No. 16, Glasgow

Dinner for two, Saturday 7 April 2018

* Photographs are from the restaurants website. They are illustrative of the fine standard of cooking but do not necessarily coincide with the meal we chose. 

Our first visit to the city of Glasgow. We booked at No. 16 for the second night of our short, hugely enjoyable stay. This restaurant was part of that huge enjoyment. Oh dear… didn’t even use a #SpoilerAlert.

I’d picked up an email at our hotel alerting me to the call which would go to our home number to confirm our booking. A home which we were not at. So on Friday I mobiled (making up words here?) ahead and Max cleared the decks and confirmed that she would look after us the next night.

Max duly welcomed us. Brut Prosecco for Mrs Cheoff and a revisit to Campari and soda for me as we scanned the menu.

It read pretty interestingly. These were our eventual choices.

Chicken liver parfait
with savoury granola, apple and calvados jelly
Much enjoyed by Mrs. Cheoff. The parfait was livery, silky smooth but the savoury granola stole the show. Sharp but sweet apple balanced out the savoury richness.

Lamb sweetbreads
with caramelised onions, foraged mushrooms and crispy shallots
My starter had all the right elements but not perfect execution. Sweetbread coating was rather soggy and the sweetbreads were unevenly cooked, the larger ones strangely being the most overdone. Flavours on the rest of the plate nearly made up for this. 

Pan roasted fillet of halibut
with citrus braised fennel, raisins, sea vegetables and capers
More smiles from my perfect partner. She deserved nothing less than a treat for her work in researching and planning this whole trip. The kitchen use recipes with ingredients which are known to work together. All that is needed after that is careful cooking. This had just that right care and attention.

Spiced monkfish tail
with roast cauliflower, bacon dashi, coriander and golden raisin puree
Tried and trusted combinations. More accomplished cooking. Except for the dashi. There just wasn't any punch of flavour from it. Almost as if chef had diluted it for fear of running out. 

Deep fried Heritage potatoes
Main portions here are sensible but one side didn't overdo things. We took Max's recommendation and ordered these. Certainly a satisfying flavour to honest spuds but after deep frying they had reverted closer to their par-boiled start. Closer to confit than crunchy.

Wine to accompany was PAUL CLUVER "DRY ENCOUNTER" RIESLING 2015 (Elgin, South Africa) which worked well with starters and mains.

Chocolate and blood orange pave
with blood orange sorbet and candied zest

Almond dacquoise, praline bavarois and white chocolate jelly
with coffee ice cream, and amaretti crumb

Desserts continued to show off the adventurous approach of the kitchen with techniques and finishes which gave pause before tucking in. I won't quibble for too long over the description of Mrs C's offering as a 'pavé'... this was more of a ganache/fondant mash-up. But it was darned tasty. Hence the end of quibble.

The end to my meal was perhaps the most complicated concoction of the evening. It had the potential to be the most interesting but ultimately did not deliver. Patisserie is a demanding affair but those three layers of dacquoise, bavarois and jelly delivered perfect textures but disappointing, muted flavours. Thankfully, the coffee ice cream was just right.

Max is a fine example of what front of house should be. She has that admirable quality of being able to react and adapt to a stream of constantly different customer complexions. She indulges and informs and is a great foil to what goes on beyond the kitchen hatch.

There is a vibrant atmosphere to the restaurant. People obviously enjoy coming here. Busy but relaxed staff provide excellent service and the kitchen have given their menu a lot of thought. The chefs' flair doesn't always guarantee perfect delivery but there is more than enough to excite the eye and please the palate. 

No Michelin mention for this place. Only two Glasgow eateries get as far as Bib Gourmand...no stars in this city. But a couple of AA rosettes for No. 16 isn't bad for starters and a Best Restaurant Experience 2017/2018 at the Scottish Thistle Awards endorses the quality which we enjoyed.

Let's round off by confirming that we intend returning to Glasgow. And, even if I have identified minor shortcomings in the cooking and despite plenty of close competition, we have every intention of returning to No. 16. They do so many things so well. 

