The Boat Inn, Lichfield: Tasting Menu

At The Boat Inn, Lichfield we found a well balanced tasting menu full of interest and with excellent cooking.

It was a rather gloomy evening when myself and partner ID (also my photographer for the night) set out for The Boat Inn, near Muckley Corner, Lichfield. The satnav told us it was going to take around an hour and fifteen minutes so, as the passenger rather than the driver, I settled back to listen to the six o’clock news on the radio. However, I soon found myself bolt upright, holding on to my seat as, out of nowhere, buckets of rain made visibility almost impossible and we went sliding, aquaplaning across the busy roads. At certain points it seemed like a boat, rather than a car, would indeed have been a more suitable form of transport.

Thankfully, things calmed a little after we’d reached the other side of Lichfield. But we were still glad to see the lit up Boat Inn, shining like a beacon, at the side of the Walsall Road.

THE BOAT INN

In November 2017, The Boat Inn underwent a major refurbishment and reopened under its new Head Chef and owner, Liam Dillon. Liam has worked with the likes of Marcus Wareing and at restaurants in London, Sydney, New York as well as at Noma in Copenhagen, multi-time winner of ‘Best Restaurant in the World’.

Little wonder then, that a very short time after opening, The Boat Inn gained a place in the Michelin Guide. Liam also won Best Chef Award at the 2018 Midlands Food, Drink & Hospitality Awards. Ever on the look out for the very best food that Staffordshire offers, of course The Boat Inn had to be on my list of places to dine.

TASTING MENU

I’m always happy when I see that a restaurant offers a tasting menu. As I’ve written many times, it’s a great way to sample lots of different food and gives a good insight into what a place is all about. I also happen to be greedy and, having chosen from an a la carte menu, it’s not unknown for me to fret about what I might be missing, even as I’m enjoying what I’ve selected.

The Boat Inn offers two tasting menus: a four course (£40) and a seven course (£55). No prizes for guessing which we greedy pair went for. You can also have an optional cheese course for £3 and matching wines for an additional £25 or £35.

As with many tasting menus, before the courses proper, The Boat Inn serves up some nice little snacks.

PIG’S HEAD & BURNT APPLE

Our first snack would probably have the campaigners at We Want Plates in a right old tizzy. Atop a large, circular glass display case containing two halves of pig’s skull and some straw, was a slate with two crisply appetizing cubes. At a jaunty angle on top of the cubes were circles of apple, looking liked diddy communion wafers, secured by means of a burnt apple gel. Researching The Boat Inn, I’d seen this dish in its previous guise with the snacks actually resting on the skull. I should think that would send the We Want Plates folks right over the edge. As for me, I don’t mind this sort of theatre so long as it doesn’t affect the eating.

I liked the explanatory card placed in the case which told us the inspiration for the snack was ‘Nana’. She preached the need not to waste food and use as much of the animals we eat as possible. Here, here. Inside the crispy coating, the shreds of pig’s head meat were soft and tender, seemingly unadorned with any other flavourings. Apple is a traditional accompaniment to pork and the not-too-sweet gel and delicate, wafer-like disc provided it in interesting and tasty forms.

LICHFIELD FRIED CHICKEN

That display case made another appearance for our second snack. This time, eggs instead of pig skulls sat among the straw. Our server informed us this was ‘LFC’ or Lichfield Fried Chicken. I should say that I’ve only ever eaten KFC once in my life, and that was over thirty years ago. I love fried chicken, so that’s quite a feat, but I wouldn’t touch KFC with a barge pole. So, if you want to know if LFC is like KFC, I’m afraid I can’t give you the definitive answer. However, I suspect it’s a big, fat NO.

What I can tell you is that the two golden morsels on the plate smelt divine. So much so that I was even more impatient than usual in telling ID to hurry the hell up and take the photos so I could get eating. Inside its crispy coating, warmly peppery, the meat was incredibly soft, moist and full of chickeny flavour. So juicy, the LFC really was finger-licking good. ID thought it was a little too oily but I disagree – rich and silky chicken fat being a great pleasure in my book.

BREAD & BUTTER

Next, and not on the tasting menu list of dishes, was bread and butter. With so many fine dining restaurants serving thick slices of sourdough for this course, I was pleased to see that The Boat Inn was different. Don’t get me wrong, I love sourdough (and make it myself) but it was a welcome change to be served a boule of spelt bread. The bread was light and had a pleasant, sweetish aroma with a good crust and open crumb. Despite being a pretty big portion of bread for two people, we ate every single bit.

