Wirral Life March 2020 | Page 48

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