It was the opening night at The Broad Chare and the place was alive. The bar area was absolutely rammed which created a real buzz when you walked through the door. We headed straight upstairs to the dining area. It isn’t an overly large space which creates a really cosy atmosphere, as does the bar area downstairs. The specials and fish dishes were written on blackboards and mirrors around the room. I thought that was a really nice touch and in-keeping with the interior of a pub. Each day there is a dish of the day which includes typical pub grub, such as; pies, fish and chips, steak and kidney pudding and stews, all at a reasonable price of £11.50. They serve traditional bar snacks with a twist; pork pies, scotch eggs, crackling, pig’s ears, oysters and cauliflower fritters. However, overall the menu choice was smaller than I had imagined.
To start, Tegan and I both had the dressed crab which was on the blackboard. It was presented like a tian, in that it was moulded into a circle and had the white crab meat layered underneath the brown crab meat. The brown crab meat had been mixed with tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and English mustard. I felt it overpowered the white crab meat a little as it became quite rich after a few mouthfuls. The white crab meat, however, was deliciously fresh and delicate. The crab was served with salad leaves and a wholegrain mustard celeriac remoulade. The mustard was very apparent and again I felt that it was slightly too overpowering when combined with the delicate crab. I felt the crab was over-shadowed by all of the other flavours. The remoulade was gorgeous on its own though. We also tried the cauliflower fritters with curry mayonnaise. They were scrumptious. They were perfectly crisp and weren’t at all greasy. The curry mayonnaise wasn’t too hot and complemented them perfectly.
For main course, I chose the grilled dayboat plaice with brown shrimps and capers. Tegan chose the calves’ liver with bacon and onions, which I’ve had before, but at Café 21. My dish consisted of four small fillets of plaice, which was plenty as plaice is quite a rich fish. The plaice was accompanied by a lovely herb butter and served with new potatoes. The plaice fillets themselves were sat on cabbage leaves. My only criticism was that I felt there weren’t enough brown shrimps. The plaice itself was gorgeous. I had a taste of Tegan’s liver. The liver was lovely and soft and flavoursome but not quite pink enough. Tegan felt the crispy onions that were served on top were a little too salty and I agreed.
For pudding, I chose the custard tart and Tegan chose the Vahlrona chocolate mousse. Both puddings were £5 each, which I thought was amazing value. The tart contained more filling than pastry which is how it should be and the pastry was lovely and light. The tart itself wasn’t overly sweet. The custard flavour was very apparent and the sweetness of the home-made vanilla ice cream, it came served with, complemented it perfectly. I have never tasted vanilla ice cream like it, it was amazing! The scoop of ice cream came served on a sprinkle of crumble topping which added texture to the dish as it contrasted with the softness of the tart and ice cream and gave the dish a little crunch. I had a taste of Tegan’s chocolate mousse. Tegan didn’t want to eat it because it looked so gorgeous. It was served in a circular terracotta dish with a huge home-made chocolate fan on top. It wasn’t too sweet but it wasn’t bitter either nor was it overly rich or thick like some mousses can be. It was smooth and light and didn’t become sickly after eating spoonful after spoonful.
The food at The Broad Chare is a modern and sophisticated twist on ‘pub grub’ and is very reasonably priced. Definitely worth a visit!
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