Friday 28 March 2014

Pita Pit - Manchester

I read an enthusiastic forum post recommending Pita Pit as a good spot for a quick lunch some time ago and finding myself exploring the other side of Piccadilly station one afternoon I decided to pop in and see if the praise had been justified. My immediate impressions were that it was a Subway copy – very similar layout, ie you order your pita at the tills then queue at the salad counter and choose what is added into your lunch. The comparison isn’t completely unfair but the choice and quality of food is definitely above that offered at their rival.

The main plus is that they have a grill (part of which is set aside for veggie fillings to avoid meat contamination) and so instead of serving chilled meats or microwaved meatballs they prepare the meat or other fillings quickly while you wait meaning the sandwich is a much fresher experience.
The range of drinks and snacks was also very broad – they had loads of healthy drink brands I’d never seen before, which is both a real treat for someone like me that can't resist trying any new flavours or brands I hadn't heard of before.

There was loads of literature lying around advocating a healthy life-style, focusing on their low-calorie ranges and even have a machine which provides free filtered cold water (with an indicator stating how many plastic bottles they’ve eliminated waste from). 
I went for a large spicy steak pita with harissa sauce. It was wrapped well and still warm by the time I got home and was extremely tasty and actually felt (shudder) healthy. The steak was very tender and harissa sauce had a real kick to it which was a real surprise – much different to the extremely sweet sauces I recall in Subway from years ago. My other favourite is the halloumi wrap with raita and extra pickles (their  recommendation) which is an absolute treat.
I have also popped in for breakfast on the odd morning i'm off somewhere from Piccadilly first thing and the options I’ve tried so far were similarly solid – the porridge with maple syrup is my current favourite but sadly the coffee was nothing to write home about.

If I ever find myself on the Piccadilly side of the city around lunch time it’s my go to place for a snack now. 

Pita Pit on Urbanspoon



Almost Famous Great Northern - Manchester


I absolutely love a good burger and having lived in London until last year I got fully caught up in the burger trend that was relentless over the past 3-4 years.

I cut my teeth on a Dead Hippie during the MeatEasy days above Goldsmiths Tavern in New Cross and went on to enjoy a burger odyssey taking in more joints than I can even remember, among the highlights were Burger and Lobster, Patty and Bun, Lucky Chip, Meatliquor, Mother Flipper, Honest, Meatmission, Bleeker Street Burger, Admiral Codrington, Byron, Meatmarket, Hawksmoor....it makes my arteries quake just seeing those listed out.

The good news up there is that Manchester has two fantastic burger restaurants in Solita and Almost Famous that sit comfortably alongside the company mentioned above. The even better news is that they are both doing their own thing - Solita has more of a mature feel to the food and surroundings and AF is just all about a cracking dirty burger with over the top sauces, grease and fat (in the best way). I've been to both several times now and thought it was time to get some words down about Almost Famous.

Good flavoured meat is essential and AF absolutely nail this - I have read that the meat itself comes from WH Frosts who supply a lot of the better restaurants in Manchester. I enjoy the fact that the meat has it's own distinct flavour, whether this is down to the cooking or mix to the meat it's exceptional in this regard.
Range wise they cover the classics well, the menu leads with their versions of a classic burger, a cheeseburger and onto the bacon cheeseburger before really letting loose with their personality and taking us into into cheeseburgers with chilli beef, triple tower burgers and burgers with a layer of rare steak as filling amongst others. Some of these go a little too far and verge on distracting from what is an excellent burger but I appreciate in these 'man vs food' times that people expect more and more excess from their burgers.

