Pecks: Dinner in a conference room anyone?

I feel disappointed to be writing my first bad review, but not as disappointed as I felt after the actual meal.

Being back home in Cheshire is great, I love spending time with my family, the countryside is gorgeous and its a hell of a lot cheaper to get a pint here than in Soho. But one thing that has been disappointing time and time again has been the restaurant options. Apart from a few decent pub choices with traditional English menu’s, the Cheshire dining scene (not counting Manchester or Liverpool) leaves a lot to be desired.

When my Mum’s birthday was around the corner I was wracking my brain to come up with a nice event for the two of us to go to. Spa days were a bit boring - Who wants to spend their bday sipping cucumber water and not sinking pints of wine? She’s deathly afraid of heights so any form of bungee jumping and/or hot air ballooning was out of the question, so I settled on a restaurant with a tasting menu, wine pairings and a chance to wear heels. I booked a table for the two of us and told my dad to buy a chauffeur’s hat so he could act as a taxi for the evening. We got suitably dressed up, drove down the country roads to Congleton and stepped out in to Pecks Restaurant.

We were greeted and brought to our table, we came for the “dinner at eight” seating as they call it, it was 7:30 so the dining room was quite empty but we didn’t really mind, just ordered a couple of cocktails and waited. We did notice that the room it felt quite corporate. There was a lot of grey and marble, not any distinguishable music and the tables were strangely arranged to be close to each other even though there was a lot of space left. People started pouring in, and that gave the room a little bit more life, even though half of the clientele had little left of their own… The servers started to bring out small amuse bouche’s which they announced to each table, naming ingredients in a very rehearsed way (I didn’t realise this would be a consistent part of the evening) and I genuinely can’t remember what they were, it was three iterations of pastry, two of which I remember being burnt. Not a great start but we were starving so I remember half heartedly saying that they were really nice.

The bread course came, which was fine and then they started coming around asking which option we would like for the soup course. They did this with every single course. Coming over, with a plate of food to show us, listing what it was, what was in it and then moving to the table right next to us, saying the exact same thing. All the while you’re sat there having heard the spiel 4 times in various volumes like a car driving past. This affectation was very odd and seemed like an unnecessary attempt to be “posh” like something Basil Fawlty would make Manuel do. All of this promenading did not make up for the fact that the food was a complete swing and a miss. There were too many courses for me to do a detailed description of each so I’ll write a list:

• Chicken and sweetcorn soup - an attempt on Chinese classic but lacked all of the flavour, it could’ve been out of a tin

• Goats Cheese lollipop with charcoal mayonnaise and red pepper compote - It was spelt or something held together with a teaspoon of goats cheese, the charcoal mayo was interesting but didn’t go with the red pepper at all.

• Lamb ribs, homemade kimchi, chicory and kodiak beer glaze - This just wasn’t on the plate. I got two thin lamb chops which might as well have been jerky, there was no chicory but a random whole carrot, some fried little gem lettuce and plum jam on the meat. The kimchi was the best part and it tasted distinctly like the brand I buy at home.

• Pudding selection - if they put as much effort in to the actual food as they did with their cakes they’d be on to a winner. I can’t remember what they were but they were great, sadly i’m not a sweet person, so I didn’t really care. The banoffee pie was good.

• Cheese - The option was there, but we didn’t have it as we were too full, we opted for the dessert cocktail instead which was gross. A limoncello milkshake thing, big mistake.

• Coffee and petit fours - Possibly the weakest coffee i’ve ever had, and a couple of pieces of pistachio nougat.

My mum had the braised Ox cheek with mashed potatoes for one of the courses, and that was the best thing on the menu. I was very jealous. I think if you’re going down an Asian style route you better have someone in the kitchen who knows about it. This half assed attempt at chinese/japanese/british fusion just looked try hard. This restaurant is in the Cheshire countryside catering for retired couples. Stick to what you know, use the produce around you and perfect a few really good dishes each month.

The wine pairings didn’t really make any sense, for one course we got the completely wrong wine. I payed the bill and on the way home I said to mum she didn’t have to be polite… “I’m not sure it was worth the money love” YEAH ME NEITHER. I just felt sorry that a special night fell flat. But we’ve been laughing about it and vowed not to go back.

Battle of the Brat(s)

So one day I was listening to the Off Menu Podcast with James Acaster and Ed Gamble, and heard of this restaurant Brat. He made this restaurant sound like absolute heaven, from the real fire cooking approach to the carefully curated wine lists that change weekly. So since Jake’s birthday was coming up, I felt it was a perfect excuse to treat myself to a meal in a place I really fancied going to, under the guise of it being a celebration.

