Street Cleaver Pop Up

I happened upon Street Cleaver by chance thanks to a leaflet in the window of Kiosk. I love the opportunity to try out pop ups so we went to Lucky Days and booked ourselves in.

Street Cleaver describe themselves as creating unique, fresh and exciting street food. I was interested to see how they would do this in a restaurant environment and was pleasantly surprised. The dishes stayed true to the street food style but the dishes were elevated through their presentation to suit a sit down meal. With most of the dishes I could picture how they could be served in a cardboard container or in a brioche bun and be the sort of food I wanted to eat.

The first course of ‘winter spiced or cheek’ braised and charred ox cheek, red pepper, spiced beetroot powder and braised gem was a great dish. I didn’t taste much charring and I think this would have enhanced the dish but the combinations worked well. Have it in a brioche bun and you’d be very happy but put it on a nice ceramic plate and it holds its own as a part of a tasting menu.

The next course of ‘salt baked organic beets’ , goats cheese, pickle, anchovy, dill and watercress purée was my favourite dish of the evening. The richness of the goats cheese married perfectly with the sharpness of the pickles.

We then had ‘Pigs and eggs’ tender ham hock smoked and deep fried, cured yolk, crispy yolk, pickle and aioli. This was a really interesting dish. The Ham hock had a great flavour and the egg accompanied it really well. This was a definite street food hit.

The final savoury dish of ‘Mackerel and radish’ sweet cured and pan fried mackerel, local grown radish, grapefruit, vinegar scraps was the dish that disappointed me. I love mackerel and it’s a great fish to play around with but the flavours on this were confused and competed with one another a bit too much.

The last dish was ‘Something sweet’ chocolate, rum, coffee, coconut
This was an interesting dessert. More coffee and rum and I think it would be a real winner.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Street Cleaver if they get their own place as part of the development on Piccadilly. It would be a great addition to York’s independent food scene.

Sara @ St John’s

We have been to Sara’s supper club a number of times over the last 4 years but this is the first time I’ve blogged about it. I’m still trying to organise my life in such a way that I can have more time to write the blog….

Sara appeared on Masterchef a few years ago and reached the final. I remember watching the series and being in awe of Sara’s attention to detail and way with flavour. I was really excited that someone from York had done so well and was then going to open up her home and invite people in to eat her food. You’ve probably guessed already that the food is really good, given that we’ve gone back time and time again.

This time we went with family and for my brother and sister in law it was their first time at the supper club. I wish I could have captured the joy on their faces as they tried the food.

Sara provides a set menu of an amuse bouche followed by three courses. Sara’s husband David hosts the evening and Sara joins in throughout the evening to talk about the food. What I love about evenings with David and Sara is the opportunity to eat round a table with people you’ve not met before and chat to the chef about the food, the flavour combinations and life in general. The evenings are often full of laughter and fun.

The menu this time consisted of an amuse bouche of Devil’s Rock blue on rye bread with walnut and alba truffle honey. A little taster packed full of flavour and the honey, oh my that tasted good.

The starter was partridge risotto with confit partridge leg. Game is something I look forward to at Sara’s supper club. It is always cooked to perfection. The risotto was beautifully rich and the partridge wonderfully moist.

The main course of roasted haunch of venison, shallot purée, parsnip mousseline, cavelo nero, roasted golden beetroot and carrots was the perfect autumnal dish brought together with a deep silky sauce.

The pudding seemed very appropriate given Sara’s appearance on Masterchef. A chocolate fondant, the nemesis of many a Masterchef contestant, was cooked exactly as it should be. The moften chocolate enhanced by drunken cherries with warming spice.

Sara’s supper clubs are a fantastic way of eating great food in a relaxed atmosphere. Sara’s joy of cooking shines through in all she does. I’d highly recommend it.

Nigel Haworth at The Star Inn The City

Seven years ago Mr Frivolitea and I went to Northcote, where Nigel Haworth is the Chef Patron, for our 10th wedding anniversary. We still talk about it. The gourmet tasting menu we had was the stuff of dreams. Champagne and canapés then dish after dish of stunning food, I can still vividly remember the salad! I couldn’t believe a salad could taste so good so you can imagine when the opportunity arose to eat Nigel’s food again in our own city we leapt at the chance.

The opportunity to hear Nigel himself talking about the food at the start of the evening made the night even more special. Once seated in the dining room we started with canapés of sausage roll and ham hock arancini from the Star Inn the City team. The arancini were particularly good and I think Mr Frivolitea could have easily eaten a bowlful.

We then started on the five course menu designed by Nigel to reflect the flavours of Northcote, cooked by Nigel, his son and the Star Inn the City team.

First up was the Goosnargh chicken liver parfait with grape jelly. The parfait was wonderfully whipped and light in texture with the grape jelly adding a nice acidity to the dish.

Next was the treacle cured salmon, seared west coast scallop, pickled ginger and caviar. The salmon had been cured for 18 hours and I really loved the asian flavours in the dish. The simple presentation really allowed the salmon to be the star of the show.

We then had caramelised celeriac and chestnut ravioli, celeriac tea and trompettes that were topped with a little dashi caviar. This was a really clever dish. The chestnut ravioli had a particularly lovely flavour and consommé that melted when poured over the dish gave a real depth of flavour.

The main course of butter puff pastry wrapped lamb, spinach and crosne artichokes used lonk lamb, indigenous to Lancashire stuffed with a chicken and mushroom mousse. The lamb was cooked to perfection and the buttery puff pastry made this a real treat of a dish.

The final course of Bramley apple cheesecake with Northcote blackcurrants, liquorice, herbs and flowers was a particularly favourite of mine. The cheesecake was so beautiful I almost didn’t want to eat it. It had a wonderfully fresh flavour and was a lovely end to the meal. The skill that went into the dish and the use of seasonal fruit was a true showcase of everything Northcote is.

It was such a joy to eat Nigel’s food again and be reminded of why I loved it so much first time round. If there was any criticism of the evening it was that there was quite a gap between each course but the food was worth the wait. I think we will be looking for an opportunity to go back to Northcote (hint hint Mr Frivolitea)