On this occasion we ate the following:

Butter and Bleu - Double cheeseburger with a layer of flat iron steak, there was supposed to be chorizo but this was minimal and then a ton of blue cheese sauce. I had a quick go on the sauce and it was cracking, nice and thick like proper cheese had been melted down not just watered down sauce.
Awesome Frickin Chicken - the fried chicken burger, didn't try this one but my friend was extremely complimentary.
Pulled Pork Roll - having had the burgers a few times I thought i'd try the pulled pork sandwich which was sufficiently stuffed with pulled pork with lashings of various sauces to keep it nice and juicy.
Crack Wings with suicide sauce - these were disappointing, not much meat on them and a weird mix of hot sauce but slightly cold wings. A couple of them were left behind which says a lot considering they are served in 6's.
Bacon Bacon Fries - my favourite side on the menu, great fries with bacon mayonnaise and bacon crumbles on top. Works an absolute treat.
Almost Famous re-opened late last year in this large new premises in the Great Northern complex after their last place burnt down. I know this is a massive step up in scale from the old place and my only real complaint I suspect is tied to this. On both visits to the GN restaurant the food was served slightly cold, as if it'd been sat under the pass a couple of minutes too long. As it all tends to get demolished pretty quickly this wasn't a huge issue but having the burgers served up piping hot would've been the icing on the cake and I suspect this is just down to a learning curve of a much larger kitchen and extremely successful and busy restaurant.

The only other thing to mention is the mix of art is bizarre, the constant references to 'winning' and a 30 second internet meme over three years ago is a truly bizarre design choice and results in the decor feeling very dated despite being brand new. I know this is a nod to the original AF but surely a new building would've given them the chance to breakaway from such a shit and tired theme.

Aside from that it was a spot on lunch, the service was polite and efficient we were seated very quickly and sufficiently away from other tables to have a bit of space to ourselves. Despite the minor point above and the wings the food was all good and great value for money - burger, sides and drinks were approx £15 each. Definitely recommended.

  Almost Famous on Urbanspoon

Thursday 27 March 2014

North Tea Power - Manchester

I stumbled upon North Tea Power when I came flat hunting in Manchester and as a result they will always hold good memories for me as one of the first places I sat and watched the world go by in the Northern Quarter. The shop itself looks great, if you were asked to explain typical third wave coffee shop décor you'd describe this exact place - lots of wooden tables and clean surfaces; the DIY vibe of the logos hand stamped onto the cups or the holders gives them a slight personality of their own. The staff are always very welcoming and music selection is always on point.

Essentials first – they serve a cracking coffee (every cup I’ve had has been to a very high standard) with various guest roasts on from week to week and offer a wide range of coffee shop cake staples as well as a short selection of toasted sandwiches. For those non-coffee obsessives they also have loads of soft drinks, a huge variety of teas and some US Craft Beer options which is good to see and differentiates them nicely from the other coffee shops in the city.

I must admit that whilst the inside looks great for some reasons its often baking hot inside and can be absolutely unbearable on a sunny day so I usually go for take-out. The rickety tables outside have their own charm but I’ve seen them take numerous casualties of spilt drinks.

I ordered a toasted Reuben on this occasion, the last time I had a sandwich to take away they’d somehow managed to prepare the sandwich in a toaster that must've been used for something coated in sweet sugary syrup – a real pain to not notice until I’d gotten home that I had a sugared cheese toastie (I’m slightly ashamed to admit I finished it anyway)

The good news is that the sandwich this time was good, the meat was more wafer thin supermarket slices than freshly prepared so I assume they’re either bought in or prepared on premises in a minimal kitchen. The stinginess on the meat was the only low point - the sauerkraut and melted cheese doing their job well in balancing it all, it was definitely filling enough to keep me going for the afternoon.

The maple pecan pie was fine but a bit paltry and disappeared swiftly in a couple of bites.

Finally, after spilling my first coffee and having to re-make it, I did end up with my long black coffee having milk in (despite asking for it without) but was in a rush so had to take it as was. Frustrating.

