Newcastle, in the North-east of England is a fascinating city, known in the past for ship-building and football and today, as well as Premiership football, also for the locals not wearing coats when having a night on the ‘toon’. No matter the weather, T-shirts and short skirts or shorts are the order of the day and the night! Its also home to Newcastle Brown Ale, a local brew that I’ve drunk all around the world, even as far away as Sydney, Australia.
There’s another connection with Sydney and that’s the Tyne Bridge, linking the cities of Newcastle and Gateshead and sitting 59m above the River Tyne. The bridge was opened in 1928 very close to the site of the Pons Aelius, the very first bridge across the Tyne built by the Romans in the year 122 A.D. The present bridge was built by a Middlesborough firm, Dorman Long & Co Ltd in the same style as their other, larger work, which opened in 1932 in Sydney. Having visited both I know which I prefer and it’s the original Geordie version!
The roads rise steeply away from the river in Newcastle, towards the castle and city centre, but in the shadow of the bridge, one block back from the river, is an array of small independent pubs, cafes and restaurants. They’re in sharp contrast to those that can be found in the more hip Quayside area which are typically large chain bars and restaurants catering for the many stag and hen parties which fill the city at weekends.
My nephew and his girlfriend are good guides to the eateries of Newcastle and, during a recent visit, we went together to a couple of interesting places. Of note is a very small Thai restaurant, called Old Siam in a road called Side. It has a sister restaurant, of the same name, in York too. From what we could see, the waiting and kitchen staff are all Thai, ensuring authenticity in the preparation of the food and in that smiling Thai welcome front-of-house.
It’s a simple place with friendly staff and the food is very yummy indeed, although I suspect the Tom Yum soup is toned down a bit for western tastes. I’m going to remember the soft-shell crab starter I had for a very long time, in fact, next time I go, I’m going to have a double portion as a main course. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and you can also have a takeaway.
The North-east of England, like the North of Italy, has its particular local delicacies and maybe there will be the opportunity to write about some of them on this blog in the future, things like Singing Hinnies, Pease Pudding and Panackelty For now though, a call out for the Stottie Cake, which despite its name, is a form of bread, not a cake, in the way we understand the name nowadays. Its a flat round loaf 20-30cms in diameter and about 4 centimetres deep with a small indentation in the middle. Its name is associated with the dialect verb to ‘stott’ which means to bounce. The stottie cakes, if dropped, should therefore bounce! It’s a true taste of home for north-easterners who’ve moved away and made all the more special because it’s almost impossible to find outside of the region. Split in half and stuffed with boiled ham and pease pudding or with bacon for breakfast it’s delicious.
Come back to the blog soon for more about my recent visit to Newcastle, including my review of a Michelin 1 Star restaurant and breakfast of Craster Kippers!
My Kind of Food 