Showing posts with label Newcastle reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newcastle reviews. Show all posts

Saturday, 5 October 2013

The new Bridge Tavern rises from the dust of the old Newcastle Arms

Once a spot more looked at and mourned from a distance, avoided as you would a dead much beloved relative, the old Newcastle Arms, nestled between the protective arms of the Tyne Bridge is now the Bridge Tavern. Boasting it's own micro brewery and staff who tend it, the Bridge Tavern also has all to itself a chef who used to work not so long ago at the Broad Chare. This combination alone is enough to make you want to come and visit, but if you wanted more reasons, you'd get them in spades as soon as you walked in past the front door.


Keith Crombie

Before Tony Renwick's food gets you the decor will, several original green Bauhaus lamps hang from the ceiling lighting a central table that invites your guests to sit down and wait while you get the drinks in. If however you're more of a corner person, the entire ground flour is wrapped in a collection of cosy large soft seats that will easily host up to 8 people at a time. The walls are partially lined with books leading to Keith's corner, a magnificent area complete with large tables and the books of recently passed Newcastle Jazz legend Keith Crombie. Willed to the place, not for sale,  but for reading, The Bridge wants you to have a browse through Keith's legacy.

Keith's corner


Nestled in the back you'll find a number of brewing vats lined against the wall and producing any number of fab local brews on any given day. I had the pleasure of drinking 10 10 28 named after the date the Tyne Bridge opened. A lovely feast on the tongue and the nose designed to engage the pallet rather than get you shitfaced in three easy steps, and that of course is the point of the Bridge Tavern. Like other fine drinking establishments in Newcastle, the friendly bar staff will be happy to walk you through a galaxy of unassuming local tipple designed to keep you coming back for something different every time or to drink that special something you can't get in the 50p a shot boozers or stuck in the same limited list places that seem to litter Dean Street.

One of the brewers
Local art upstairs
Off to the right of Keith's corner you'll find the ground floor outside terrace or up the stairs, the Tiki bar like lounge complete with standing lamps that heat and light the guests under the canopy, for those nights you want to take in the big city atmosphere I used to take for granted in Montreal and New York.

Unlike the Brew Dog which is a raucous place for live rock and punk music ( also with fine ales, do try it) , The Bridge provides through it's sound system a musical atmosphere that is more relaxing and friendly. The sort of place you'd go to if you were after an intimate conversation or just a bit of craic with your 5 or 6 best mates.

Which brings me to the food and the Chef.  Tony Renwick brings his reputation and deft hand to a
menu which I'm promised  by owner Dave Stone will be seasonal and change often. Prices too will be something you'll find easy on the eye. From the Bar bait to the  sharing planks, the cost is not going to put your budget into shock. Inclusive prices Dave called it, I call it "please come again" prices.

On opening night we were treated to a wide array of bar bait loveliness in batter with dipping sauces. Lamb, oysters, pork , mushrooms and prawns in an assortment of marinades and spicing that makes love to your tongue without a drop of that ubiquitous Newcastle hot sauce. Speaking of things missing... not a chip in sight (well hardly any). Who needs chips when you have food that good? This menu is the sort of thing you will look forward to if you consider yourself a foodie. Not for the lager lout, the menu of the Bridge Tavern joins the select eateries not trying burn your face off but educating the pallet and reminding your taste buds there is more to life than bland or hot.




The Bridge Tavern is a treat for the eyes, the ears and the tongue. Bring your apetite and your camera. Soak in the history, the food and the fine micro brewed on site product. Located right under the Tyne Bridge, you can't miss it. 

Opening hours 
Monday - Thursday 12pm to midnight 
Friday and Saturday 12pm to 1am 
Sundays - 12pm to 11pm 

Fairly well behaved Children and extremely well behaved dogs welcome until 7pm


Wednesday, 25 September 2013

I wandered hungry like a cloud, the smell of garlic smoothly lied

Maybe the location should of been a warning  and maybe the name should of leapt out at me in large glaring warning klaxons, even it's inviting Greek music on the tanoy distracted me from the final nail in the coffin.... "Authentic Greek Cuisine" but I got taken in long enough to order food in the Bigg Market's Greek Taverna... optimistically called Simply Greek Tavern  ( 2-4 Bigg Market). In fact for an eatery that serves authentic Greek cuisine, there wasn't a lot of Greeks in the place or Greek on the menu, we had to translate backwards to know what we were ordering.

In my defence, by the time I knew I had made an error it was too late to get away. The lovely slavic waitress and the genuinely Greek manager had both been around  a few times to see if we were "aright" and hoped it was lovely. In typical English deference we nodded politely first few times then I had to say something about the alleged Greek Salad ( more on that later). Our first warning sign  should of been  when I asked our waitress if the tzadziki was proper garlicky or not. She said rather honestly that it depended on the day. I know , I know, but we were already sat down and hoping to be fed in short order. As it turns out the tzadziki was a fine medium strength, but not nearly as strong as I like it.