Two domes of butter sat alongside, on a cross section of tree trunk (I did warn you, We Want Plates people). The first was a cultured butter. Cultured butter is made by adding live bacteria to cream before it’s churned. As with live yogurt, this gives the butter a tangy taste you don’t get with regular butter. The second butter was described as chicken-infused and came sprinkled with little shards of crispy skin. I’ve already told you how I feel about chicken fat, so it won’t surprise you to know I loved the chicken butter in all its glorious, salty chickenosity.

FOIE GRAS & ORANGE MARMALADE

Foie gras, literally ‘fat liver’, is one of those foods you may choose not to eat due to the traditional method of making it. Ducks and geese naturally build up the fat in their livers ready for migration and gavage, or force feeding, takes advantage of this natural behaviour. Some say this is cruel, others that it takes only seconds each time and the birds aren’t distressed. Personally, I don’t consider myself knowledgeable enough to have strong feelings either way.

I believe I’ve only ever eaten foie gras once before and that was in France, about twenty years ago. I recall it was in a Sauternes terrine and not particularly nice. I’m not a big fan of liver anyway, and thought the terrine had the unpleasant bitter taste I associate with it.

However, the foie gras at The Boat Inn was incomparable to that terrine. With a contrasting crumb on the outside, the foie was beautifully silky, rich, creamy and buttery. There was no trace of the bitterness I’d previously experienced. In fact, in my notebook, I scribbled “like a savoury, white chocolate parfait”. We couldn’t believe just how good it was and finally understood why foie gras is considered a delicacy. The accompanying orange marmalade was tart, not too bitter, and with pretty, red-stemmed nasturtium leaves on top. But so wonderful was the foie gras we’d have happily ate it on its own.

SCALLOP & BROWN SHRIMP

I do love a good scallop, so was looking forward to this course. The two plump specimens were cooked just right for me: a browned crust and done all the way through. ID thought his a little overcooked. But, to be fair, he did spend a few minutes taking photos while I was able to tuck straight in. He prefers his with almost a little rawness in the middle anyway. Brown shrimps are always a winner with me and there was a good amount of them scattered about.

The charred leeks sitting under the shellfish were a delight. Very delicate and surprisingly delicious. The cucumber flower with mini cucumber attached made for beautiful decoration although, disappointingly, didn’t have much cucumber flavour. How the kitchen had made the buttery juices at the bottom of the scallop shell quite so thick, I don’t know. But I’m not complaining, it was fab.

QUAIL

Our server described this course as breast of quail and confit leg with courgette. However, I wonder if they were mistaking it for one of the starters on the a la carte menu as there appeared to be no confit leg. What there was, was a very nicely cooked, pink quail breast. Underneath was a thick, brown puree, perfectly smooth, which I assume was chestnut. This was good and earthy. Sitting on one of the blobs of puree was a crispy coated egg which, when cut into, exuded the obligatory runny yolk.

I enjoyed the courgette, particularly the morsels cut into chunky pyramid shapes and well charred for flavour. Presumably in a nod to the diet of the quail, crunchy texture was provided by sprinkles of seeds and grain which I loved. I was pleased to see these included green lentils as I really don’t think they’re used enough. The drizzles and dots of meaty sauce brought all the elements on the plate together into a satisfying whole. For me, this dish evoked a quail in an Autumnal farmland or woodland habitat. Neat.

HAKE

Hake is one of my favourite white fish and I much prefer it to cod. Although you don’t get the big flakes as you do with cod, I think it’s flavour is much finer. I’ve rarely eaten hake in UK restaurants, but when I used to go to Spain a lot I would often order merluza. The irony is that, as most of Britain’s hake catch is exported to Spain, I was probably eating fish caught by British boats. One thing about hake though, it very quickly goes past its prime so must be eaten when it’s as fresh as possible.

Happily, that certainly seemed the case at The Boat Inn. Perfectly cooked within and with a gently browned top, this was a great example of fresh hake with its delicacy of flavour.

After a quick consultation with our server, we were told the crunchy green veg accompanying the fish were cauliflower stems. I thought perhaps broccoli stems, due to the colour. But whichever, they were a little too crunchy for my taste.

