The Best Food Spots in Hull’s Old Town
Hull's Old Town is one of the most underrated pockets of food in the whole of East Yorkshire. Cobbled streets, independent venues, and a food scene that keeps getting better. If you're staying at Hideout, you're already in the right place. Here's where we'd send you for food in Hull right now.
Hull Doesn't Get Shouted About Enough (But That's Changing)
Popular food content creator Only Scrans recently made a video eating his way across some of Hull's best food spots. His verdict? Hull doesn't get nearly enough credit when it comes to food. We couldn't agree more.
The full video is well worth a watch before you visit. He covers a couple of the places below, and his reaction to both of them says everything you need to know. You can watch the video here.
Hull has also been featured by The Yorkshireman, a popular Yorkshire-based food and lifestyle publisher across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. They recently highlighted Hideout Hotel as part of a city break feature and described Hull as one of Yorkshire’s most underrated destinations for a short stay.
Hearth - One of the Best Restaurants in Hull, Full Stop
If there's one place that keeps coming up in conversation about places to eat in Hull, it's Hearth. It sits in Trinity Square, less than a two-minute walk from Hideout (under 500ft), and it has earned its place in both The Good Food Guide and the Michelin Guide.
The setup is brilliant. Ground floor is the bakery, open Thursday to Sunday, where you can grab freshly baked bread, pastries, and a proper brunch. Upstairs is where the restaurant lives, spread across two warm, rustic rooms with an open kitchen centred around the hearth itself.
The menu leans into seasonal and local ingredients, with small plates and larger dishes coming straight off the grill. Check the specials board when you arrive, because you might find something like Yorkshire grouse sitting on it. When Only Scrans visited, he called the roast dinner "elite level".
Food for Cowboys - Mexican Food in Hull That Goes Way Beyond Expectations
About a six-minute walk from Hideout on Alfred Gelder Street, Food for Cowboys is doing some of the most exciting cooking in the city. It holds a 4.9 out of 5-star rating from a large number of customer reviews, and one visit makes it obvious why.
The menu focuses on Mexican small plates and tacos, with dishes like Birria Tacos, Carnitas Tacos, and Elotes. The corn tortillas are made properly, and the flavours balance richness with subtlety in a way that feels considered rather than showy. The bar is stocked with cocktails, Mexican beers, tequila, and natural wines, with alcohol-free options available too.
Downstairs puts you right at the kitchen bar if you want front-row seats to the cooking. Upstairs is lower-lit and more intimate, which works well for an evening with someone. Only Scrans finished his Hull food tour here and called it "next-level Mexican food." Hull's food scene going way beyond expectations was his exact takeaway, and Food for Cowboys is a big reason for that.
The Brain Jar - One of the Best Food Spots in Hull for Cocktails and Pizza
This one deserves more attention on a national level, and in 2026, it finally got it. The Brain Jar in Hull's Old Town ranked fourth in the prestigious Top 50 Cocktail Bars list, making it the highest new entry of any bar ever on the list and the highest of any bar in Yorkshire ever.
The Brain Jar sits a two-minute walk from Hideout and serves over 60 cocktails, temperance mixes alongside craft beer, wine, spirits, 25 loose-leaf teas, and locally roasted coffee. There's food too, in the form of pizza, which rounds things out nicely. The drinks menu includes classics like Old Fashioned, Rusty Nail, and Bramble, but the seasonal specials are where things get interesting. Think Mushroom Old Fashioned made with shiitake-infused whisky, or the Yorkshire Grasshopper featuring tequila, clarified blue cheese syrup, and (yes) an edible grasshopper on top.
It's a proper venue with two floors and three generous rooms that hosts everything from gigs and comedy nights to art exhibitions and workshops. If you're after places to eat in Hull that double as a great night out, this is the one.
Head of Steam - Great Pub Grub in the Heart of Old Town
Also in Trinity Square and less than 500ft from Hideout, Head of Steam is a solid option when you want good food without overthinking it. The food menu covers pizzas, gyros, and their own branded burgers, and the drinks offer an impressive range of local craft beer, real ale, and plenty of worldwide brewery options alongside cocktails and spirits.
Wednesday evenings bring their popular pub quiz from 8pm, and Thursdays feature offers on vegan dishes. It's the kind of place that works for a casual solo dinner, a group catch-up, or a long evening that starts with food and ends somewhere else entirely.
The Lion and Key - Traditional Food Spots Hull Has Always Had
A four-minute walk from Hideout, The Lion and Key is an independent pub that does the classics very well. The dockside-style interior is covered in old adverts and memorabilia, which gives it a character that's hard to replicate.
The food is traditional pub fare, locally sourced wherever possible, with daily specials and a Fish and Chips that the pub has become known for. If you're after a proper, no-fuss lunch or dinner with a pint of real ale, this is where you go. It's been a fixture in Hull's Old Town for a reason.
Staying Close to the Best Food in Hull
Everything listed above is within a short walk of Hideout, which is the whole point of staying where we are in the city. Hull's Old Town is compact enough that you can eat at three different places across a weekend and barely cover a mile. The food scene here has grown significantly, and it's only going to keep going.
If you're planning a visit and want to make the most of restaurants in Hull, book your stay at Hideout here, and we'll put you right in the middle of it.