Little did I know that this meal would set off an obsession with the restaurant for both of us. I chose the original venue on Redchurch Street, as it was the one with the Michelin star, and Jake is a fancy queen; from the beginning we were impressed. The venue is quite small and simple, with dark wood interiors and an impressive open kitchen with a roaring wood fire. We chose a selection of small and larger plates which came when they came. The wine was pretty expensive but tasty and paired well with everything, i’m guessing the entire list is planned so whatever you choose will be good with whatever is on offer that week. The star of the show for this meal was definitely the huge mutton chop served with offal sausage, butterbeans and lambs liver. It was rich, tasted of barnyard in the best way possible and was quite frankly STUNNING, but so was the Dover sole which was served whole with a lemony-caper butter. Honestly the food is incredible. You cannot leave without trying the Basque cheesecake which is fluffy but dense, with a black burnt top.

But honey… a big storm was coming…

Months later, last week to be exact, we cheated on Brat Redchurch Street with Brat x Climpsons Arch.

I’d love to say it was a one time thing, that it never meant anything and will never happen again, but I just can’t. The reason being, was that Jake got a job at Brat x Climpsons Arch only a few weeks after our first romance with Brat Redchurch Street. So when the time came, we obviously had to go for a meal at the sister restaurant, and I have to say, I preferred it. I’d heard a lot about it from Jake having worked there, but it was not what I expected at all. Walking in, it feels like a beer tent at a festival. Theres a strong smell of woodsmoke and herbs and there are rickety looking tables just set on the tarmac floor. It all looked so makeshift and rustic, very different to the more refined Brat with the Michelin star.

You don’t get any physical menus, and have to just take a picture of the chalkboard that’s shown at the front, boasting different whole fish that you can choose by weight, meats, small plates and oysters as an appetiser. We had two glasses of champagne to start along with oysters dressed with dill and chardonnay vinegar. We then moved on to having the famous anchovy bread, served hot, along with ox tongue smothered in a smoky red pepper sauce, tuna croquettes with a bitter leaf salad, charred romanesco and fennel salad with anchovy dressing and a bottle of Sicilian white wine. YOU NEED TO GO HERE. Not only did I prefer the menu this time, but the atmosphere was relaxed but fun and busy, a bit like a street party.

We needed a break between the small plates and the main, because although they were small, they were so rich and full of flavour that we wanted to recover a little before the delicate 1.2kg crab came to our table, served alongside smoked roasted potatoes drenched in hay butter (yes you read that right, butter that had been smoked with hay). Not only was the crab bloody massive, but the brown meat in the head was smushed together in to a bisque with wine and lemon, perfect for dipping the tender claw meat in to, or potatoes, or your fingers, or your face. Anything you like really.

At this point, Jake and I were drunk, bloated and happy. But we lack self control, so we got two espresso martinis, a Basque cheesecake and a rhubarb and custard choux bun to finish. The choux bun was a bit of a curveball, we didn’t think it would be as good as it was, but holy mother of sh!xt it was tart, creamy and light, a welcome cut through all the rich food we just inhaled.

Long story short, just go to Brat x Climpson’s Arch.

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeeeene

I went on a date. A very good date set up by Jake. He told me to meet me at a corner in Hackney at a certain time and to dress nicely. I LOVE that.

I mean I just love being out in general, eating, drinking, chatting. Most of my happy times are around a table with friends and a bottle of wine. Jake didn’t tell me where we were going, but he led me to this pretty terracotta painted restaurant withe Jolene written on the brick in scrawly lettering. I only knew this micro chain as coffee shops (who serve the most amazing coffee by the way) I did not know they had restaurants too! We were greeted by our server who gave us the option to sit on the pavement and have an aperitif before we ate, and reccomended his favourite which was an apricot cordial with gin and soda. we were off to a good start because 1) I love an aperitif before a meal and 2) it was bloody delicious. Not too sweet, but refreshing and slightly tart.

We were led inside and seated at a large farmhouse table where a family were sat. Usually I loathe the thought of sitting on communal tables having to make awkward small talk, but there was something organic about the situation. There was a nice feeling to it, as if we came for the same gentle experience. The restaurant pride themselves on only using local produce, and the menu changes daily. We had a selection of tapas style dishes, from serrano ham just sliced thinly on a plate, an aubergine crostini, some absolutely mouthwatering zucchini fritti with a garlic aioli, and the ultimate star the tagliatelle with ndjua and mussels. Our server also did the respectable thing and gave us a slice of homemade sourdough to mop up the rest of the sauce from the pasta.