In total I paid £9.20 for the Reuben sandwich, the square of maple pecan pie and the long black (with milk). Whilst that might seem slightly excessive price wise given the comments above, it’s the rough and ready nature of NTP that gives me such strong affinity for it and despite some minor issues this time I wouldn't hesitate to head back. This is the only time they’ve made a mess of my coffee and it would’ve been replaced if I’d not been in a rush so it’s difficult to criticise them too much. Hopefully the competition from Caffeine and Co and Takk will make them step their game up slightly and avoid the minor issues I had on this occasion.

Bonus pics from the last few times I had coffee 'in'......



North Tea Power on Urbanspoon

Saturday 15 March 2014

Caffeine and Co - St James' Square, Manchester

I've made no secret on here of my love of coffee and fully buy into David Lynch's famous quote of "Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all". Having said that, I'd walk a mile through Manchester city centre in the pouring rain for an excellent coffee(and I often do) - the blacker and stronger the better and Caffeine and Co is one of my favourite coffee shops in the city, serving primarily Square Mile from London.

The hand made sandwiches and cakes are always imaginative and when the sun is out the little benches outside are one of my favourite spots to sit and watch the world go by, it all feels so very Scandi cool enjoying an espresso out in the fresh air.

Today I had a Square Mile Red Brick long black coffee, a generous slab of chocolate and walnut banana loaf and a ham and tomato chutney sandwich on sourdough bread. Total £7.

My take-out coffee was as excellent as ever. I was lucky enough to get the end slice of the banana loaf, with a slightly crispy outside crusted with sugar granules and the soft tender flesh of the inside it was just fantastic - not too sweet and perfectly complemented the coffee. The sourdough bread was similarly impressive, very fresh retaining that slightly chewy texture that makes it so great and with a generous filling of ham and home made tangy tomato chutney. 

Overall a great lunch spot, definitely near the very top of my list when i'm working in the city.

Caffeine & Co on Urbanspoon

Thursday 13 March 2014

Artisan - Manchester




Early in the new year I received an e-mail advertising the "Annual January sale" from Living Ventures offering 50% off food across their family of restaurants. I always feel cheap getting in on offers like this but as Artisan was on my never ending list of places to try so it seemed a good opportunity to see what the fuss was about and tick it off the list.

The restaurant itself is on the second floor of the building and they have someone (an exceptionally bored looking young lady in this instance) to sit just inside the door behind a Mac, seemingly employed just to tell people to go upstairs to the restaurant. She certainly didn't make any attempt to greet me in any other way at all and a piece of A4 paper with an arrow drawn on would've had more personality.

I always have a soft spot for a restaurant playing good background music and the first blast we heard on the stairs was the Wave Pictures which put me back in a positive mood quite quickly after the ignorance downstairs. Artisan is a massive place once you get up there, i'd estimate easily a couple of hundred seats and the waitress quickly spotted I was impressed by the space and gave me a mini-guided tour which was a nice touch. The decor was a major turn off - too much of a neat and over thought out attempt at 'shabby chic' but no authenticity or real personality, everything played very safe.

If it's always this busy for Saturday lunch then they clearly have a very successful place on their hands, either that or the 'January sale' was clearly working well for them as the place was already pretty busy at 1pm and rapidly filling up. 

I went with a starter course, described as a 'deli counter' which consisted of what was described by the waitress as a nob of bread (titter) along with our choice of Bresaola ham, Somerset Brie and Potted mackerel and horseradish. My enthusiasm rapidly began to disappear as the food arrived - the nob of bread apparently roughly translates as a small stale chunk. This goes on record as the first time i've ever left bread uneaten in a restaurant. The slice of cheese was pretty paltry, Bresaola was fine, but the mackerel had been blitzed to oblivion giving it an almost liquid consistency with no kick of horseradish whatsoever. 

By this point I was being driven to distraction by the light at the side of the table which continued to partially blind me throughout dinner.

