5/5 Paul S. 5 years ago on Google
This
is
a
real
find.
Taken
here
by
friends
and
wasnt
sure
what
to
expect.
When
I
found
out
it
was
under
an
old
gym
in
the
basement
of
an
old
canal
side
mill
was
even
more
dubious.
I
was
wrong,
very
wrong.
Greeted
by
the
host,
who's
name
I
didn't
get
(my
fault),
who
immediately
put
you
at
ease
and
obviously
enjoyed
chatting
with
his
customers.
The
dining
area
is
simple,
I've
read
reviews
that
complain
about
the
decor,
it's
a
mill
basement,
steel
beams
bare
walls,
air
con
ducts.
Some
places
pay
designers
a
fortune
to
make
it
look
like
this.
And
then
the
food.
Mine
host
brought
us
an
espresso
cup
of
the
best
tasting
mushroom
soup.
"Sumat
a
bit
tasty".
Starters
and
main
courses
were
ordered,
one
vegy,
two
fish
and
mine
black
pudding
and
bacon
salad,
I
dont
like
sharing.
Mains.
Two
fish,
one
vegy
and
mine
three
versions
of
hogget,
(look
it
up).
Every
dish
was
excellent,
better
than
some
high
end
restaurants.
Then
cheese
and
three
puddings.
Awesome.
It's
a
family
run
place
and
Paul
the
chef
is
a
fantastic
cook,
(he's
worked
at
several
Michelin
Starred
places,
his
father
in
law
brags)
and
it's
a
justified
brag.
Please
try
it
and
if
you
dont
believe
me,
read
Giles
Coren's
review;
"There
was
one
other
couple
in
there
(brave
to
open
for
lunch
on
a
Tuesday
in
February,
not
many
small
local
indies
outside
London
do
that)
and
good
1980s
music
playing
and
I
felt
comfy
and
well
looked
after
in
the
corner
with
my
view
of
the
canal
and
pops-in-law
for
company.
“This
is
what
is
technically
known
as
an
amuse-bouche,”
he
said,
laying
two
deep-fried
battered
mushrooms
with
a
swirl
of
wettish
duxelle
before
me.
“But
up
here
we
call
it
‘summat
tasty’.”
I
have
no
idea
how
he
had
rumbled
that
I
wasn’t
from
these
parts,
but
the
mushrooms
were
delicious,
thank
you
very
much.
The
winter
menu
was
exceptionally
well
balanced:
five
starters
of
which
three
were
vegetarian
with
one
fish
and
one
poultry,
and
five
mains
featuring
one
veggie,
two
fish
and
two
meat,
plus
the
offer
of
more
vegetarian
and
vegan
options
on
request.
I
had
a
couple
of
starters,
a
lovely
rare
pigeon
breast
(£7.50),
full
of
gamey
flavour,
with
a
good
crispy,
spicy
pigeon
samosa
(the
chef
might
consider
dusting
it
with
icing
sugar
and
calling
it
a
pastilla
for
added
poshness
–
although
maybe
the
Indian
reference
is
more
relevant
for
Bradford)
with
cavolo
nero
and
blobs
of
mushroom
ketchup
(the
same
stuff
that
I
poncily
called
“duxelle”
a
few
sentences
ago
–
I’ll
have
to
get
over
meself),
and
also
the
bubble
and
squeak
cake
(£6),
which
was
chunky
and
fresh
tasting
with
some
carrot
for
sweetness
and
colour
and
a
perfectly
done
duck
yolk
on
top
with
just
a
circle
of
the
white
left
round
it,
with
winter
chanterelles
and
a
white
bean
puree,
all
presented
really,
really
prettily.
For
my
main,
I
had
cute,
rare,
sweet
noisettes
of
butter-poached
local
venison
loin
(£18)
with
a
sweet
carrot
puree
and
red
wine
sauce
that
came
with
a
shepherd’s
pie
of
braised
leg
(or
possibly
shoulder)
meat.
Not
a
little
pie
of
the
kind
you
used
to
get
from
the
likes
of
Gary
Rhodes
alongside
your
posh
meat
in
the
1990s,
but
a
proper
big
old
bubbling
shepherd’s
pie
in
an
iron
skillet
that
you
could
feed
a
family
with.
Now,
normally
I
don’t
do
pudding.
But
I
just
had
the
sense
I’d
have
been
missing
out.
So
I
had
the
Bakewell
tart
made
to
Paul’s
gran’s
recipe,
which
was
warm
and
rich
with
terrific
pastry,
sitting
on
zigzags
of
redcurrant
coulis
with
a
pink
sphere
of
ice
cream
on
the
top.
A
picture,
it
was.
And
then
I
had
the
rhubarb
cheesecake
(£6.50).
You
can’t
come
all
this
way
and
not
have
the
early
forced
(as
I
did
in
York
a
couple
of
weeks
ago).
Paul
had
poached
it
and
laid
it
over
a
really
first-rate,
cheesy
rhubarb
cheesecake,
with
some
cubes
of
rhubarb
jelly,
blobs
of
custard
…
Magnificent.
And
a
very
good
espresso,
too.
This
place
has
not
just
charm
but
a
real
touch
of
class.
Good
local
ingredients,
modern
ideas,
regional
twists,
the
odd
gentle
joke
(rhubarb
and
custard),
first-class
presentation,
incredibly
friendly
service."
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