Donald Watson’s Vegan Bar

Given all that’s going on, what a delight to welcome the opening of a really lovely new bar in the centre of Leicester.

Donald Watson’s Vegan Bar is part of the Kayal and Herb group and is actually located within the expanded premises of Herb on Granby Street, though it has its own entrance. First that name – Donald Watson was the founder of modern veganism, indeed he invented the word, and he lived and worked in Leicester for many years working as a joinery teacher. And true to his legacy, all the drinks in the bar are vegan – beers, wines, cocktails and spirits.

It’s taken time to ensure all this, but it does mean that there’s nothing remotely worthy or cranky on show here. Many brands from the interesting end of mainstream brands are present and the bar has tremendous character. The eclectic, magpie approach of Kayal founder Jaimon Thomas is again here present with signature touches such as the Royal Enfield motorbike behind the bar, funky car seats, steampunk tables and statement artworks such as a Platinum Jubilee portrait of the late Queen.

Bar manager Ross describes it as a cocktail bar for grown ups, and he relishes the idea of bring a bit of theatre to the serving of his cocktails. Obviously there’s some synergy with the adjoining – mainly vegan – Herb, but this is very much its own thing and ideal for a cocktail, aperitif or nightcap when having a night out in the city. Or spend the whole evening there of course – vegan bar snacks from the Herb kitchen available. Ross has plans for cocktail making classes, wine tasting, corporate events and so on, making the most of the flexible offer they have with restaurant.

A big welcome them to a fun, sophisticated and highly distinctive new bar.

The Wheatsheaf at Greetham

When in need of spiritual sustenance my favoured strategy is a drive out from Leicester to Bloody Oaks Quarry in Rutland. This tiny nature reserve is a rare local example of a limestone grassland, making it a haven for some rare and beautiful butterflies and I love it. Here is a gratuitous picture for fellow fritillery fans from a recent visit:

But there are other kinds of sustenance and fortunately Rutland, with its plethora of dining pubs is good at providing that too. On visiting Bloody Oaks last week, I chose to go a further 5 minutes up the A1 to the village of Greetham and to The Wheatsheaf. It’s four years since I reviewed it on this blog and on behalf of Great Food Club, and I’m pleased to say nothing much has changed – from the little assemblage of ducks residing in the car park to the informal welcome and the outstanding cooking from Carol Craddock.

Carol has great experience and a revered standing in the industry from time spent in the Big City. She’s not alone in finding that at some stage in life it’s rewarding to use your skills in a more relaxed environment where you can control the parameters and do what you want without excessive stress. For the people of Rutland that means classic cookery at an accessible price, and where every detail from the sherry vinegar dip and the quite wonderful piquillo pepper and goats cheese butter with the bread, shouts quality.

I picked the Lunch for Less menu and started with Spanish rillettes, a nice twist on a classic with smoked paprika spiking up the rough-cut pork belly and collar meats. Lightly soused vegetables were beautifully done too. Main course was an enormous confit duck leg on a crisp rosti with fresh greens and light-as-air quennelle of whipped horseradish cream. Good technique and deep flavours everywhere.

Not only did I demolish these substantial dishes, but given how good they were and the fact that I’m unlikely to get out there again for a while, I went all in for the desert. Again faultless, a spot-on pannacotta, made with buttermilk adding just a touch of acidity and served with a lightly grilled peach and a shortbread biscuit.

At £23.50 it’s considerably less than you would likely pay for three courses at, to pick at random, TGI Fridays in Highcross. Insane. If I’d gone a la carte there’s still plenty of value in dishes such as grilled spiced quail with pomegranate dressing or roast fillet of chorizo crusted cod, arrocina beans, piquillo peppers, artichoke and spinach.

It’s a fair old trek from Leicester I know, but if you’re out in the East or you just find yourself on the A1 and it’s time for lunch, you really should give it a go.

