My Kind of Food

During my recent stay in the North-East of England, I went, with members of my family, to a 1 Star Restaurant in Newcastle. In fact we went to only Michelin Starred restaurant in the city.

I’ve eaten Kenny Atkinson’s food three times now; firstly at Seaham Hall, many years ago where he gained a star, and later at Rockcliffe Hall; both in County Durham.

House of Tides is his own place and first gained a star in 2015 and subsequently retained it for 2016 and most recently for 2017.  The restaurant itself is close to the iconic Tyne Bridge and the funky swing bridge.  It’s housed in a former 16th Century merchant’s house which has been converted into what his publicity calls ‘a casual and informal space’.  The ground floor is in what I would call, industrial chic style, complete with rustic tables and chairs; some of the tables were even a bit sticky in the olde-worlde end of the street pub way!   It’s in this area that pre-dinner drinks are served – I had a negroni – and the menu is presented for consideration. Alongside the drinks we were given a serving board of three bite sized gougeres (savoury choux buns).  The gougeres were piped full of unctuous cream cheese with onion chutney and truffle.  I’m a bit funny about truffle, sometimes I like it and sometimes I don’t, so in this case I was content that I couldn’t detect its unique taste at all.

The menu choice, headed, ‘Autumn 2016’, was between a Dinner Tasting and a Vegetarian Tasting.  Interesting to note that the vegetarian option followed the non-veggie one as closely as possible without upsetting the sensibilities of non-carnivores (of which there were none on our table). The gougeres formed the first item on the menu – so far so good!

We were taken upstairs and found our wine and water choices already on the edge of table. Adam our waiter for the evening was introduced to us and proved to be an excellent guide to what we were eating.

It’s worth mentioning here, that, in order to reinforce the casual style the staff wear black jeans and either black or white open-necked shirts.  Customers too were in smart-casual mode, with only one tie seen in the whole place.  To my mind this is a good thing.

The first course served at the table came in three parts, all put in the centre (three of each).  The first I tried was a small ice-cream cone containing liver parfait and sultanas, with a lovely mild curry flavour; the second a tiny macaron, described on the menu as, Carrot meringue, carrot curd, fennel pollen; the third a fresh oyster from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne with cucumber, ginger and ‘caviar’.  All were lovely and exceptionally fresh tasting but I discovered for myself, that the order in which you eat them is important.  I really wish I’d started with the oyster (the mildest of the three elements), then the parfait, finishing with the macaron.  The macaron was such a dominant flavour it really obscured the oyster which followed.  I’d happily eat a whole pile of them though.  Adam received the feedback with a level of interest that makes the diners feel that they are not just passive consumers of what is laid before them but maybe co-creators of a culianry experience.  So perhaps, in future it wouldn’t do any harm to recommend an eating order for this trio of goodies.

What ever it is that puts food in the one, two or three Michelin star bracket, those little meringues had it.   Intense!

Bread and butter (fermented rye bread and Grant Harrington’s cultured butter) were served alongside a little pot of Butternut Squash with smoked bacon and truffle. Again intensity of flavour was the overwhelming impression of this velvety, creamy soup the bacon bits offering just a touch of bite for contrast.

Mackerel is a simple yet lovely fish, especially when served with something a little sour to cut through the oiliness of the fish itself.  In this case the menu promised, Mackerel, artichoke, blackberry.  Ok, so a tart blackberry should be a good foil to the oily mackerel  but I was half way through before I realised there was nothing resembling a blackberry on my plate. Adam, who hadn’t served this course to us, explained that there had been a menu substitution consequently we had mackerel, apple and pickled radish before us.  The pickled radish might’ve offered that sourness I was looking for but sadly, in reality, it didn’t.  The tiny pieces of fish though were very yummy.

A little bit here about the service.  I can’t abide an overly obsequious waiting style.  It makes me feel guilty about the fact that someone is waiting on me.  It’s opposite vice, indifference to the needs or wants of the diner, is equally abhorrent.  The staff at House of Tides get it right in my view.  They are attentive (wine glass always unobtrusively topped up), interested to know how we found the food and (apparently) keen to receive constructive criticism.  ‘Our’ Adam in particular was invisible until we needed him, then unfailingly polite and scrupulously professional.  He deserves to go far in his career.

Back to the food!  Next up was the first of two meat courses; in this case, Venison tartare, beetroot, blueberries and kale.  It was a suitably tiny portion, presented in a ‘pile’ on a dark plate. I was intrigued.  Two flavours dominated – blueberry and deep fried kale.  The kale was reminiscent of that so-called ‘seaweed’ you get from Chinese take-aways, which is deep fried shredded cabbage sprinkled with powdered scallops.  I love it.  For the life of me though, once I’d put that morsel of flavour into my mouth and a blueberry, I couldn’t distinguish the taste of the venison at all, nor indeed of the beetroot, which in my view should have provided an earthy flavour.  I’m not sure what the solution to this is, but I hope my feedback makes them think again about this particular combination.

The lamb dish, which followed, did not have the same issues at all.  The testimony to how much I loved this dish is that I didn’t stop eating it long enough to take a photograph! The menus told us it would be, Lamb, broccoli, tomato, radish, and so it was, but that’s only the start!!! The lamb was rump, tongue and sweetbreads.  The rump was beautifully cooked, a vibrant reddish-pink colour and very flavoursome, however, the offal stole the day.  Last time I had (veal) sweetbreads I really didn’t enjoy them and although I love eating cold pressed ox and pork tongue I’d never  before eaten lamb tongue.  The sweetbreads were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with just enough firmness to allow you to bite into it before it started to dissolve.  As for the tongue, the tip of the tongue apparently,  I have never eaten anything before that tasted so much of lamb.  When can I eat these lovely things again?

And so to the puddings.  We next tucked into, Raspberry, lemon, pine nuts, which was in fact a light, sharp and delicious lemon posset with a pine nut crumble and raspberry sorbet on top.  Heaven!  The Pear, almond, ginger second pudding was equally delicious and light but by now the over-enthusiastic heating in the dining room was making us tired and longing for some cool, fresh air

So how to sum up?  Not everything was spectacular about House of Tides but on the whole it was a good and enjoyable experience, with some exceptional high points.  The macarons, lamb offal and the posset were to die for.  The atmosphere was suitably relaxed (if a tad warm) and with great service from Adam.  I was less enthusiastic about the venison dish and would’ve preferred the version of the mackerel that was on the menu.  The restaurant’s focus on locally sourced and fresh procure though will mean that sometimes there needs to be last minute menu changes.

Kenny Atkinson, the Chef-patron, wasn’t working the evening I was there so I’m guessing that Danny Parker, Head Chef, was driving.  Thanks to him and his brigade for some lovely food.  I’d need a more frequently changing menu to entice me back next time I’m in the area though and as a returning customer I would probably prefer to have an al a carte option to sit alongside the tasting menu.