Curtain-raisers: a pre-theatre dining guide

Keen to treat yourself? Take a walk to chef Paul Askew’s grown-up Art School, where the early evening prix fixe menu (three courses £55, 5pm-6.15pm) delivers accomplished Anglo-French fine dining, in dishes of gruyère and Lancashire cheese soufflé; or hake, pommes mousseline, Southport potted shrimps and chardonnay butter sauce. Similarly close to the Everyman (and even closer to the Unity Theatre), the hip Buyers Club is a more casual option for excellent fresh pastas, pizza and – the action spills into its courtyard garden over summer – a pre-show spritz or negroni.

A very stylish space, the handmade pasta kitchen Sarto fills up early before shows at the nearby Playhouse. You will find folk enjoying, among other things, brie arancini with pear and walnut chutney, or rigatoni with confit duck leg ragout (pre-theatre Tuesday-Thursday, 5pm-6pm, snack and pasta £18.50). Leeds Grand Theatre is also walkable from Sarto; or, on its doorstep, head to Belgrave Music Hall for stellar burgers and Dough Boys’ deft pizza by the slice.

Near neighbour 22 Yards is a convivial wine bar-slash-dining room opposite York Minster. Expect many interesting options by the glass, deli boards and confidently executed plates of, say, crab rarebit or tempura cod cheeks with lemon aïoli. With 10% food discount for theatre ticket-holders from Monday to Thursday.

“Just a bar in a bog,” announces Public’s Instagram. It’s a very Sheffield stance. Rest assured, the winner of The Observer’s best place to drink award in 2018, created in a Victorian toilet below the town hall, is a stunner, serving seriously elevated drinks. Located but a martini-olive’s throw from Tudor Square’s rare, dense cluster of theatres (Crucible, Lyceum, Library), it is perfect for an early stiffener or post-show debrief.

Glam, buzzy Spanish restaurant, bar and (retractable) roof terrace El Gato Negro is a flexible all-day option. Or, a little further away (and close to Manchester’s Opera House theatre), the early-evening menu at grand steakhouse Hawksmoor offers two courses for £32. Across town, near the Palace Theatre, graze on meat-free, flavour-packed Indian street food at Bundobust Brewery or book a 5pm table at chef Shaun Moffat’s Winsome for gutsy modern-British cooking of considerable panache.

Like sharing dishes? Good wine? A show? You will love Northgate Street, where within a 300m radius of Storyhouse, you can choose between Porta’s polished tapas (portatapas.co.uk), Covino for diverting wines and plates and Maray’s modern-Levantine menu.