We finished the evening with a couple of espresso’s and a stunning chocolate and apricot cake, thankfully we didn’t get two because it was just so rich.

I would highly recommend Jolene for an evening meal, it took us both away from London for the evening, made us relaxed and comfortable with its tipsy swooning atmosphere, candle light and rich smells wafting from the kitchen. I would also recommend their coffee shops too, as the coffee and pastries are delightful.

Six by Nico? Sloshed by Nico.

I decided that my boyfriend Jake and I should go to Six by Nico. I was impressed at the thought that a fine dining, tasting menu experience could actually be rather affordable. And with the frequently changing menu’s (every six weeks, hence the name), I was hopeful that we would get a fun gastronomic experience that wouldn’t make me want to cry when I looked at my current account the next day.

Jake and I had decided that we would turn the experience in to a full on date night. Which meant for me slowly primping myself for the entire day, accompanied with watching the sickliest girly films you could imagine, and accidentally drinking half a bottle of wine and two G&T’s in the process. By the time I arrived at the Fitzrovia pub near the restaurant I was tipsy and looked fabulous. Jake wasn’t far behind me and we decided to have a drink as we were still quite early for our booking.

This was our first mistake.

It was now time to go and get our table. We entered the restaurant which was warm and dimly lit, it was opulent without being too try-hard. Jake’s lovely housemate who happens to be assistant manager seated us near the lovely open kitchen and since we decided to splash out we got the tasting menu with accompanying wines. We were swiftly brought two glasses of bubbly and the aperitif for the evening. The pleasingly peachy coloured drink was rum based with sweet ginger and tart lime notes, it immediately transported me to the east which boded well considering the theme for this six weeks was Hanoi.

We opted to try the “snack” which was on offer for the evening, this consisted of shrimp crackers and crispy oyster mushrooms served with soy and a peanut satay sauce. These were delicious, particularly the satay sauce and umami oyster mushrooms which could’ve had me fooled for chicken strips.

Now this is where the hurdles came in. The first course came, Vietnamese shellfish foam, avocado, grapefruit with crispy noodles and wild rice. It sounded rather strange from the menu, but I assumed that it must be a winning combo if it was on there in the first place. Boy was I wrong. It was utterly strange. Individually, the components were well flavoured and interesting, but all together was a clashing, confused bundle of bitter, creamy and fishy. The grapefruit overpowered the shellfish foam, the avocado was completely hidden and the noodles with wild rice was purely there for some crunch.

The savoury dishes kept rolling in, as did the glasses of different wines that sometimes paired, sometimes didn’t. It was a really lovely evening. The atmosphere was busy, the staff were personable and attentive, and we just got drunker and drunker. As the night went on we got more and more in to critiquing the food as if we were Jay Rayner and Jonathan Gold. The stand out dish of the night was definitely the cod with coconut and coriander chutney, Vietnamese curry, bok choy and banh da. The combination of flavours were surprisingly delicate and sweet, there was also a freshness from the bok choy which came as a sort of salad; this dish was a sweet memory once the following came, oh my, what a disappointment. The tamarind glazed chicken was the bum note of the night, with dry, flavourless chicken breast in the shape of a spear, nestled amongst an unimaginative sweet potato mash and mango puree, all served with a side of chicken salad!?!? Everything was overly sweet, dry and seemed like they were reaching for ideas.

By the end of the savoury courses we were pleasantly full, and still having a great evening. The restaurant had quietened as it was getting quite late which was a gentle relief from the bustle around us earlier on. Out came our desserts, which were presented as slithers similar to cheesecake. I think this may have been my favourite course overall because for the very fist time during the meal, the wine chosen paired absolutely perfectly. It was a fruity, soft gewurztraminer riesling, that just slid along with the caramel-tart notes of the kumquat and palm sugar.

We left the restaurant feeling full, happy and romantic. Whether or not we would go back is undecided, as we have had better food in other places, however the experience as a whole was fun, relaxed and made us feel a bit special for the night. I think Six by Nico is a brilliant gateway for people who maybe want to start trying fine dining experiences, or just want an exciting evening trying new foods. You get what you pay for. If you’re going expecting Michelin standard food, you will be disappointed, but if you’re just down for some nice flavour combinations and good talking points, it’s a good place for you.