W
L
OBSESSION 20 AT NORTHCOTE
by Carl Housbey
Around this time last year I wrote an article about Obsession 19 and I told
you all about the wonderful food and service that I experienced, which
hopefully inspired you to book a table for one of the nights at Obsession
20, because if you didn’t then you really missed out as this year’s event was
in my humble opinion the best yet with 17 nights of World Class Chefs to
choose from, with 21 Michelin Stars between them.
I only managed to attend 12 out of the 17 as even Gastro Grazer needs a
night off every once in a while, especially after Champagne and canapés
followed by a five-course meal with matched wines every night. However,
each and every one of those 12 nights were absolutely superb, and I would
choose the same ones all over again in a heartbeat. Many people have asked
me which was my favourite, but that is extremely difficult to answer as they
were all excellent for different reasons, in fact it would be more appropriate
to select one dish from every night to make up a dream menu – now there
is an idea.
The statistics behind Obsession are quite staggering, and Managing Director
Craig Bancroft takes great delight in finding a new one every night to regale
us with in his opening speech, with facts such as how many guests have
attended since the first Obsession in 2001, or how many bottles of Louis
Roederer Champagne have been drunk – an awful lot is the answer, and I’ve
certainly had my fair share over the years. For me the most important detail
is impossible to quantify, and that is the amount of experience, tips, and
techniques that Executive Chef, Lisa Goodwin-Allen, and her team must
have picked up over the years when cooking alongside all of those culinary
greats, although it does go some way to explaining why her night is always
one of the very best, and this year was no exception as you are about to find
out.
I would imagine that serving the first dish of the festival is nerve wracking
for a Chef especially considering the calibre of your peers that are going to
follow you each night, but Lisa absolutely smashed it out of the park with
squab pigeon, cultured yoghurt, mango and curry, a dish that was melt in
the mouth tender and packed with those crowd pleasing flavours of warm
spices. Next year Craig will be able to astound us with how much Petrossian
Caviar has been consumed over the years as Lisa must have added to that
total quite considerably, she certainly didn’t skimp when finishing off those
beautifully creamy Cornish mussels in buttermilk.
48 wirrallife.com
You may be thinking that the photos of these dishes are much better
than usual, well that is because they have been taken by the very skilful
photographer Allen Markey and do full justice to the quality of the food.
How good does the wild turbot with maitake look? Well just imagine how
delicious it actually tasted, the firm flesh perfectly cooked and the flavours
enhanced by that unmistakeable tang of ponzu. What about that Cumbrian
mutton on our main course with Seville orange and carrot accompanied by
a sausage made from all of the trimmings that was one of the tastiest things
I have ever eaten. Then stop for a second to consider the pastry chef that had
to make 120 of those coiled sugar springs to accompany the hazelnut and
bitter chocolate dessert, each one needing to be absolutely perfect to match
Lisa’s exacting standards.
It would be remiss of me if I didn’t also mention a few of Nigel Haworth’s
dishes on the last night, after all Obsession wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for what
seemed at the time to be a mad idea of his over 20 years ago. This was to be his
last ever, so he went out on a high by serving us some classic dishes from his
glittering career. Instantly recognisable is the toasted English muffin topped
with Morecambe Bay shrimps and samphire, which was just as delicious as
I remembered. We were also treated to sweet succulent lobster with basil,
followed by dry aged venison with potato wrapped black pudding.
I know that everyone has a particular favourite dish of his that they would
have liked him to serve, such as lonk lamb hotpot for example, but I am sure
that we can all agree that it was a fitting for a proud Lancastrian to serve
Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese as the finale to Obsession 20. So, it’s with
a bit of butter from the muffin dribbling down our chins and a slight tear
in our eyes that we bid Nigel a very fond farewell. He leaves Northcote and
Obsession in the extremely capable hands of Lisa Goodwin-Allen and her
brigade.
Northcote is always a great place to visit, at the moment they have an offer
of an overnight stay with dinner comprising several of Lisa’s Obsession 20
dishes so get yourself booked in straight away by clicking on northcote.com
or by calling 01254 240555
To see what else I get up to, why not follow me on Twitter @carlhousbey