04/10/2024

Eating Out Recommendations October 2024

I’d love to be able to write full blog reviews of all my eating out recommendations. But, timewise, it’s not possible. So, here’s the latest of my occasional round-up posts featuring some of the independent pubs, takeaways, and restaurants I’ve enjoyed recently.

Among the highlights are breakfast with a view, brilliant Thai food at a Moorlands pub, quality fish and chips (and why we love talking about the price), mussels in Macclesfield, a huge national achievement for a local chef, my favourite dim sum and noodle place, and tasty, great value food as a characterful country inn reopens.

A BAP WITH A VIEW

The first of my eating out recommendations is one in a series of what I call ‘A Bap with a View’. When I’m not eating, one of my favourite things is to walk with my partner and dog. Although I’ve been limited this year due to the onset of mobility problems, I’m able to get out and about more now. And that often means ending the walk somewhere we can get a breakfast or brunch bap.

Ilam Park on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border is somewhere we go regularly. It’s the perfect place to see the changing of the seasons, not just in the grounds themselves but the wonderful views of the surrounding countryside.

Although their Manifold Tea Room isn’t dog friendly inside, it hardly matters as the views from the picnic tables are spectacular. If you want it, there’s also covered dog friendly seating elsewhere.

I’ve enjoyed their sausage baps before, and this time I went for the bigger breakfast bap. As well as the reappearance of good quality sausage, there was equally nice bacon and a fried egg too. Lord knows how I managed to avoid getting any of the runny yolk on me. However, as always, cocker spaniel Larkin was ready to deal with any spills.

THAI STREET FOOD COMES TO CHEDDLETON

The surprise highlight of these eating out recommendations has to be Mon’s Thai Street Food. I hadn’t heard of them before, but they recently started pop-ups at one of my locals: The Red Lion Cheddleton. I went along and enjoyed some fantastic flavours and beautiful-looking dishes.

That night, for a great value £20 per person, you got a set platter of four classic starters followed by a choice of mains. Assuming there’s two of you, you got to pick and share three out of five mains. Also included was a portion of rice each.

Everything on the starter platter was clearly freshly cooked. Wonderfully crispy on the outside, soft in the middle prawn ball, vegetable spring roll, juicy chicken wing, and tender, perfectly cooked chicken satay skewer. They came with vegetable garnish and three lovely dips: sweet chilli, peanut, and what tasted like a honey-based one.

For our shared main dishes, other half and I chose Chicken Panang Curry with lots of tender chicken and vegetables in a moderately spicy coconut broth, Kung Makam which was a generous portion of juicy fat prawns, lightly battered and served with a wonderful tamarind sauce plus fried shallots, vegetables and coriander, and the amazing Lab Gai Tod: insanely tasty fried pieces of chicken in a crispy toasted rice coating with chilli.

I honestly think it was some of the best Thai food I’ve eaten. And at a very reasonable price with generous portions too.

I prefer medium heat and the dishes suited me. However, as everything’s freshly cooked, I suspect they might up the chilli in any dish if you ask. Note that menus are subject to change.

At the time of writing, Mon’s is at the Red Lion Cheddleton on Thursday nights between 5.00 – 8.30 pm. Ring 01538 360056 or send a message via Facebook to reserve a table. To find out about Mon’s Thai Street Food other pop-ups (including at The White Hart Alton) go to their Facebook page.

WHAT’S THAT GOT TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF FISH (AND CHIPS)?

Monty’s Fish and Chip Shop in Leek often appears in my eating out recommendations. I’m very fussy about my battered fish and only a few takeaways I’ve tried locally come up to scratch. Yes, there’s plenty that do good chips. But fresh fish, perfectly cooked in thin, crispy batter with no sogginess, isn’t so easy to come by.

The Saturday night takeaway chippy tea from Monty’s you see above was a great example. Just lovely and simple haddock and great chips.

As so often when I post on social media about fish and chips though, someone commented about the price. In my experience this particular meal prompts discussion around price more than any other. The same happened just the previous month when I talked about the exceptional fish and chips at Duck Goose.

Perhaps it’s because fish and chips were once seen as an affordable working-class food. But that’s not been the case for a good while.

In 1984, Thatcher’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson introduced VAT on hot takeaway foods for the first time, including fish and chips. Ironically, a friend who lived in his constituency told me that Lawson once barged in front of him in a local fish and chip shop to get served first.

Add to VAT recent factors like increases in raw material prices, energy price hikes, and even the effect of climate change on potato harvests (another irony: Nigel Lawson was a big climate change denier), and it’s not surprising that the average price of takeaway fish and chips in the UK is currently £9.88.

So, when I paid £8.30 at Monty’s for perfect takeaway haddock and chips, and £15.95 at Duck Goose for the quality restaurant version, I’m certainly not complaining.