The first main of salami, garlic, 'broken tomato', rosemary and feta pizza was fine but a bit anemic. The garlic was very strong which may not work for everyone but gave the pizza a flavour I really enjoyed, unfortunately the rest of the toppings were pretty watery meaning the base of the pizza was soggy, especially in the middle - an absolutely no-no for pizza in my eyes. This resulted in it being impossible to pick up a slice properly and no-one wants to eat pizza with a knife and fork.

My St Louis ribs looked completely lost on the plate when served, it smelt great but it was just so flavourless. I regret not asking what the pot of sauce was that came with it as it just tasted like watered down beef gravy, with no discernible flavour and certainly not enough to it to add anything to the meat itself. There was a crisp skin but it was so thin it was almost like snapping a wafer, not the crackle you'd expect on top of a piece of meat like this. The kimchi was suitably stinky and with a really strong flavour, I thoroughly enjoyed it and haven't seen it served many places up here so far so that was a pleasant surprise on two fronts.

Dessert of salted caramel banana was exceedingly good - the baked banana was so soft and perfectly complemented the sauce it had been soaked in, reminding me of preparing similar treats on camp fires as a kid (although it was chunks of dairy milk in the heady days before salted caramel was a ubiquitous fixture on menus). It came served with tasty gingerbread ice cream inside a wafer which would've taken industrial tools to try and break into pieces.
So to summarise - the food basically perfectly reflected the decor. Everything just very safe and bland, the very definition of average for me and in the end the mix of MOR radio friendly 'hits', the tacky decor, being surrounded by shit art and the light at the side of our table that was brighter than the sun made the entire experience fairly negative.

The total for the meal came to £52 and included 3 cocktails, the food mentioned above, a surprisingly great and very strong coffee as well as tip. The food was just so-so but in their defence the coffee and cocktails were impressive and certainly not light on the booze so not a complete waste of a lunch but absolutely no reason for me to go back - especially as without the offer we'd be looking at an £80 dinner which would be infinitely better spent somewhere like Mr Cooper's House.

Artisan on Urbanspoon

Sunday 9 March 2014

Beat Street Manchester "Season 1 Episode 1"

Since moving to Manchester I've found the 'street food' scene slightly lacking - the range and quality of the food out there is genuinely impressive but as they appear at venues far and wide, there's a real lack of cohesion, well up until now as Beat Street seems a real game changer.

I'd been to a couple of the Guerilla Eats nights last year and whilst decent, neither the food or atmosphere ever left me particularly wowed. The good news is that the Beat Street team have put together an extremely impressive event. Using Camp Street Market as the venue was a great choice and mixing established well loved Manchester restaurants (Solita, Lucha Libre) with the most impressive local(ish) street food vendors (Honest Crust, Arepa Arepa Arepa) created a buzz and atmosphere reminiscent of Street Feast in London.

I went with a group of friends and didn't eat all of the options below but I captured some photos of the menus along with food to give a broad overview of the various options. Every stall had a range of food to try and were all extremely reasonably priced - I challenge anyone not to be absolutely stuffed for £20. 

The only thing lacking for me was the bar - cocktails were pricey at £7 and the beer selection was particularly dull, mainly made up of the Kona and Red Hook beers which are being pushed in several places around Manchester at the moment and are particularly bland, definitely not justifying the inflated prices. The bar did seem particularly quiet whilst I was in there and i've seen a few people complaining about the choice so hopefully this will be improved in future weeks. It seems a real missed opportunity to support local restaurants so impressively but then totally overlook all of our great local breweries. I did ask them about this on twitter only to be told "we have something VERY special coming", very non-committal.

Hopefully word of mouth after such a positive first week will add to the continual hype on twitter and ensure that Beat Street is busy enough for these initial 12 weeks so they plan further events into the future, I will definitely be back as often as I can make during this run. The Beat Street team deserve a huge amount of praise and as much support as possible to encourage them to continue with these events long after 'Season 1' ends. Best of luck guys.


