This was the fourth time we’ve eaten Sam Buckley’s food. But, of course, this was the first time it’s been home delivery and we’ve had to cook some it ourselves. Or, to be precise, warm some of it up ourselves. Since lockdown, we’ve swapped our weekly “restaurant night” for “ restaurant home delivery night”, usually the run of the mill places that deliver via Deliveroo. With a couple of exceptions, these have been restaurants that we generally wouldn’t bother with in “real life”. In truth, I wasn’t convinced that WTLGI’s multi course concept would translate into a meal delivered in carrier bags to our front door. But it did. Oh, yes, it very much did.
The first course just need putting on a plate. A beetroot leaf was folded to become a taco stuffed with beetroot and a drizzle of house made curd. There was a little background sweetness coming from the herb sweet cicely. I had to Google that and found it’s a lovely looking plant that I’m going to try and find a space to grow in the garden.
We served ourselves the next two courses at the same time. Green beans had been cooked on a barbeque or griddle pan so that they developed a nice bit of charring and were still with a bit of texture. Not at all like the fashion of years past, serving beans all but raw, these were actually nice to eat, particularly with the sage butter melted over them. They needed a few minutes in the oven to warm through. The other dish needed proper baking for nearly half an hour. Very thin slices of aubergine, layered up with a little tomato sauce and topped with a thin slice of Ogleshield cheese. I liked that in the way that I like the Italian dish, parmigiana, from which I’m sure they’d drawn inspiration. We ate these two dishes with the wholemeal loaf and cultured butter. Deffo one to slather on generously. There were also a few pickled vegetables - turnips, I think, in a light sweetish pickle. Certainly gave a nice crunch while it cut through the richness of the aubergine. I liked both of these a lot; partner thought the aubergine a bit chewy.
The main course was an odd affair but odd in a very nice way. And it was very WTLGI. There’s a pork broth that was essence of piggy. You had to get that warming up in a pan, then add part cooked Pink Fir potatoes and cabbage and, finally, thin slices of cured pork cheek, belly and loin. So, not a soup, not a stew, not a Sunday roast pork dinner but a bit of all those things. You needed knife, fork and spoon. I have yet to meet a bit of piggy on the plate that I didn’t like and this was no exception. My partner is less keen on pork and wasn’t at all keen on how fatty it was (of course, fat is what gives it its flavour).
Dessert was very straightforward. Pavlova. A small meringue, not overly sweet, with whipped cream and plums. Plums a bit under flavoured but then they arent in season at present.
Oh, yes, there’s also “something for breakfast” - a potato buttermilk bun – but we’ve not eaten them yet.
