FOOD REVIEW
House about this?
Lyndsey McGeary pays a visit to Middlesbrough’s Bedford Street regeneration
zone and discovers The Curing House has the recipe for success…
Vibrant - The Curing House
in Middlesbrough.
W
e’d been looking forward to visiting
the Curing House on Bedford Street,
Middlesbrough, for quite some time. We
discussed when we could best take advantage
of making it a “date night”, but both changed
our arrangements several times before
eventually booking a table for two.
Unfortunately, due to all that faffing about
with dates, neither me nor my husband,
Michael, arranged a babysitter. As a night out
in a good restaurant was well overdue, we
were left with no option other than to take
our two inquisitive little boys with us.
The Curing House staff were very
understanding about our unexpected
entourage and accommodated us at short
notice. Being the evening of the popular
monthly Orange Pip Market, we arrived to
find the beautifully fitted out restaurant and
its surrounding streets were vibrant and
atmospheric.
My eye was immediately drawn to
mention of king scallops on the specials
board, while Michael was very keen to try a
cured meats and cheese platter, after carefully
explaining to our distressed four-year-old
son that there was no actual “shark” in the
charcuterie he had selected. To accompany
our food we ordered a delicious bottle of
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2016, priced
£21.95 for a 75cl bottle.
The seared king scallops with miso
glaze, cauliflower, crispy chicken and salted
caramel at £8.50 was beautifully presented.
The idea of scallops and chicken sharing
the plate was intriguing, and a perfect
combination of tastes and textures. The
salted caramel, however, confused the dish
slightly and probably wasn’t needed.
New on the menu - herb
brined chicken breast.
The charcuterie platter (a very generous
“small” serving, at £8.50) of pork terrine,
morteau sausage and Suffolk black pepper
and red wine salami was a feast for the
eyes. There were also three cheeses of
his choice, mordon blue, manchego and
a Teesdale goat’s cheese. Olives, bread,
chutneys and pickles brought the whole
platter together.
Although Michael spent half of his life
disliking cheese and the other half being
afraid of cured meats, he reported that this
was one of the most pleasing plates of food
he had ever eaten.
For my main course, I opted for a
medium-size charcuterie and cheese platter
(£16.50). The flexibility of portion sizes
lends itself to starter or main course. Duck
ham, Cornish seaweed and cider salami
and Iberico chorizo were generously
portioned alongside Swaledale ewes',
gruyere and manchego cheeses.
The kiddywinks had the taste for this
style of eating by this point and I tried to
find a balance between sharing morsels and
not giving away the entire dish to our table
invaders. Safe to say, every delicious element
was thoroughly relished. Michael went for
the herb brined chicken breast with a cute
little leg kiev and trimmings (£16.50), which
came highly recommended.
With little room left for dessert, we
both opted for the apple and blackberry
frangipane tart (£7) from the specials menu.
It was accompanied by a roast almond ice
cream, which we both agreed was the star of
the plate – I could have eaten a bowlful on
its own!
Ice cream eaten, we scooped up the boys
and their endless colouring books and
cuddly toys and headed off home. It was the
best night ever, they declared.
In a culinary marketplace that occasionally
looks a little short of originality, The Curing
House dares to plough its own furrow and
offer Middlesbrough diners something
completely different. It deserves to be
enormously successful.
tees-life.co.uk
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