Michael O'Hare opens intimate In Lamentation restaurant in Boston Spa

Boston Spa has welcomed one of the most distinctive openings on the Yorkshire food scene this year. In Lamentation, the new restaurant from chef Michael O'Hare, opened its doors at the end of February 2026 in the village just outside Leeds.

O'Hare is well known to Leeds diners. He previously held a Michelin star in the city, and his return to the kitchen has been eagerly followed by food writers since late 2025, when he posted on Instagram that he was looking for staff for a new project in Boston Spa.

The name raised a few eyebrows when it was announced. In lamentation literally means a state of mourning or grief, a typically unexpected choice from a chef who has always enjoyed doing things differently.

The restaurant is at 174 High Street, in a building that was formerly a tapas bar, set just off the main street. It is deliberately small, with just 16 seats, and runs four services a week with O'Hare himself in the kitchen for each one.

That intimacy is central to the experience. The Good Food Guide, which published a first look at the restaurant in April 2026, described it as offering a more personal experience than the chef's previous ventures, presenting dinner as a work of art.

Menus are not published in advance. The team explains that the dishes are always evolving and that keeping an element of surprise is part of the evening, so guests arrive without knowing quite what they will be served.

Recognition has followed swiftly. The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that In Lamentation was among the Leeds-area restaurants added to the Michelin Guide in September 2026, a quick nod for a restaurant only a few months old.

For Boston Spa, a handsome village on the River Wharfe between Leeds and Wetherby, it adds a destination restaurant to a high street already popular with independent businesses, and gives food lovers from across Yorkshire a new reason to visit.

Booking is essential given the small number of seats, and payment is taken in advance when you reserve. In Lamentation is at 174 High Street, Boston Spa, and reservations are made through the restaurant's own booking system.