Arepa Arepa Arepa! My first time with one and I went for the SobreBarriga. I couldn't get enough of the Arepa itself and the steak filling was so tender and succulent.
 Diamond Dogs - The Boss Dog was absolutely heaving with toppings, it felt like it weighed about a kilo.
Honest Crust - The Atomica pizza was stunning, the n'duja worked absolutely perfectly. I'll be tracking down the van for another pizza as soon as possible.
 Lucha Libre - tacos were just as impressive as they are in the restaurant itself.
Nutters - I'd heard of the 'world famous' black pudding wontons before but they were definitely more fritter than what i'd seen pictured before. Slightly disappointed by these.
 Big Manc Jr was just as brilliant as it's bigger brother
The BBQ chicken street box portion size was so generous it barely fit into the box

Friday 7 March 2014

Red's True BBQ - Leeds

I decided to do the unfashionable thing and swerve the opening of Red's in Manchester in favour of re-visiting the Leeds branch. Since i'd heard from friends that the wait in the new branch was anything between 90 mins to 2 hours at peak times this seemed like the most sensible approach for a meaty top up. Given there is a severe lack of BBQ in Manchester, the only real option being the fairly mediocre Fire and Salt food van, I'm genuinely surprised it's taken this long for someone to jump on this trend up here.


The wait in Leeds on a Friday night for a table of 3 was quoted at a very reasonable 45 minutes (and was actually only 30) – just enough time to duck into Brewdog next door and try a few of that week's specials. I tucked into Cocoa Psycho, a delicious 10% imperial stout with a deep coffee and dark malt taste.

I've had Red's take on BBQ a couple of times before - once in the Brooklyn pop-up bar near Christmas last year, which involved a quick pulled pork burger among many, many pints of overpriced beer. The second time I was part of a group of 8 who (and there is no polite way to say this) shared two dustbin lids full of a variety of meats, this gave me a great taster of the variety of options on the menu (I still get the sweats just thinking about how much meat I stuffed into my mouth that day.) Thinking back now to both visits despite genuinely not being able to recall any specifics of the food itself, they were both enjoyable enough sessions. 

I didn't get involved in cocktails during this visit but tried a couple of their decent and heavily american influenced beer menu, fairly typical of these type of fast food places. I rolled with a Brooklyn Brown and a Honkers Ale.

Starters were deep fried poppers - red hot jalapeño peppers floating inside lava-like melted cream cheese that exploded everywhere as soon as I tried to take a bite. Extremely messy to eat but the coating had a real crunch and the peppers a lovely hot kick.

The dish of rib tips was the highlight of the entire meal. Fat, juicy tips from the end of the St Louis pork ribs, the tang from them being partially burnt dampened the sweetness of the sauce leaving an incredible sweet and savoury flavour.

A range of different mains were ordered between us to sample the menu. The pit burger came in a soft brioche bun loaded with pulled pork, bacon, cheese, what tasted like at least two different sauces (a ketchup of some kind and BBQ sauce) and two burgers. The bun and pork did exactly what was asked but the burgers were very flavourless and dry – unimpressive, thin and certainly more McDonalds than Almost Famous.

The 2 giant 'Jacobs Ladder' beef ribs were quite a talking point with the waitress doubting they’d get polished off – the photo evidence below tells you all you’ll need to know. The meat itself was incredible, literally dripping off the bones but the sauce was so, so, so sweet that it totally distracted from the flavour of the meat itself so sadly I had to share them out. 

Finally, the pulled pork and brisket sharing plate with apple sauce. The consistency and flavour of the two meats was different enough to keep the plate interesting and was complimented well by the apple sauce and really crunchy coleslaw. Good but nothing spectacular.

Sides were entirely disappointing – fries were anaemic (see photo above) and not salted enough, sweetcorn was soggy without that essential crunch and the mac and cheese was watery.