The Star Inn, Harome... State Pension Age Dining

A review of our first eating experience at The Star Inn has already been posted here. The menu and cooking were great and it was obvious we would visit again. My sixty-fifth birthday merited some special celebration and Jan and I chose to book for dinner at Harome on the day.

That first review was pretty heavy on the details of an almost flawless meal. This account of my birthday dinner will be lighter on that score. But please don’t think that the food was any less enjoyable. All courses matched the quality which we were expecting. As previously, Steve Smith led the kitchen brigade and ensured that things were right in so many ways. And I finally treated myself to the stuff of legend… the Black Pudding and Foie Gras starter.

Earlier in the day I’d been treated to ‘Black Pudding and Foie Gras’ in another guise. We didn’t set off for Yorkshire before a few presents were opened. My son and his partner insisted that I unwrap their thoughtful and very welcome choice for me before leaving home. There is a smattering of Andrew Pern’s Star Inn recipes on the internet but it was terrific to finally have his first book for easy and indulgent reference and as more inspiration for my future kitchen exploits.

I quickly posted news of my latest luxury on Twitter and Instagram and we headed to our destination over the Humber. After arriving at our B&B I linked with the internet and picked up reactions from Andrew Pern and a certain @evapoppa. 

“We will be seeing you later then!” said Eve Cullen. And, sure enough, as we approached the bar that evening, there she was. I remember that among my first words were, “Ah, yes, we had a little Twitter twatter earlier.” #awkward

Eve did not need reminding. She had recently been confirmed as Restaurant Manager and was trading on the skills which are a necessity for that role. In other words, she had already begun to assess the needs of the couple presenting themselves and to finely judge the level of verbal communication required. I have nothing but the deepest admiration and sympathy for all those who are given that task with me. For the rest of the night Eve was our consistent guide through food and drinks and the giver of insights and information on just about anything we cared to mention.

This might be the best place to give my thumbnail sketch of the woman who orchestrated our visit. The visual impact of Hazel O’Connor in her 1980s’ pomp... mashed up with Aladdin Sane era Bowie. All brought up to date of course and chock full of that splendid attribute of being able to adapt and respond to different people to make them feel valued on many different levels. Add in the delightfully mischievous danger of Shakespeare’s Puck from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and you have a picture of the mascara magician and partner of the local postman who devoted her entire evening to us. She also did the same for all the other diners. See... limitless talent! As if all that weren’t enough, she also teaches her two year-old dance moves to music by the Chemical Brothers. Woah… I rest my case.

We gave no prior indication that this was a particularly special occasion. The only clue might have been the bit of fancy packaging for my book in that picture. I can only suppose that my casual promotion on social media had generated a few pre-planned treats. Eve told us that Andrew Pern wanted us to start with a flute of complimentary fizz. Very nice. While making our menu choices, Eve gave us a heads up that the kitchen would be presenting the turbot dish to us as an extra course. Even better!

We enjoyed a great meal with the usual accent on local produce and with flavours and textures given masterful touch by the kitchen.

Stupidly, I cannot remember the wine chosen with our food but we got interested in, paid for, and came away with a bottle of ‘Pernshire’ Burgundy. This was from a relatively new range of wines which Andrew has sourced. As yet unopened. Christmas 2017 might just offer a food pairing at Cheoff Towers.

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As I said, we had given no indication that anyone was celebrating anything. So there was one final touch which had to have been worked out on the night. While we considered the wine list, Jan told me it was my choice entirely as it was my birthday. Jan confirmed later that Eve had overheard and checked with her for confirmation through silent gestures.

Which is why a couple of hours later my coffee was accompanied by musing on all the positive delights of reaching state pension age and my very first (and only) embarrassingly pleasing mini birthday plate of petits fours.

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We have visited and eaten again since for another wonderful lunch. Discussions with Petruţ Salaru, our wine waiter, were delightfully relaxed and informative. In a completely different style, Alex Pern fronted the restaurant and gave us equally natural and accomplished attention. This place exudes human warmth and competence. What a silly business that Michelin do not take service into account. The Inn at Harome should have a second star just for that.

Oh - and a third for Eve’s contribution alone!

