20/05/2024

Hammersley Restaurant, Stoke-on-Trent College

The Hammersley Restaurant at Stoke-on-Trent College is staffed by hospitality and catering students gaining experience in a real work environment. But even if it wasn’t such a fantastic project, I’d still urge you to eat there. Because there aren’t many restaurants where you can eat an enjoyable five-course meal for £20, or a three-course lunch for £10.

THE HAMMERSLEY RESTAURANT

I first ate at the Hammersley Restaurant last year. At that time, it was by invite-only for friends and family of the Stoke-on-Trent College community.

I enjoyed a tasting menu devised, cooked, and served by Hospitality and Catering students. Dishes included asparagus stem tartlet with smoked butter hollandaise, roasted cauliflower with burnt cauliflower puree, and a heavenly choux pastry filled with pistachio cream. But my favourite was perfect butter-poached cod in a fantastic white wine and wild garlic sauce. So good in fact, it was hard to believe it had been cooked by students and not professional chefs.

The goal was that eventually, the Hammersley would open up to the public. This would provide students, supervised by College staff, with real world experience in a restaurant environment, both in the kitchen and front of house. That aim was met last autumn with bookings available to all on Thursday lunchtimes and evenings during term time.

A combination of date clashes, then an unexpected period of ill-health, meant I hadn’t returned to the Hammersley until last week. But I was so glad I was invited back. Because, if anything, the standard was even higher than before.

My guest and I went along in the evening when dinner takes the form of a five-course set menu. Incredibly, it costs just £20 per person. At lunchtimes, it’s three courses for a tempting £10. Menus change regularly and can be viewed on the Hammersley’s website.

This may be a college training restaurant, but it’s fully licenced with a decent range of wines, spirits, beer and cider as well as hot and cold soft drinks.

WATERMELON & FETA

For the first course, the student servers brought a very pretty plate of watermelon and feta. The bright red fruit had been compressed which intensified both colour and flavour.

Contrasting nicely with the refreshing watermelon chunks were cubes of creamy, tangy feta. I thought the red wine syrup, with a lovely perfume, brought them together well. For crunch, there were pine nuts, toasted to an appetizingly golden colour.

CAULIFLOWER VELOUTÉ

When I saw that the next dish was a cauliflower velouté, I did wonder if a soup whose name means ‘velvety’ would be a bit rich for a late Spring dinner. However, that wasn’t the case at all. It had a deeply savoury flavour, but the texture was pleasingly light.

The presentation was beautifully elegant with drops of what I assume was truffle oil. The menu referred to shaved chestnuts and, as well as the pieces decorating the top, I found more little nuggets as I ate. At first look a rather simple soup, the more we ate, the more my guest and I kept saying how much we liked it.

Luckily, there was a piece of very good bread apiece to mop up every drop.

PORK & BACON TERRINE

I always say that the good thing about set or tasting menus is that you often end up loving things you wouldn’t have ordered given a choice. However, it does sometimes work the other way around because our next dish was one I definitely would’ve picked!

I’m a sucker for a terrine. And especially when it’s something piggy like pork, ham, ham hock, or bacon. So pork and streaky bacon terrine was right up my street.

Interestingly, the first thing I noticed was the temperature of the dish. Even from some professional kitchens, terrines and pates are sometimes served taste-bluntingly fridge-cold. But this one was just right, allowing the porky flavour and its well-judged herby seasoning to shine through,

Wrapped in salty, but not too salty, bacon there was nutty texture in the form of chopped pistachios. There was more good bread, this time a long sliver of toasted sourdough to spread the terrine on, plus some tangy, fruity chutney.

ROASTED DUCK BREAST

The last savoury course was a rather substantial one based around half a duck breast each. For me, the duck flesh was cooked perfectly: pink and tender. Evidence of it being properly rested was that, despite being medium rare, there was no blood leaching out onto the plate.

The only bugbear was, being a fan of duck skin, I was disappointed that the fat had barely been rendered. This meant it was very chewy instead of crispy, so I couldn’t eat it. However, I’ve seen the same from professional kitchens so I’m more than prepared to forgive it from students.

Back to the positives again though, the seasoning was spot on.

All the accompaniments were good too. Sauteed broad beans, peas, nicely cooked asparagus, and soft cherries. What the menu called rosti potato came as a generous, tender hunk rather than the more familiar crispy cake but was hugely enjoyable.

Bringing everything together was a light but tasty cherry jus.

PEAR & FRANGIPANE TART

The dessert course was a pear and frangipane tart. It was served with almond brittle, crème fraiche sorbet, and a garnish of fresh fruit.

If you wanted to quibble, you could say the crisp pastry base was a little thick and that the almond flavoured frangipane could have been lighter. But I have to remind myself that this isn’t a professional kitchen and these chefs aren’t the finished article. So, I ask myself, did I enjoy it? And the answer is, very much so!

I also loved the crème fraiche sorbet. So creamy but light and flavoured with lemon, I’m going to have to try and make this at home. The almond brittle, another area where even professional kitchens can fall down and make them tooth-crackingly thick, was perfectly thin and crisp.

THE HAMMERSLEY RESTAURANT: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Even if it wasn’t a fantastic project that gives students experience in a real-world environment, training the hospitality professionals of the future in a sector and economy that badly needs them, I’d still urge you to eat at the Hammersley. Because I’m pretty sure that restaurants are few and far between where you can eat a five-course meal comprised of almost faultless, hugely enjoyable dishes for £20. Or a three-course lunch for £10.

So impressed with the quality, I almost feel mean mentioning the couple of quibbles I did have. But I think the dedicated students, and the staff who train, supervise and support them, deserve the respect of being reviewed in exactly the same way as I would any other restaurant.

And they came out brilliantly.

To book a table, email hospitality@stokecoll.ac.uk

Hammersley Restaurant, Lifestyle Building, Cauldon Campus, Stoke-on-Trent College, ST4 2DG

Free parking for diners.

PRICES AND MENUS CORRECT AT TIME OF WRITING

DISCLOSURE

Stoke-on-Trent College invited me to dine at the Hammersley Restaurant. I was not charged for myself and a guest. As always, my review is an honest one based on my own experience. Where a product or service has been provided for free, I always include a disclosure such as this in the blog post containing my review.