The Cat At The Townhouse, Leek: Alan Cookman's restaurant review
Red, blue, green and so on.
I wasn't sure if this was the future of sanitaryware or a contender for next year's Turner Prize.
Herself, who was obviously denied sight of the exciting installation, wondered if the urinals might simply have been illuminated for the festive season.
If that were the case, and I'm sure it isn't, the plumbing would surely play Jingle Bells too.
No 64 St Edward Street is a beautiful Georgian house, built in 1747 and restored nearly 10 years ago for a sum not unadjacent to £500,000.
The original No 64 restaurant having gone the way of all flesh, it is now the Leek outpost of the Cheshire Cat group, which has recognised and respected the dining room's unique 18th century elegance.
Walls of the deepest purple contrast with the ceiling's immaculate plasterwork. There's a magnificent mirror, bearing, I think, the crest of the Sleigh family who lived here until the 1930s, over a magnificent fireplace.
The lighting is not so much subdued as violently suppressed. You quickly get used to it, although I squinted at the menu for a while before the letters and words came into focus.
The à la carte menu is modern and sophisticated, as opposed to stodgy and predictable, so we were happy to take our time over it and a glass of house white.
Starters include the likes of 'olde' cider mussels (£6.50), baked egg with spinach and cheese sauce (£4.25) and black pudding soufflé with coarse mustard sauce (£4.50).
There are also sharing starters, and we chose the fishy one which seemed to have been designed with me in mind.
It costs £10.25 for two, but for that you get generous portions of smoked salmon, prawns, rollmop herrings and anchovies, plus slices of rustic bread.
The salmon was delicious, the rollmops big and meaty, the anchovies suitably tangy. Only the prawns, which were small, watery and practically devoid of flavour, let the side down.
For mains, there are grills costing up to £19.50 for an 8oz fillet, some superior salads and burgers including a lamb and cranberry burger with tomato, lettuce, onion rings, pink coleslaw and hand-cut chips.
For £9.95, I think I'd want red, white and blue coleslaw, polka dot lettuce and candy striped chips, but there you are.
The classic burger, which comes with similar trimmings, is also £9.95.
I was tempted to continue the piscatorial theme by ordering the grilled smoked haddock with roast vegetables, ragout and champ potatoes (£9.50), although the braised venison with sage and walnut dumplings (£13.50) also caught my eye.
Instead I settled for one of the winter warmers – lamb shank with winter vegetables. and sage and onion potato scone (£11.50). It must have been a well-built lamb, to judge from the size of the shank, a sweet and tender joint, well done but not done to death. The braised winter vegetables – carrots, leeks, onions etc – were rich and lobby-like, but the sage and onion potato scone was heavy going.
Herself fancied the honeyed pork cutlet with balsamic roast figs, parsnip chips and mangetout (£8.75). Even though the figs were replaced with dates and prunes, she rated this very highly, the cutlet being a major pork chop and the accompaniments spot on – how I envied her those parsnip chips. It was touch and go whether we could do justice to dessert, but Herself managed a so-so raspberry crème brulée (£4.95), and I had what would have been an impressive cheese board – fruit, chutney, biscuits, the lot – if the selection of cheeses had been a little more interesting.
Still, the meal, service and location were otherwise hard to fault, and the thrill of a parting visit to the amazing Technicolor electric lavvie was still to come.
Comment on this story