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A fine way to spend a birthday

Definitely Another Bistro... Nearly A Sticky Ending

'Wreckfish Bistro' is a thing. Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign Gary Usher will now open a fourth restaurant. I've never been to his other three but have followed 'Sticky' (a lot of Gary's input) on Twitter and suffered the barrage of foul language in order to keep up with the development of a bit of a phenomenon in the present culinary world. Of course, we are familiar with exponents of ripe, destructive verbals in the professional kitchen but, to his credit, Gary appears to use his very free tongue for little else than richly embroidered expressions of excited wonder and affection.

You won’t find me resorting to such language as I reflect on Mr. Usher’s modus operandi and his crowd-funding efforts… promise.

STICKY (Walnut)         BURNT (Truffle)         HISPI (Hispi nothing… just Hispi)

Look at those existing restaurant websites or flip through their Twitter twins for details of what is on offer. It’s pretty obvious that all of Gary’s existing kitchens are producing down-to-earth, crowd-pleasing food. Food which gets elevated by a lot of extra love and attention. Which slaps off-putting pretension firmly out of the equation.

Back to that recent crowd-funding venture for my reaction to one element which nagged at me before and after it hit its target.

Before #wreckfishmaybe became a #definitely I managed to grab the very tasty prospect of ‘Daniel Clifford’s Midsummer BBQ x2’ as a reward. Circumstances (great friends, a different BBQ and the Kaiser Chiefs) intervened and I had to relinquish that pledge.

I still ended up a backer... but with a less glamorous reward than those on offer from any 'celebrity' chef. The screen grab below shows Daddy Griff (me!) on the roll call. How great to see that I'm alongside the already funded Paul Foster. We backed his new venture, 'Salt', on Kickstarter and grabbed our magnificent reward of a lunch for two there at the end of June. More of that soon.

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The £200,000 Wreckfish target was a big ask. And I was fearful for some time that it might not be answered.

Here is a list of some of those who joined in to give the project impetus. I apologise to any I have missed.

Dan Doherty, Michael O'Hare, Farokh Talati, Daniel Clifford, Mark Poynton, Tim Allen, Matt Gillan, Russell Bateman, Mark Abbott, Tom Kerridge, Simon Rimmer, Angela Hartnett and Neil Borthwick.

Do the maths and you’ll see that the whole project would have foundered without the intervention of chefs and their generous offers of support.

Gary insists that those offers were not there at the start.

"Nothing was planned. Guest chefs helping was not my idea. It's just happened."

I still don’t know whether his pre-Kickstarter planning was really that badly thought out. One alternative is that we are all being taken for a clever ride along with Gary who is supposedly flying by the seat of his pants as he cusses all the way to glory… with everything secretly and clinically planned and approved by the commercial arm of Elite Bistros. I find that hard to believe though. What does appear certain is that an industry which is such damn hard work is still endowed with people who have exceptional skills, wonderful creativity and, above all, enough love to support their peers. And that there were enough of them with enough love to make Wreckfish a reality.

Here is a bit of that love on full display... 

Michael O'Hare of Leeds' Michelin Starred The Man Behind The Curtain collaborated with Chef Gary Usher at HISPI, Didsbury as one of the first guest chef nights for those who backed the success of the Wreckfish Kickstarter campaign. The Menu: - Crevettes, raspberry - Brain, hoisin, wasabi - Hake, chorizo & pearl barley, chilli, ham fat - Braised featherblade, salt & vinegar rice, fois gras - Violet custard tart ----- Filmed and edited by Natural Selection Design. http://naturalselectiondesign.co.uk/

Ah, what the heck - here's some more love...

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Saviour... and saved

However its goal was achieved, Wreckfish will open on the 23rd October and you can now follow this link to book and eat in Liverpool city centre.

Let’s face it, the most important thing is that thousands more of us will now be able to pay stupidly reasonable prices to dine out. To enjoy the passion of a team who think that great food is even more important than filthy language.

And, in this particular instance, that’s really all that fucking well matters.

What’s that? I promised? Yes. I did, didn't I… SHIT!