By this stage I’d worked by way though the five sauce options and was developing a near addiction to the mustard based BBQ sauce, an absolutely perfect mild sauce that added a genuinely enjoyable flavour. The others covered all bases between more of the sickly sweet BBQ to the usual hot sauce - not hot enough to break you out into a sweat but hot enough to add a kick to the meat.

None of the desserts appealed so I had a bag of beef jerky to take away and which was like digging into a mouthful of sea salt - I had to bin half of it as I could feel my kidneys giving way with every mouthful.

I left comfortably full but not overly wowed by any element of the meal aside from the starter of tips. The main beef ribs came very close to stealing the show but the sauce was just too sweet, if it had been toned back slightly they'd have been up there on my list of favourite UK meat treats.

As it's my third visit now it's difficult not to recommend Red's if you have a craving for a decent range of BBQ options, it's perfect fuel after a few beers. Definitely worth a try but try and catch them during a slower period as 2 hours is pushing it a bit, at least they have the courtesy to take your details and call you back so you can get to drinking elsewhere while you wait.

Reds True Barbecue on Urbanspoon

Saturday 1 March 2014

Stripped Back - Ben Spalding at Camp and Furnace, Liverpool

Ben Spalding was accidentally responsible for one of my favourite meals of 2012. I'd booked for his taster menu at the John Salt in Islington before Christmas and it was cancelled at exceptionally short notice (as in the same day) which lead to an over-indulgent night in Goodman where I spent the evening drowning my sorrows with steak.

I'd been waiting to give him another chance as well as being after an excuse to head over to Liverpool and give Camp and Furnace a try, so when Stripped Back was announced I booked my tickets immediately. Wandering through what's become known as the 'Baltic Triangle' in the dark probably didn't give me the best impression of the rejuvenation that's going on but I definitely spotted a few shops that piqued my interest for another visit in the future.


With it being just that little bit out of town (ie 15 minute walk / 5 mins in a cab) I had expected it to be relatively quiet but Camp and Furnace was absolutely heaving. The venue itself is really impressive, with a small bar in the entrance before you enter an absolutely huge warehouse space lined with tables and with bars and street food vendors (it was a Food Slam night). There isn't really anywhere like it in Manchester, the recent Guerilla Eats evenings opposite Salford station are probably the closest but nowhere near as successful as this.

I didn't explore the other food options but did spot Barnhouse Bistro and Fire and Salt BBQ serving their wares. I tried a rosemary gin cocktail from one of the bars that tasted like a straight gin and tonic (so no real complaints), minus points for having to choke down a piece of rosemary that found it's way up my straw.

Back to the main reason for the visit - Ben has previously worked at numerous high end restaurants including the Fat Duck and Roganic. He takes influence from the chefs he's worked with but with very much his own twist of personality. To my slight disappointment, it dawned on me that there wasn't going to be a separate room to eat in but we'd be sat in the corner of the warehouse having a fine dining meal in the middle of an early 2000's indie / pop-punk disco. Think Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, classic Pulp and so on. 

The concept remained the same as I'd seen advertised at the John Salt, laid out like a train route menu with each of the 'stops' being a course - being taken on a journey by the food for those that need it spelling out. As a disclaimer I should apologise that these photos aren't the greatest - I was sat in a dark corner of a warehouse between two particularly bright spotlights, far from ideal conditions for photography.

Snacks to start - pig skin with a powerful kick of the tom yum mayonnaise and 'Japanese spices' was a powerful tasting yet generally underwhelming start, the pig skin wasn't crispy enough more the consistency of a prawn cracker. Salt and Vinegar celery was much better, sharp crunchy celery filled with a very neutral tasting thick spread (I believe celery but it didn't have the harsh celery kick) and then with very tasty extremely salt and vinegery crisps.

The following bread courses were a highlight - baked sourdough following a Hackney Wild recipe, which was so fresh that steam was rising from the slices as it was served. This was accompanied on a shattered tile by some Lincolnshire Poacher cheese, mixed with oil and served with large crunchy granules of salt and sugar giving a very enjoyable sweet and savoury taste.