However, everything else in the bowl was perfect. The rich and creamy sauce, full of the flavours of the sea. The mussels sweet and slippery. The spheres turned out to be expertly cooked potato and, underneath the fish, a few leaves of briny sea vegetable (I’m guessing sea purslane?).

VENISON

I can’t quite decide if this was my favourite dish of the tasting menu. Anyway, I thought it extremely good.

The loin of venison, as you’d expect from a kitchen led by someone of this experience, was cooked precisely. Soft and pink. The venison sausages were meatily firm with a big peppery kick. I think I’d like to have a big batch of these tucked away in the freezer at home.

The big floret of roasted cauliflower was remarkable. Yes, I know to many people, the words ‘remarkable’ and ‘cauliflower’ really don’t belong together. But trust me. This was good. Browned just up to the edge of being burnt, then pulled back, it was a lovely thing, the inside all creamy softness. Alongside was a very smooth, yeasted cauliflower puree. If you’re not familiar with why yeast is used in cooking other than in baking, then let me tell you it gives an alluring cheesiness. I often put a smidgen of a certain brand of yeast extract in a stuffed cheesy baked potato to up the flavour.

The generous slab of potato terrine was well caramelized which added flavour to its softness. Gently pickled wild mushrooms provided a nice astringency, as did the little charred onions with their welcome crunchiness. The meaty and fruity sauce was glossy, deep and rich, with just the right amount dotted and drizzled about the plate.

Like the quail, I thought this dish was perfect for Autumn with its robust earthiness. The flavours were bold and intensely savoury. I guess you’d say they captured that umami essence the West has only recently come to understand, and which is one I adore.

LICHFIELD BERRIES & PASSION FRUIT

The title of this course sounded like an old-fashioned palate cleanser. Not very exciting, but nothing to grumble about either. However, it turned out to be another of those menu descriptions of quiet, confident understatement. And that’s one of the things about a tasting menu that’s so appealing. Not knowing exactly what you’re going to get.

On top was a refreshing passion fruit granita. All well and good.

Digging my spoon in, I found not just the expected fruits (strawberries, raspberries, nectarine) but also layers of creaminess and chocolate moussey/custardy-ness. All simple flavours, but an astoundingly good combination. And not a palate cleanser at all, in fact a proper pud.

CARROT CAKE

Our final course was described as carrot cake with caramelized nuts. Again this looked a simple enough dish with its quenelle of ice cream (almond, was it?) and sweetened almonds and walnuts. However, draped over the square of cake was a crispy tuile. Not sure how I was going to tackle eating this crackly thing along with the cake, I gave the top a tentative tap with my spoon.

The tuile cracked satisfyingly in two. Revealed was a superlative version of the traditional cream cheese carrot cake topping, rich and oozingly good. I couldn’t tell you what the tuile was made of, but it reminded me of crunchy nut cornflakes. Admittedly, I haven’t eaten them in over thirty years, but the memory is a good one. Anyway, although crunchy nut cornflakes are wholly unsuited to a sensible breakfast, this tuile made for a knock-out pudding. Of course I mustn’t forget the actual cake either. This was richly moist and warmly spiced.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I found The Boat Inn’s tasting menu to be well balanced, full of interest and with excellent cooking. The atmosphere was friendly and informal.

In a recent interview in The Caterer, Head Chef and owner Liam Dillon said, ‘It would be a lie if I said I didn’t have aspirations for a Michelin star. The guide is a true representation of quality establishments, which is our main goal here’.

That aim is evident in the attention to detail and imaginative dishes we were served at The Boat Inn. I think £55 for the seven course tasting menu, plus snacks, represents good value for this standard of cooking.

If you prefer, you can eat from the a la carte menu: starters £7-£9, mains £18-£25, desserts £6-£8. There’s also set menus at £15.95 for 2 courses and £19.95 for 3 courses plus a separate menu for Sunday lunch.

If you want to see more of what goes on in the kitchen, then you can book the Chef’s Table adjacent to the open plan kitchen.

I look forward to seeing how The Boat Inn develops over the coming months and years and wouldn’t be in the least surprised if it continues to win accolades, Michelin star or not.

Highly recommended.

All images in this post are copyright Ian Dakin Photography and are not to be reproduced without permission.