The Pickled Mushroom

I wanted to like the Pickled Mushroom. It’s a sort of permanent pop-up based within the King Richard III on Highcross Street – a pub where first Chris and Andrea from Crafty and later Sam Hagger’s Beautiful Pubs collective had run excellent restaurants but just could not garner up enough midweek trade to make it profitable. I liked the look of the menu and had heard good things about the barbecue-inspired food, and anyone launching a hospitality business deserves admiration. As I say, I wanted to like it, but…

We arrive early Saturday evening and sat in outside area. We tried and failed to connect with the QR-code business (I’ve never yet succeeded with this bane of modern bars and restaurants – quite possibly my problem I know) and eventually went inside in search of a menu. We were told someone would be out soon, but ended up having to go back inside to order. We were looking for good filling fare and I settled on a barbecued pork belly flatbread with apple, cheddar and mozzarella, black sesame and rocket, while my partner had a mango and chilli chicken wrap with cashews and Asian slaw, and we shared a portion of crispy chicken poppers.

I found the flatbread a bit grim – a doughy pizza-style bread, gone a bit biscuity round the edges. The toppings too seemed just a thrown together pizza – dry pork belly, melted cheese and an oversweet ketchuppy barbecue sauce. More interesting flavours from apple, rocket and sesame couldn’t compete. The wrap was ok, just a bit of mish-mash of flavours. The accompanying fries were nice and crispy but exceedingly over-salted – we resulted to brushing off what we could of the salt before eating. The chicken poppers, with more of that barbecue sauce, could have been ok – a nice crisp crumb, but the ratio of crumb to chicken was around 50/50, making it unbalanced. These too were over-salted. I’d suspect a ploy with the pub to sell more beer but it seems to major on cocktails – there was one pump with Tiger and a few draft lagers and that was it on the beer front.

Service from young stuff was friendly, but not always competent. We were offered neither cutlery or serviettes and none was available outside – we managed with fingers. Later at home when we checked the e-mailed receipt (another less than ideal 2021 innovation) we realised we’d been overcharged £2.50 on one item.

The chef team here are moving towards a more restauranty menu, claiming wide experience with “renowned Michelin chefs”. The place seemed quite busy but as you can see it didn’t work for me. I kept thinking – how would Crafty have done this?, and reflecting on what a crying shame Leicester didn’t break down their doors when they had this lovely pub.

Leicester Beer Week

I’m a little but tardy here but a quick reminder the today marks the start of the inaugural Leicester Beer Week.  It’s a lovely idea that focuses on special events and special offers that celebrate and promote our local beer culture with  go-ahead local pubs and local brewers.

There’s been a lot of work done by volunteers, not least my pal Jamie Stenson, to get people on board and there are plenty of interesting events. I’m kicking myself for missing today’s “Meet the Brewer” session at the Two-Talied Lion with the people behind the wonderful Cloudwater brews.

For a full listing of offers and event go to Leicester Beer Week

Crafty Chicks keeps it simple

It seems to be getting harder and harder to run a proper, sit-down-and-have-a-serious-meal restaurant. The Indian restaurant subset is battling the headwinds – Paddy’s Marten Inn, Kayal and Herb have given me lovely meals in busy environments this summer – but the trend towards informal grazing seems to be gathering pace.

Last year in Leicester we saw the fine dining Maiyango morph into the bright and breezy The Fish and The Chip, a fun and high quality take on the traditional British seaside chippy. Now this month the King Richard III suspends its marvellous menu of steaks and  grills and modern European classics for a three month takeover by Crafty Chicks, which could be interpreted as a gastropub take on the ubiquitous chicken shop (note traditional Sunday lunches are still being served.)

Crafty, of course, is the King Dick’s owners Chris and Andrea Elliman’s brand which offers the city’s best burgers over at St Martin’s Tea and Coffee. The core poultry offering here is Crafty Fried Chicken marinated in a spices and buttermilk, or barbecue chicken grilled on the robata grill with their own barbecue spice rub (two pieces £5, whole jointed chicken £18). The sides are pure Crafty – skin-on fries,  poutine, chipotle coleslaw, watermelon with lime, mint, peanut and chilli etc.  It looks brilliant for casual sharing.