A second bread course was one of the more imaginative dishes of the evening and was served by the chef squirting a dollop of bread mousse onto my hand from a stainless steel cream dispenser and then being told to lick it off quickly before it broke down into a pool of liquid. A taste that I would compare to that of a thick creamy bread flavoured yoghurt.

The chef I was sat in front of had been preparing scallops for the past few minutes which was a total tease. They were served with blue cheese mousse, a wipe of nettle sauce and dotted with tiny pickled cubes of butternut squash and a taste of buttermilk. I'm a huge seafood fan and this scallop was absolutely perfectly cooked, almost melt in the mouth texture wise.


I was sat with a great view of Ben who had been preparing one of his famous dishes - the 40 ingredient salad, since the time we'd been seated and this was the next course to be served.

We were very kindly provided with a list of ingredients - 6 month cured bacon crumbs, adzuki beans, apricot, basil salt, beeswax, black death, broccoli, butter beans, cabbage oil, carrot, cracked black pepper, crispy puffed barley, dried tomatoes, farmino lettuce leaf, grape syrup, green algae powder, green apple, hazelnut praline, hemp seeds, lime zest, linseeds, miso dressing, monkey nut dust, nasturtium leaf, nutmeg, orange reduction, original beans, parsnip caramel, pickled celery, pine nuts, pinto beans, prunes, red onion jam, senla oil, sesame oil, shredded wheat, sunflower seeds, sweet corn puree, sweet potato puree, yoghurt.


This single plate was like a meal in itself with a vast array of flavours, pastes, consistencies, powders - I don't have enough adjectives to explain just how impressive a plate of food this was. Clearly incredibly well thought out and balanced, one of the most memorable courses I've eaten in the past few years.

Next up was a generous lump of goats curd filled with liquid basil, served in a hot Vimto soup and with a mound of biscuit crumbs. The savoury cheese and basil was a very odd combination with the sweet Vimto and biscuit. My first taste was overpowered by the basil and sweet amaretto biscuit but as the ingredients mixed it became a very enjoyable combination, essentially a extremely savoury cheesecake.


Cured Salmon belly in cucumber juice with preserved grapes was probably the weakest dish for me. Thick chunks of the salmon belly were mouthwatering on their own or with a slice of the grape but the cucumber juice was exceptionally sweet. My dining partner absolutely loved this one, it was certainly very refreshing - almost a pallet cleanser ahead of the desserts.

Next sub-course was a bottle of Holy Fuck sauce, made famous by The Rib Man in London was circulated for a taste - as I have a stash in the fridge at home I passed on this occasion.

Final course ahead of the desserts was pig cheek with crispy wild rice, shallots with thyme a granita with an exceptional dry flavour, almost like the after-taste of a shot of vodka.

The dessert course was titled 'Rainbow' - a very beautifully presented plate to share made up of a large smear of plum sauce and numerous dots of lemon, wasabi, sea buckthorn and orange then sprinkled with M&M's, pieces of plum and chunks of sponge cake. The sweetness of the various ingredients was very challenging with the wasabi, but overall was a pleasant combination which brought about recollections of funfair treats from my childhood.

By this stage of the meal live band karaoke had started at the far end of the room and as I'd mentioned, with it being just one giant warehouse there was nowhere to hide. I'll forever be haunted by the memories of drunken men screeching Muse covers as I ate.

So to sum it up for the money paid (£37 per person for 10 plus courses) it was exceptional value for money and I doubt I will have many meals food wise this year that I will enjoy more. Every course had it's own very strong identity and ideas but I just wish it had been at a more appropriate venue, the highly informal venue certainly made it memorable in more ways than one.

Ben Spalding - not to be missed. Camp and Furnace - I'll reserve judgement this time (but will definitely be heading back)

Camp and Furnace on Urbanspoon