Fat Hippo: Where to Eat in York (4.6★)

A burger stop on York’s oldest streets

Low Petergate follows the line of a Roman road. Today it runs between the Minster end of town and King’s Square, lined with old shopfronts and jettied upper storeys. Fat Hippo sits at number 52, so you’re eating a burger a few minutes’ walk from a cathedral that took around 250 years to build.

Fat Hippo is a UK burger chain that started in Newcastle. The York branch is one of its best known. It’s mid-range on price and consistently well rated, which counts for a lot on a street where plenty of places live off passing tourists.

What lands on the table

It’s a burger joint, and the menu says so. Expect stacked burgers with plenty of toppings, sides of loaded fries, and thick shakes. You won’t find a tasting menu or white tablecloths. The chain is known for taking its plant-based options seriously, so vegans and vegetarians get proper choices, not one lonely bean patty.

A few things to plan for:

• Portions are big. If you’ve got a tour or a Minster visit afterwards, think before ordering extra sides.
• Dietary needs: ask staff for allergen information before you order. Chains like this one usually have it ready.
• Drinks: shakes and a bar list sit alongside the food. Check the current menu in the restaurant or on the official website.

Prices aren’t printed here because they change. The menu online and at the table has the current ones.

Getting to 52 Low Petergate

Most of York’s medieval centre is “footstreets”, meaning it’s closed to traffic for much of the day. Walking is the simplest way in.

• From York railway station: about 15 minutes on foot. Cross Lendal Bridge, go up past St Helen’s Square, then walk along Stonegate to Minster Gates and turn right onto Low Petergate.
• By car: don’t try to park in the centre. York’s Park & Ride buses run from the edge of the city into town.
• From the Minster: come out by the south side, walk to Minster Gates and you’re on Low Petergate almost straight away.

Booking, paying and tipping on Petergate

Fat Hippo takes table bookings through its website. On a Friday or Saturday evening, booking is the difference between eating at 7pm and pacing the street. York fills up at weekends, especially when there are races or Christmas markets on. Walk-ins have a better chance earlier in the day, since the doors open at 11am every day.

Paying works the way it does almost everywhere in the UK. Card and contactless are normal and you rarely need cash. Table service is standard. Some restaurants add an optional service charge to the bill, often for larger groups, so check before you tip again. Where there’s no service charge, about 10 to 12.5 percent is the usual tip for good service.

Timing it around the city

The hours are long and the same every day until evening: 11am to 9:30pm Sunday to Thursday, and an extra hour until 10:30pm on Friday and Saturday. That makes it handy after an evening event, as long as you watch the last-orders cut-off on weeknights.

Lunch fits well between sightseeing stops. Arriving soon after 11am usually puts you ahead of the midday rush on any busy shopping street. For dinner, the later Friday and Saturday closing gives you more room after a ghost walk or a show.

Around the corner

Low Petergate puts you within a short walk of most of central York’s sights, so it’s easy to build a meal into a walking loop:

• York Minster: a few minutes towards Minster Gates.
• The Shambles: the timber-framed medieval lane just beyond King’s Square, at the south-east end of Low Petergate.
• Stonegate: a shopping street that meets Petergate at Minster Gates, with old pubs down its side alleys.
• The city walls: climb up at Bootham Bar, at the far end of High Petergate, and walk the stretch behind the Minster.

Give yourself around an hour for the meal. Add longer if you’re in a group or ordering shakes and dessert.