I popped in at lunchtime and had a very quick sandwich of katsu chicken (£5, above) – panko-coated fried breast with tonkatsu sauce, kewpie mayonnaise and slaw. It was full of Japanese umami loveliness but the flavours were a bit unfocussed maybe – lacking something central and distinctive. A side of cucumber kimchi was an inspired touch – deceptively spicy. I hope to get back soon for some barbecue chicken.

No doubt some of the issues facing  restaurants are down to seasonal issues  – the World Cup played its part and the extraordinary extended hot summer is not doing restaurants any favours. But there are also longer term trends both cultural and economic that make the £25 plus per head meal out an ever harder sell.

Fair play to the Ellimans for keeping nimble and trying to keep on top of the market. That said, I hope in the winter months we get a chance to try more of their wonderful steaks, warming soups and elegant deserts.

 

 

 

Grazing at the King Richard III

I was at the King Richard III today to do some filming with Leicester chef Kwoklyn Wan and fellow food writer Laura Morrighani for the BBC East Midlands’ Inside Out slot. We had a chat about what people are looking for in restaurants nowadays in the context of the struggles facing several well-known chain restaurants.

Fortunately we also got fed  – which gives me a chance to mention that the KRIII has now introduced a fine grazing menu to complement it’s regular restaurant offering. For those that hadn’t realised,  the pub has a new head chef in the form of Martin Powdrill –  who should be well known to regular readers as the man behind Cured at Brewdog and The Cookie. The grazing menu includes  his signature platters – which the three of us were able to enjoy today – and which  combine terrific breads with innovative cured meats, terrines, cheeses, slaws, purees, pestos,  pickles and other sorts of loveliness.  Shared between three its just over £7 a head and is a lovely way to complement a few beers or glass of wine. Its freshness, originality and creativity also points to just why some of the more formulaic and , let’s face it, mediocre chains have been struggling.

Also available are the likes of ox cheek or Korean pork buns or snacks  (3 for £12.95) such as sesame Japanese wins, pork and black pudding sausage roll with smoked beer ketchup, poutine, beef jerky and jersey royal and cauliflower pakoras.

Food is served from 5.30 pm and at lunchtimes from Friday to Sunday. The grazing menu looks great in itself  but should also serve as good way for newbies to check out this really fine food pub.

As for the filming – transmission won’t be until September but rest assured I’ll remind you nearer the time.

 

 

The Head of Steam

Last night I was at a pre-launch evening for the Head of Steam, a big new pub on Market Street that opens tonight.  Run by Hartlepool brewers Cameron’s, it’s an intriguing initiative that shows how the more enterprising of the pub companies are responding to the changing market.

There’s now 18 pubs around the country branded as Head of Steam, all of them marked by a really good range of draught real ales, cutting edge craft beers in keg, and some exotic Belgian and European specials too.  Leicester is no exception, with the current draught selection including – obviously  – a couple of Cameron’s own ales including their flagship ruby bitter Strongarm, plus local brews from Framework, Charnwood and Langton. Craft beers include the extraordinary hazy, full of tropical fruit pale DDH Engima Ekuanot from cult brewers Cloudwater, who also supply a Baltic porter, plus  various lambics, saisons, IPAs and wheatbeers.  Gratifyingly there are screens displaying information about the beers available and beer matching suggestions on the food menu  – there is an effort to actually sell the beer here, not just have it as window dressing.

So far, so micropub. But this a big old barn of a place spread over two floors and which is a mile away from those cosy ale and conversation places that have made the running in the industry recently. There’s music, fruit machines and a few familiar lagers here too. There’s also a big cocktail and hoptail menu which were going down well last night but I don’t really hold with them so I stuck to the beers.