SAVAGES MUSSELS, MACCLESFIELD

It was a wild, stormy night when partner ID and I drove from the Moorlands to Macclesfield for dinner. With lightening flashing across the skies and almost constant rumbles of thunder, we were glad to finally arrive and park up. Then it was just a short, wet dash to Savages Mussels.

I first heard of former Royal Navy and private chef Jamie Savage back in 2019. I’d been to the Picturedrome not long after it opened and noted that his mussels bar was one of the coming attractions. After a stint there, Jamie moved to running the kitchen at RedWillow Brewery before opening his own restaurant on Church Street.

On my visit, I started with Popcorn Mussels (£10) and loved them.

The bowl was piled with golden, crispy batter-coated mussels which were small and sweet. They came with julienned pickled vegetables and a mild chilli dipping sauce. I think a little more heat in the dip would’ve been good. But I really enjoyed the moreish mussels on their own anyway.

ID went for one of the specials, Anchovies and Toast (£9.50). We were hoping for white anchovies and that’s exactly what arrived. A decent sized portion, I had a taste and thought their herby flavour great too. ID felt the good quality bread could have done with a bit more toasting.

Our main courses of Mussels Mac ‘n’ Cheese (£12.50) for me and Smoked Salmon & Creamy Garlic Pasta (£17.50) for him were ok. Mind you, we’d only picked these as our first choices weren’t available.

Frustratingly, it was only after going through the menu for some time and at the point of ordering that we were told that other half’s first choice of starter and both our mains were off. Consequently, I probably rushed my choice and would have enjoyed something else more. But’s that’s my doing, not theirs.

It’s a nice place that I’m happy to include in my eating out recommendations. And I’ll certainly be going back. Savages seemed to be doing a roaring trade in the big bowls of mussels they’re known for, and I’d probably try one of those next time.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FLINTLOCK

Another of my regular eating out recommendations is The Flintlock at Cheddleton. It’s headed by chef patron Thom Bateman who you might have seen on BBC’s MasterChef: The Professionals and Andi Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts.

Since opening in 2020, The Flintlock has gone from strength to strength, offering incredible tasting menus, affordable set menus and a la carte dishes, as well as knockout Sunday lunches. Already recommended in the Michelin guide, the casual, friendly restaurant has recently been awarded 3 AA Rosettes.

This is a huge and well-deserved achievement. Only those restaurants that ‘achieve standards that demand recognition well beyond their local area’ gain 3 Rosettes. This means that The Flintlock is effectively in the top ten percent of restaurants in the country. Which makes it a great asset to the Moorlands and north Staffordshire as well as a brilliant accomplishment for Thom and the team.

Thom will soon be opening his second restaurant, Après, upstairs at The Flintlock. In the meantime, there’s some fantastic sounding menus for December just been released and reservations are now open.

FRIDAY NIGHT TAKEAWAY: DIM SUM & NOODLES

Both ID and I love to cook. But when Friday comes around, it’s usually something really simple or a takeaway. Either way though, it has to be good. After all, it is the end of the working week.

The One dim sum and noodle bar in Newcastle-Under-Lyme is a firm favourite. We’ve tried virtually all the dishes that appeal, and last Friday night’s selection was as brilliant as ever.

We began with some shared starters. Crispy battered chicken balls with sweet and sour dip (£7.30), pan fried chicken gyoza (£5.40), fluffy mini pork buns (£5.50), and ha gau steamed shrimp dumplings (£5.20).

We followed that with a main course each. I went for a build-it-yourself noodle box. You get to choose from five types of noodle, eight proteins (or just veg), and six sauces. I chose thick Japanese udon noodles, beef, and an oyster and soy sauce.

I’ve had this combination before and love the robust flavour. As well as big pieces of tender, tasty beef, there were beansprouts, onion, and carrots in there too. Not pictured is ID’s Za Jiang hand pulled noodles with minced pork slow cooked in spicy soya bean paste.

As we don’t fall into The One’s delivery area, it’s a thirty-minute journey each way to pick up our pre-booked online order. But the fact that we do it pretty regularly is an indication of just how much we enjoy their food.

NEW LIFE AT THE JERVIS ARMS

Like many others, I was so pleased to hear that The Jervis Arms in Onecote had reopened this summer. Leaving the new owners to settle in after a major refurbishment, I went along last weekend to sample the new offering.

What I found were great flavours in their generously portioned dishes. Amazingly, five years after my review of the old Jervis Arms and all the intervening economic upheavals, the cost of a meal for two had barely increased. Which is pretty good value in my book.

I posted a full review of the new Jervis Arms here. Dishes you can read about include ham hock terrine, pork belly with black pudding mash and apple gravy, plus a luscious chocolate fondant.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my latest eating out recommendations and been inspired to try or revisit some for yourself.

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MENUS & PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF WRITING