W
L
ANNUAL REVIEW
by Carl Housbey
Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all had a great Christmas
and that you are looking forward to what 2019 has in store for
you. I certainly have loads of exciting trips planned this year and
thought I would take the opportunity to provide you with a bit
of a teaser trailer, but first let’s reflect on where I’ve been so far.
My first ever article for Wirral Life Magazine was way back in
November 2016 when I wrote about my 1000-mile road trip as
part of the annual Cannonball Chef Awards, and ever since then
I have brought you tales of many amazing venues throughout
England, Scotland, and Wales. You may have noticed that Ireland
was missing from that list, but rest assured that will definitely be
one of the places I visit in 2019.
Each month I try to find new, up and coming places to write
about, or places that may not yet be as well known as they perhaps
should, and since my visits many of those venues have gone on to
win prestigious awards and accolades. For instance, Pale Hall was
awarded 5 AA Red Stars, Freemasons at Wiswell was AA Restaurant
of the Year (England) 2018, and Beach House Oxwich was AA
Restaurant of the Year (Wales) 2018. Those of you who follow the
Michelin Guide will also have noticed that Northcote retained its
star for the 23rd consecutive year. The Forest Side, and Salt were
both awarded 1 star, whilst Moor Hall was awarded a well-deserved
2nd star.
By the time you read this article I will be back at Northcote enjoying
one of the many Obsession 19 nights I have booked, so keep an
eye out for a brief summary of those in a future issue. Then in no
particular order I will be visiting Gary Usher’s latest restaurant Kala,
in Manchester, as well as Adam Reid at The French, in Manchester
48 wirrallife.com
to see what changes have been made to the restaurant and menus
during its current temporary closure for refurbishment.
Heading over the border into Wales I will be visiting Machine House
in Rossett, AA Restaurant of the Year (Wales) 2019, and revisiting
Pale Hall to see how Gareth Stevenson has progressed since my first
visit not long after they opened. I also have my eye on a number of
others that may make it into future issues if time allows.
Chef Steven Smith is currently extending the kitchen at Freemasons
in Wiswell to include a new chefs table, at the same time as
redeveloping some properties in the village into guest rooms for
overnight stays, so you can expect a full review of both in due
course. Meanwhile Chester born Chef Mark Poynton is planning
to open a new restaurant in Cambridge in a couple of months and I
will be heading down there to review it as soon as it opens.
There are many, many others on the list, but I can’t tell you about
them all at this stage otherwise there will be no surprises left for you
or the Chefs concerned, what I can say is that they will all have been
carefully selected to ensure that I am recommending somewhere of
the standard that our readers have come to expect. Who knows, you
may even get to read about a joint visit by Gastro Grazer and Curious
Quaffer if we can manage to get all parties diaries synchronised.
Drop me a line if there is a particular place you would like to
see featured, or perhaps you know of a hidden gem that deserves
recognition, either way to see what else I get up to, why not follow
me on Twitter @carlhousbey