There’s plenty of restaurant space and a big food menu – burgers, pizzas, multicultural tapas and a few specials.  On this evidence it may not be worth a special trip but it’s perfectly competent pub food to soak up the beer. My chicken Milanese was crisp where it needed to be crisp and tender where it needed to be tender and harissa spiced salmon was tasty enough, though no great subtleties of flavour.

It’s hard to judge service on a trial night  – aspects of it were quite chaotic but the staff were by and large lovely and seemed well-chosen. They are going to have to sort out service routines quickly but the ambience is good. Given the somewhat grim, anodyne venue the Head of Steam replaces, this is a huge improvement. It’s great to have a big commercial venue with the clout to get some otherwise hard-to get beers and to support small-scale locals – creating more of a market should encourage them to invest and improve.

• Edit February 2019: Cameron’s have announced they are closing the Head of Steam and rebranding to their Sanctuary format. They say that have “listened to Leicester” and that the new bar is “more aligned with the sport and late-night economy and demographic in Leicester.”
  So that doesn’t sound too promising – back to being a run of the mill drinking barn possibly.  But I can understand it too – the place had a poor start and I heard bad things about the management post-launch – but  it never seemed to match its beer offering with an appropriate atmosphere. I think beer drinkers in Leicester are still wedded to the idea of smaller, convivial environments – such as the very different Blue Boar and Two-Tailed Lion both just around the corner from the HoS.  Still, good news Camerons are sticking by Leicester and I will check the Sanctuary after its opening due on 1 March.

 

Dutch Courage

Yeah I know this is supposed to be a Leicestershire and Rutland blog but the way I see it you guys all love your food and drink and can handle a recommendation wherever it is in the world.

I’ve just got back from a work trip to the Netherlands the Dutch tourist board, which was then prolonged for two days courtesy of The Beast from the East and an absence of flights from Schiphol. But the ill wind out of Siberia blew me some luck in the shape of  36 hours in the very lovely town of Haarlem. It’s just 20 minutes west of the airport but it a delightful town well worth a visit if you fancy something a bit more down to Earth than Amsterdam.

There’s an extraordinary market square and cathedral, beautiful canals and first-rate cultural attractions, not least the Frans Hals museum which has the world’s largest collection of this Golden Age painter and Teylers – the Netherlands oldest museum with a collection paying homage to the 18th century Enlightenment. But for our purposes here I’ll focus on the wonderful Jopen brewery.

Housed in a cavernous  former Church this marvellous brewpub has five gleaming 60 hectolitre tanks behind the bar which furnish forth some twenty of their own beers. These are displayed on huge screens with a scrolling focus on each one giving useful tasting notes and information  – a really big improvement over squinting at a pump clip in the hope of seeing something to help your choice. In Leicester terms I suppose you could think the West End Brewery fused with Brewdog, turned up to 11 on the dial and then evicting Richard III and setting up in the Cathedral.

The Dutch and Brits both had our colonial adventures in the East and both developed the IPA style in order to send beer that would last the long sea journey (the Dutch called theirs ‘duraebel scheepsbier” – try saying it out loud). The IPAs I tried were outstanding. Mooie Nel (the Dutch name for the North Sea) had plenty of fruit and bitterness (6.5per cent) but my favourite was Heavy Cross, a triple IPA with Citra, Nelson Sauvin and Hallertau hops which remained extraordinary fresh and well balanced even at 10 per cent (you can buy 125cl glasses – so think of it as a small glass of a lowish alcohol wine). The Rye IPA St Jacobus also impressed.

There’s stouts and other beer styles too, as well as wines and gin of course, and it attracts a bustling, mixed crowd. You can book tasting sessions (I teamed up with some friendly American expats for mine) and brewery tours, and plenty of people come here for the food too. All in all a great place to which to allocate a day of your visit.   To research your trip, you could try starting here: Visit Holland

 

 

 

 

Conventional Beers

I remember a typically droll Daily Mash piece about the local pub that added two draught ales and declared it was having “a festival”. Maybe it was fear of such ridicule that that made the LCB Depot and Gray’s call their event this weekend the Leicester Beer Convention.

