Snooty Frox is one of those posh dress shops that specialises in mother of the bride outfits and ‘occasion wear’. I could not imagine ever having the occasion to step inside such a shop though I was obliged to do so one recent Friday lunchtime, tiptoeing my way past rows of glitzy gowns, to take the stairs to the Wild Plum.

The decoration is Instagram-ready, done out in vibrant greens and pinks, trailing greenery and striking wallpaper featuring flying parrots and tropical flowers. But you know something serious is going on when fat jars of elderflower oil, fir oil, preserved blood oranges, pickled samphire and new to me, pickled tomato stalks, are lined up across the bar.

The young woman behind all this is Bethany Haresign, who started in the kitchen aged six, washing up in the café of the family caravan park before going on to train at Thomas Danby College in Leeds and then on to the Waterside Inn at Bray.

She came home to open a coffee shop that morphed into this full-blown restaurant on the top floor of what just happens to be her mum’s dress shop.

It’s a daytime place that starts with brunch at 9.30am, segues into lunch and finishes at 4pm with tea and cake. Dishes are involved. A brunch dish for example, has a giant homemade crumpet with foraged wild mushrooms, spinach, poached egg - so far, so familiar – then it goes off-piste with pickled girolles, pinecone capers, horseradish ricotta, yeasted mushroom sauce and fresh British autumn truffles. Who knew there were British truffles? Google tells me they’ve been grown here for hundreds of years though they died out in the 1930s, only for truffle hunting to be revived again in 2000.

The menu has a scattering of vegan and vegetarian dishes. The quesadilla illustrating just how adventurous food can still be without animal protein. The tortilla is stuffed with butternut squash, beans, vegan cheese, spicy rice, avocado, pickled squash, shredded squash, chipotle mayo, fermented chilli and squash sauce and puffed corn. Phew!

We sample lunch, a mix of small and large plates or starters and mains if you prefer. Crab blinis, beetroot hummus, crispy beef and crisp fried brie. Deep fried brie was a hero of 1980s’ pub menus along with garlic mushrooms. It was so ubiquitous it became a cliché.

It still turns up today on pub grub menus, where it can be greasy and badly cooked. Not here, a little round of Northern Brie is just beginning to melt inside its crisp golden coat, then it's served with ribbons of aromatic quince that have been long poached in cider, crisp curls of deep-fried salsify provide texture and a salad of friseé lettuce and red chicory adds a fresh crunch. It’s just lovely.

Bethany Haresign runs the restaurant above her mother's dress shop

Another starter involves a scallop shell filled with delicate white crab meat with its own miniature squeezy bottle of brown crab mayonnaise with half a dozen squid ink blinis alongside. Squirt the pink sauce on the black blini, pile on the sweet flakes of crab and you’ve got a heavenly, sea fresh morsel. Eat then repeat.

Beetroot hummus is a combination of pureed of beetroot, chickpeas and tahini finished with dukkah, which you will know from your Ottolenghi cookbooks, is a Middle Eastern mix of nuts, seeds, coriander, cumin and the like. This is an in-house dukkah, made with pumpkin and coriander seeds and adds flavour and texture to the vibrant beetroot. The star though, is the flatbread served alongside. Two fluffy little cushions, warm and lightly scorched from the Japanese barbeque backstage, then burnished a brush of curry butter. What could be nicer? Use the bread to scoop up the bright beetroot hummus or as I did, just scoff them on their own.

And then comes crispy beef. It’s never been off the menu and I can see why. Slow cooked beef shredded then tossed in a spicy flour blend, deep fried then assembled with a Thai chilli sauce, a shredded salad and slippery rice noodles. It’s a beautiful combo of sweet, sour, bright, fresh, tangy and fabulous.

Obviously, there’s no room for dessert not even a nibble on a fluffy pancake or a taste of the dulce de leche cheesecake, or a morsel of the tiramisu tart or even a little autumn spiced shortbread or homemade brownie. But I’ll be back, one quiet afternoon for coffee and cake

At first glance the Wild Plum looks like it might be style over substance. The glitzy bar, the fancy bar stools, the jungle wallpaper is made for Instagram and the Harrogate glitterati, but the clientele on our visit was a democratic mix of young and old, couples and singles, families and children, all of whom had tracked down this clever little, no-booking restaurant in the attic for Bethany Haresign’s inspired cooking.

Me too. I’m blown away by the skill, imagination and the boldness on show.

There’s a self-assurance that belies her 30 years and the food is generous, informal and doesn’t take itself too seriously. As for those pickled tomato stalks? It’s where all the flavour lies, explains Haresign. She adds the pickle to countless dishes for a powerful tomato finish.

The Wild Plum, 34-36 Hookstone Rd, Harrogate, HG2 8BW

T: 01423 815320

E: [email protected]

W: www.snootyfrox.co.uk

Open: Tue-Sat 9.30am-4pm

Price: Three course lunch for two inc bottle wine and service £100

Wild Plum, Harrogate review: Bethany Haresign's Instagram-friendly, no-booking restaurant hidden above a posh dress shop