, baked to bronzed perfection and brushed with honey, arrives next. It is served with cultured butter, churned in-house. The milk bread is sweet, salty and outrageously soft. It acts as a reset within the 10-course culinary journey and helps curb any immediate hunger if the stomach can’t wait anymore.
Milk bread—shokupan in Japan—is dangerously addictive. Its pillowy texture comes from a clever technique called yudane or tangzhong, where a roux of flour and water or milk is cooked before being added to the dough. This traps moisture, giving the bread its signature fluff and an almost custardy crumb.
And then onto Jake’s signature dish and the one permanent fixture on the menu: Hen of the Woods, dashi and hispi cabbage. The mushroom’s deep savoury edge meets a smoky broth and sweet, charred cabbage – a dish that feels like autumn in a bowl. The green sauce is intended to be mopped up by any remaining milk bread. Hen of the Woods, also known as Maitake, is the kind of mushroom chefs dream about. Earthy, meaty, and deeply umami-rich, it evokes a wild woodland taste. It’s frilly, clustered fronds crisp beautifully when roasted too.
Next up the halibut with mussels pairs clean sea-flesh with a green pickled vegetal punch and saline brine. Halibut, from the Isle of Gigha off Scotland’s west coast, is pan-fried and served with mussels, a butter-fish stock emulsion, and a luxurious champagne sauce split with dill oil. Accompaniments include turnip fondant, whey purée, apple gel and samphire.
Lamb from R & J in Ripon features twice in the last main dish: rump, brined and pan-fried, and shoulder, braised and pressed. Paired with pan-fried baby gem, Isle of Wight tomatoes, marjoram gel and a smoky tomato tartare, it’s a masterclass in rich layered flavours with the meat perfectly pink and yielding.
Cheese is optional (a £14 supplement) – a rotating board of British cheese stalwarts served with house-made crackers and a fruit preserve.
Faru doesn’t rush the transition to dessert. The sweetness unfurls gradually. First, lemon verbena with tonka bean and meringue is crunchy, zippy and aromatic. It is Jake’s cheeky nod to fond childhood memories of a Geordie seaside “Lemon Top” – soft Mr Whippy ice cream crowned with tangy lemon sorbet, traditionally consumed in local resorts like Saltburn and Whitby.
Second follows a mind-blowing woodruff and mascarpone parfait with a strawberry jam centre, finished with strawberry and long pepper sorbet and tuile. Woodruff is a foraged wild herb with a sweet, hay-like aroma with gentle notes of vanilla, almond and fresh-cut grass. It rounds out any sharp acidity and cleverly balances the sweetness.
And to conclude there are two contrasting petits fours; pineapple and kaffir lime pâte de fruit unloads a tropical jolt, bright and almost effervescent. The chocolate, banana and peanut praline tart brings us to a rich, indulgent finish.
At £98 for the tasting menu, Faru delivers fair value. What’s most impressive is how Faru avoids the common pitfalls of fine dining. There’s no over-rehearsed scripts or undue theatre, although you are witnessing top-level culinary craft. This is a restaurant alive with creativity, serious about food, but never pretentious. It offers Michelin-level cooking at a fraction of the cost with 10 tasting courses, heartfelt service and zero affectation.
Durham may be ancient, but Faru is proof that tradition and youthful innovation can be easy bed fellows. Surely it’s only a matter of time before Jake and Laura Siddle are recognised nationally at the highest level. They’re certainly “ones to watch”.
Tell Me More About Faru
Faru, 29 Silver Street, Durham DH1 3RD
T: 0191 380 5451 E: contact@faru.co.uk
Faru offers two tasting menus: a 4-course menu £50 for a lighter option or the three hour, 10-course tasting menu at £98.
The tasting menu and 4-course menu are available for lunch on Saturday only but every dinner sitting, Wednesday through to Saturday.
There’s a 3-course Sunday lunch menu with the option to add a selection of snacks to begin.
Lunch: Saturday 12:00 – 13:30, Dinner: Wed – Sat 18.30 – 20.30, Sunday Lunch: 12.00 – 15.30