In fact though they’ve brought together ten draught beers, four ciders and a range of bottled beers, all made in our fair county. They’ve set it up to coincide with a big weekend of Leicester Comedy Festival happenings.

Ok it’s not the most cosy of venues to spend the evening but this is a great way to help promote local brewers and if you are around and about at the festival Friday or Saturday evening you should pop in and try something. I managed three cheeky halves this evening, including two excellent IPAs,  Nook from Anstey Brewery and Spark from Tollgate. Both of these came in at around 5 per cent and while I like a hop monster as much as the next beardy, these were both more traditional in style  –  clean, fruity and just a little sweet. Even better was the Stout from the West End Brewery, a well-balanced dark beer with hints of coffee and toffee but very gluggable.

 

Gray’s Mexican dog with pulled pork and fixins.

In-house café Gray’s is putting on decent quality comfort food too – burgers, dogs, loaded fries etc. It opens from 5pm on Friday 16th and from 12pm on Saturday.

If you can’t get along, don’t forget the following Friday – 23 February – is the return of Canteen, the massively successful streetfood night at the Depot. This month marks its first anniversary and traders will include European Street Food Award Winners Baked in Brick and their wonderful chicken tikka, Chinese snacks from Dim Sum Su, a spicy take on fish and chips from The English Indian, gluten and dairyfree panAsian food from Canoodle and grilled meats from Street Souvlaki.

Canteen runs from 5pm and watch out for a Lion dance and other special events. to mark the Chinese new year.

Oh – and yes I realise they couldn’t call it Leicester Beer Festival because there’s already one of those and it’s coming soon…

• One more thing.  Sadly the vast bulk of my contribution to last night’s Restaurant Rescue ended up on the cutting room floor. The programme makers clearly decided the story they wanted to tell here was about the personality and motivation of Pratik Master rather than the food itself. It was a fairly interesting insight into the restaurant world, though I think Russell Norman’s series “The Restaurant Man” did it all rather better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing the Knight and Garter

I had a first look at the Knight and Garter last night  – and Sam Hagger’s Beautiful Pubs have done a terrific job at transforming this marvellous and strategically important building into a terrific asset for Leicester city centre.

The former Oirish pub Molly O’Grady’s is now a elegant pub and restaurant doing good quality pub food in a way that should attract families,  business people and casual drinkers alike. The fit out is reminiscent maybe of a sophisticated New York bar, or maybe a smart London steakhouse – not opulent or flashy, but with a smart contemporary style.

For those that know the building, the bar that opened on to Hotel Street is now a sizeable restaurant area, with that entrance now sealed off. The bar area is accessed through the Market Street South entrance, and there’s a bookable downstairs function room too.

It’s unrecognisable from its former incarnation and boasts a brand new £350,000 kitchen which Hagger reckons makes it one of the most technologically-advanced pubs in the UK. The food offering includes some tremendous steaks from Owen Taylor butchers, with whom Hagger has built a long-term relationship for his other pubs The Forge in Glenfield and the nearby Rutland and Derby.  He explained last night they’ve initially even had their own beasts identified from field to abattoir – certainly the texture and flavour of last night’s trial tasting of picana and bone-in sirloin was spectacularly fine.

The drinks offering includes the Everards range but at least three other hand-pulled ales and, much to their excitement, unfiltered, unpasteurised Budvar Krausenden lager, delivered straight from the brewery and with a nice extra tang. Naturally there’s a good selection of gins and wines too.

After spending nearly two years full time on this project Sam Hagger retains his boyish looks and enthusiasm, but clearly has a determined, business head on him to pull this off.  The pub’s not quite finished yet – the outdoor terrace onto Champions Square is still to be done but should be a splendid place to look out from once the Square and Market building are completed. Also in a couple of years the upstairs room are likely to be done out as a boutique hotel.

All in all, this looks a splendid contribution to the ongoing redevelopment of the Market and St Martin’s area.