W
L
FREEMASONS AT WISWELL
by Carl Housbey
I know from the circulation figures that a lot of our readers pick up
a copy of this magazine in Sainsbury's or Marks & Spencer whilst
doing their shopping, so I decided this month to bring you the
Gastro Grazer version of BOGOF where I tell you about two Chefs
at the top of their game together with some additional money saving
tips along the way.
Let me start off with a couple questions:
• How many of you went to Spain this year for your Summer
Holidays?
• How many of you went there for the sunshine, the tapas, and the
chance to relax with a glass of wine whilst a Spanish Guitar plays
gently in the background?
Well guess what, you could have stayed in the UK, had all of the
above, saved yourself loads of money, and avoided massive queues
at the airport by going to Freemasons at Wiswell for “Wiswell Man
and The Black Cat”.
This one night only event combined the talents of two multi award
winning Chefs, Steven Smith Chef Patron of Freemasons at Wiswell
AA Restaurant of the Year England 2018, and Simon Shaw Chef
Patron of El Gato Negro ranked number 1 tapas bar in the country
by The Times. As you can imagine it was a complete sell out, with
people crammed into every nook and cranny to satisfy demand from
regular customers of both the restaurants.
You couldn’t have wished for better weather; the sun was cracking the
flags as we say in this part of the world which meant everyone was
stood outside chatting and enjoying a few drinks before sitting down
inside for a magnificent tapas inspired dinner. The Chefs had each
prepared alternating courses of some of their signature dishes which
were served in the middle of each table in the form of sharing plates.
First out was Wiswell Man (WM) with a tempura courgette flower
filled with lightly whipped Proctors Kick Ass Cheddar, closely
followed by Black Cat (BC) with roasted carrots topped with walnut
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pesto and grated Manchego, both of these were absolutely delicious
and disappeared in no time at all, with the matching glasses of chilled
Collefriso Pecorino 2016 lasting not much longer.
For the fish tapas WM had gone for smoked salmon and scallop
nuggets with pine mayo dip whilst BC served sardine fillets with
roasted piquillo peppers, two more excellent dishes and another
great wine matching with the Rioja Rosado 2016. One of my
favourite beers Estrella Damm Inedit was served next to accompany
the morcilla scotch egg with mushroom duxelle from BC as well as
the suckling pig and red prawn brioche pie in XO sauce, outstanding.
Both Chefs worked together to create a main course of Pyrenees
lamb rack, potato ala pobre, with slow cooked shoulder and a
fennel, peach, and anchovy salad. This was the highlight of the
evening and should be a permanent addition on the menu, with the
beautiful sweet tender lamb rack and the deeply satisfying unctuous
slow cooked shoulder offset perfectly by the acidity and wild berry
flavours in the 2015 Ribera del Duero.
Pastry Chef Jenna Hall from Wiswell Man had the unenviable task
of trying to follow all of this with dessert, but she made an inspired
choice of serving Crème Catalan with English berries which summed
up the ethos of the whole event perfectly. Throughout the night Scott
Robertson played on his Spanish Guitar and if you closed your eyes
even for a moment you would imagine you really were in Spain.
What an amazing, thoroughly enjoyable night.
Unfortunately, you can’t experience this collaboration, but you can
visit each restaurant separately to try the dishes first hand by clicking
on www.freemasonsatwiswell.com or by telephone on 01254 822218
and www.elgatonegrotapas.com or by telephone on 0161 694 8585.
Why not follow me on Twitter @carlhousbey to see what else I get
up to.