This was our 13th visit to Northcote. Would it be an unlucky post-lockdown visit? No, it wouldn’t. On our last couple of meals there, service had been a bit iffy but this was now back on the ball as you’d usually expect. There didn’t seem much obvious concession to Covid-secure arrangements but that may just mean they’ve been very thoughtful about it. They’ve certainly distanced the tables – so much so that the usual dining room was only for hotel residents whilst folk, like us, just in for dinner, were accommodated in one of the “function rooms” just off the bar area.
We had a drink in the bar – it was actually still too warm to comfortably sit outside. It comes with a couple of canapes – a beetroot and goat’s cheese macaron and a fab version of a Lancashire butter pie. The latter seems to be a fashionable nibble – we had similar at Hipping Hall last year – and rightly so.
That gave us time to scan the menu but we’d really already decided to have the five course “gourmet menu”. It’s usually a good bet and takes some of the most seasonal dishes from the main menu. This screamed “English summer” at you. Once seated, bread came quickly. Like our visit last year, there’s a really good sourdough and a Lancashire cheese bread. Also familiar from last summer, was a starter of a chilled tomato soup – like a jellied consommé with semi dried cherry tomatoes in it and a few dried basil leaves. They serve a basil granita to sprinkle over which chills it even further. There’s also their take on the Spanish “pan con tomato” – a small slice of toast brioche, smeared with olive oil mayo and topped with a tomato jelly. Absolutely superb and the best dish we ate all evening.
That’s not to say that the other courses were in any way off the mark. Next up was a bacon broth with tiny ravioli filled with a pea puree and a scattering of fresh peas. The pasta was properly al dente and the sweetness of the peas balanced out the saltiness of the broth. Then a slice of poached turbot and a scattering of mussels. A little spoonful of wilted nasturtium leaves gave a slightly bitter, slightly peppery contrast to the soft flavours of the fish. And there’s a little jug of a very butch mussel broth to pour over everything.
The main course featured a chunk of Herdwick lamb – to my mind probably the best tasting British lamb and from just up the road in the Lake District. There’s also a lamb sausage encased in lamb fat. I thought the sausage was lovely; my companion in life not so keen. There’s a “fat chip” sized piece of carrot , a dab of sheep’s curd and a few crisp lovage leaves which all work well as accompaniments.
Dessert was a typical Northcote affair. They often “deconstruct” versions of well known dishes, although they are often so deconstructed as not to really have any real connection with the original. They still always work very well as standalone desserts. And so it was with strawberry trifle. There’s a cylinder of strawberry jelly that may just be the most strawberry tasting thing either of us have eaten. There’s another cylinder of cream, encased in a thin shell of white chocolate. And a close runner up in the “most strawberry taste” was a strawberry sorbet. And, for the final trifle element , a jug of lemon thyme flavoured custard to pour over.
We finished with coffee and very good petit fours. We had been celebrating our anniversary and it had been a lovely evening.
