02/05/2024

STOCK by Feasted, Newcastle-Under-Lyme

STOCK by Feasted, Newcastle-Under-Lyme’s newest bar and restaurant, takes traditional local dishes in a modern but accessible direction with competitively priced broths and small plates of outstanding flavour.

FEASTED

Feasted was created in 2017 when Cris Cohen, a former teacher and head chef, was looking for a change of direction. Private dinner parties, corporate dining, meal boxes to cook at home, education and training in gastronomy followed. Fast forward to 2022 and Feasted opened up its kitchen studio for the unique experience of the Chef’s Table. This is an terrific tasting menu rooted in the heritage and culture of Stoke-on-Trent. A maximum of ten diners watch their food being prepared and learn about its creation.

If you’ve read my review of the Chef’s Table, you’ll know that Feasted isn’t just about high-end gastronomy though. Alongside, there’s work around food poverty as well as providing skills and opportunities for the vulnerable and disadvantaged. Underlining everything, there’s a belief in the power of food to be a force for positive change. Not just in ourselves, but also where we live.

This philosophy appears to drive Feasted’s latest project too: a new venue called STOCK.

STOCK BY FEASTED

While you’re unlikely to just stumble upon the Chef’s Table, tucked away in a former ceramics factory in Stoke-on-Trent, STOCK is located right at the gateway to Newcastle-Under-Lyme. With a striking frontage based on designs from the heritage pattern books of Duchess China, you can hardly miss it.

And I get the feeling that this higher profile is a deliberate choice. On his social media, Cris Cohen has spoken passionately about the demise of the high street with fewer people going into town to eat. His answer to invigorate it? Create a neighbourhood restaurant with the urban, casual feel that many people visit larger cities for.

After a hugely successful pop-up in January, STOCK by FEASTED bar and kitchen is now open Wednesday to Saturday from 9.00 am and into the evening (closes 8pm Wed-Thu, late Fri-Sat). Note there are no reservations, just walk-ins.

STOCK BY FEASTED MENUS

While there’s coffee and breakfasts like sourdough crumpet with egg and bacon or sausage (£8) to start your day, I visited STOCK on a Saturday night so ate from the main menu. While choosing what to eat, I drank a rather good Coffee Negroni (£10) from the short but regularly changing list of cocktails. There’s also a small range of wines and craft beer.

Just as the Chef’s Table is centred on Stoke-on-Trent, STOCK also has its roots in this part of the world. Stoc is the Old English for Stoke, but the name STOCK, in the sense of broth, is also a nod to the traditional dish of Staffordshire lobby, a simple stew or casserole of meat and root vegetables. STOCK aims to ‘explore the heritage of lobby and infuse it with the urban cool of ramen’.

So, on the menu you’ll find modern interpretations of broth alongside small plates including some of the flavours developed at the Chef’s Table.

On my visit, there were three Intros (£3 and £4), five choices of Broth (£12 – £18), six Sides/Nibbles/Starters (one at £6, the rest £8), plus three Desserts (all £8).

STARTERS

I’d took along my partner and we decided to share some of the Sides/Nibbles/Starters to begin. Being rather greedy, but also half expecting smallish portions at this very reasonable price, we chose three. As it turned out, all were generous in size.

First, we tucked in to Squid (£8). The eight or ten pieces were beautifully tender within their crispy, golden coating. I couldn’t put my finger on what the speckle of spices included. Peppery and slightly hot, but intriguingly and deliciously complexly flavoured, a look back at the menu told me it was kimchi seasoning.

Our next dish was Bangers + Mash (£8). Here were two sausages, sliced lengthwise, glazed to an appetizingly dark brown with soy and honey. Underneath was a goodly heap of smooth potato puree. The puree was flavoured with a perfect amount of wasabi or Japanese horseradish. It had a good kick without overpowering the potato. Bringing contrasting texture were little shards of crispy onion.

Our final starter was Oatcake Taco (£8). Feasted has history in doing non-traditional things to the local speciality of Staffordshire Oatcakes. At the Chef’s Table, I’d eaten Arnold Bennett Oatcake (Taco). This honoured the Potteries born writer and the smoked haddock and cheese omelette made for him at the Savoy in London. If you take a look at the brilliant Stoke episode of Andi Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts you’ll see the Feasted team making a version of it.

But at STOCK by Feasted the oatcake was piled high with tender sticky beef. The rich meaty flavour had a background of sweetish soy. This was cut through by lots of tangy cheese (including that oatcake necessity, crispy melted bits around the outside) plus a touch of heat from fermented chilli.

BROTH

After that little lot, it was time for broth. These are served in attractive bowls featuring the same 1930s pattern you see on the outside of the building.

I went for one of the two vegan options, Haleem (£12), which I hadn’t previously heard of. But I’ve since learned haleem is a spicy soup or stew that varies by region across Asia and the Middle East. Usually including meat, grains and/or pulses, at STOCK by Feasted it was based on cauliflower and lentils.

This was a beautiful looking dish, with equally wonderful aromas coming off it. The golden liquor was slightly thickened by the lentils, and I loved it’s warmly spicy, comforting feel. On top of that was a hefty slab of cauliflower, nicely charred. Cooking of both stalk and florets were judged perfectly, having a little bite but yielding easily to my fork.

What really made the dish for me though, were the bhaji bits scattered all over. Brown and crispy, it was a real treat to dig in with the chunky wooden spoon, scooping up some of the broth, nuggets of cauliflower, plus the delicious fried morsels.

My partner chose the most expensive broth, Jedi at £18. Here again was a hugely generous portion of wonderfully tender beef. As if that wasn’t enough, the meat was joined by three fat browned scallops. There was also fresh veg including beansprouts and carrots.

On the menu, the broth was described as ‘hot and sour’, although it didn’t taste aggressively so. As with the taco and my broth, there were slices of red chilli to eat or not, depending on your liking for heat.

DESSERTS

A desire for ‘urban cool’ may have influenced what went before, but with dessert we were in more traditional comfort food territory. Not that I’m complaining!

My choice was Blushing Betty (£8), an ample portion of rhubarb and ginger sponge cake.

People do go on about ‘light and airy’ sponges. But I much prefer something a little weightier, like this one. To me, that’s a proper sponge pudding. On top of the rich sponge was plenty of glossy fruitiness with a good balance of tart and sweet. A lick of cream finished things off nicely.

My partner chose another classic, Sticky Ginger Cake (£8) with poached pear, cream, and caramel sauce.

He declared this ‘gorgeous’ and, from the little taste I managed to snaffle before he’d scoffed the lot, I have to agree. The cake was rich and moist, the pear had been poached just right, neither too hard nor too soft, and the caramel sauce was fantastic.

STOCK: ANOTHER TRIUMPH FROM FEASTED

‘Deliciousness’ is a word that founder Cris uses a lot. He talks about ‘pure deliciousness’, ‘a need for deliciousness that many of us crave’ and ‘a life without deliciousness is not worth living’. And deliciousness is what you get in heaps at friendly, casual STOCK.

Once you understand its meaning, the mural on the outside of STOCK suggests a real sense of place even before you get through the door. Inside, the food takes as its jumping off point some traditional local dishes like Staffordshire oatcakes and lobby, served on china still made in what was once the centre of world ceramics production. Dishes are taken in a modern, innovative direction. But it’s done in a way that’s accessible to a wide audience with competitively priced broths and small plates of outstanding flavour.

As someone who loved the excitement and flavours of the Chef’s Table, I think it’s great that Feasted’s fantastic food is now out there in an everyday bar and restaurant. Unmissable.