What really upset me was the downward slide of the experience from the moment we entered the place. It started well enough, the smell of garlic in the air, the sound of current top 40 Greek tunes wafting through the air, sufficiently Greek decor of the 70's kind abounded. Surely these were signs that our hosts had spent more money on the food than the dinning room. Our first course arrived and proceeded to underwhelm us. Consisting of  a plate of Spanakopita, or as the menu helpfully told us...spinach pie, with a Greek salad and side order of Tzadziki and bread , the items in question were ok  to passable to what the hell is this.  Beginning with the best bits, the tzadziki was properly thick, well blended with garlic, olive oil  salt and dill, though mint does just as well. It could have been stronger  and there should have been on offer a medium or a strong, but as I said, acceptable to someone who has had the stuff prepared by "genuine Greeks".  As for the Spanakopita, it was ok, a bit mild, it was missing a few signature touches  but not so much that a hungry person could not forgive the leaving out of larger doses of Feta or Ricotta cheese. The seasoning was passable and the finished product  as served while a bit thin was well baked and ticked enough of the boxes to make it an acceptable though hardly awe inspiring starter.

Where the meal fell apart was the main. We were told it was Geordie portions and so only ordered the one of the Souvlaki chicken platter and split it. Did we want rice or chips with that? Again with the bloody chips! Of course we wanted the rice, and it came with a Greek salad. Let's first tell you what each component is supposed to look like  and  prepared properly.

The meat on sticks kebab part on offer (lamb is the real stuff but you know) is supposed to have chicken  bits marinated for at least a few hours if not overnight in a combination of garlic, yoghurt, olive oil, oregano or some other herb, as well a few other not so secret ingredients. This is then grilled and served all lovingly and gloriously smothered in tzadziki that waits on the side for dipping in.  What we got was something I would get in a Polish kitchen if my Gran had roasted a chicken in the oven after having hacked it to bits and skewered it. Tender, juicy and tasting of nothing but chicken fat. If that was Greek I'm Prince Phillip.

Moving along to the salad also purporting itself to be Greek, we firmly expected a healthy portion of onions, tomato, feta cheese, olives, more herbs and spices and olive oil etc.... What we got could only be described as a miserly tiny, shallow bowl of unmixed veg that might one day when it grew up be a French salad of some sort with a totally un required single hot pepper.

Lastly, the rice we were promised should have been a heaping spread of flavoured rice cooked in chicken broth and drizzled with the juices of the above mentioned Souvlaki mixed further with a few bits of chopped savory through it. Yum, I couldn't wait.... I'm still waiting, what sat there instead in a small pile dumped from a bowl shape off Masterchef, was a small perfectly cooked cup of  white steamed rice any Chinese chef would be proud of. Besides being not nearly enough, this was in  no way Greek, not even vaguely Mediterranean and it was bland.

If you are like some people, you want to dip your roast Polish Chicken in Tzadziki sauce, it was there but hardly enough to even stain two skewers worth.

Can you tell what I think happens here? Sure you do, in fact you might have guessed by now. The Spanakopita is made somewhere else and heated up, can't screw that up. The sauce is made on the spot sometimes and there is no quality control, seems we got lucky on the day.  Lastly the chicken takes 20 minutes to make we were told, I expect that's 10 to 15 minutes to marinate in what ever they think they can fool us with then another 10  minutes in the oven. What no frying first to seal in the flavours????

This alleged genuine Greek Taverna is nothing but a place where locals with no tastebuds come to brave Continental food. If you've ever eaten anywhere in Greece, in a Greek home or lived in a Greek area in any major urban centre, you would, like the lone other poor bastard in the place, sat with his ill informed mates who swore blind this was the best in town, have through the meal wondered how it could have gone so terribly wrong. He was the lucky one as he seemed to not have to pay for his erm ... meal. We being honest souls accepted that some sort of food had been brought to us, it was cooked sufficiently to not harm us and if we pretended it wasn't Greek, it might be something my wife's Jewish Grandmother in Brooklyn might have cooked for the high holydays. On these grounds and these grounds alone, I consented to pay the grossly overpriced addition of £26.70.

I told the front of house man that his ancestors were weeping and that was never in a million years Greek, or even mock Mediterranean. His body language was that of a man rumbled for selling his soul to the "you want chips with that" Gods. I suspect he doesn't eat off the menu or take his Mother there, that alone would kill her and she'd never speak to him again. I'd be embarrassed too, but if you are prepared to throw out basic standards to make a bit of money, it's a sort of business model I suppose.

If you want authentic Greek cuisine... go to fecking Greece, or London or Paris. Save your money and reputation. I may one day find real Greek food in Newcastle, but not today. Stay away from this so called Bouzouki palace, life is too short and money too valuable to throw away on confused soulless bistros that put bechamel sauce in moussaka, Oh G-d I think I'm going to be ill.