Food review: Perfection truly delivered
Of all the eat-at-home boxes he has tested during lockdown, Andy Richardson finds a winner from a manor house in the north-west.
Restaurants will soon reopen. We are moving slowly out of lockdown to a place where we can again look forward to eating among friends and family in places we know and love.
The region’s restaurants are starting to plan, looking forward to bringing staff back from furlough and providing a boost for the producers who have also suffered during lockdown.
The gastronomic landscape has been irrevocably altered by recent events, however, and it is difficult to imagine we’ll return to where we were.
The emergence of Heat at Home boxes, delivered nationwide or collected locally, have provided a financial lifeline for some, while maintaining profile and helping chefs put seasonal produce to good use.
Our habits have changed. While once most people would have eaten locally, or regionally, the digital era means it’s as easy to buy a burger from Woking as it is from Wolverhampton; as straightforward to purchase a gourmet meal from Sheffield as it is from Shrewsbury.
We ought to enjoy it while it lasts. While some may retain their box delivery schemes, you’d think most chefs will become too busy with regular restaurant services to do so.
Among the many offered from all parts of the UK, a small number have stood out. The Michelin-starred Michael Wignall, from The Angel at Hetton, has been ahead of the chasing pack, providing a superlative restaurant-standard dining experience for people eating at home. The two Michelin-starred chef, Mark Birchall finds himself in the same category; offering food that is better, flavours that are more pronounced and menus that are, simply, a dream.
Birchall and a small team have carefully curated and crafted menus to be enjoyed at home with minimal fuss.
Using homegrown ingredients, the best in seasonal produce, and with a nod towards popular dishes from across his restaurants, Moor Hall and The Barn at Moor Hall, he has brought flavour-filled menus inspired by his exceptional surroundings.
Talented Chef Patron Birchall is one of the UK’s most important chefs. Born in Chorley, Lancashire, and trained at Runshaw College, Mark was most recently Executive Chef of two Michelin star L’Enclume in Cumbria, while in 2011 he’d won the Roux Scholarship, the premier competition for chefs in the UK.
He also worked at El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, a three Michelin star restaurant owned by the Roca Brothers, twice voted the World’s Best Restaurant.
His menus showcase his own style of modern British cuisine, wherever possible using produce grown on the five-acre Moor Hall site or from local suppliers.
Under Mark’s patronage, Moor Hall has obtained two Michelin stars, five AA Rosettes and was recently crowned ‘Restaurant of the Year’ at the National Restaurant Awards.
The Barn at Moor Hall, Mark’s neighbourhood restaurant, is located within the grounds of Moor Hall and offers delicious seasonal menus in a relaxed setting. It holds a Michelin Plate and three AA rosettes.
In keeping with the Moor Hall ethos, dishes are made with the finest seasonal ingredients, mostly sourced from Moor Hall’s five-acre landscape or the local area.
Guests can enjoy lobster raviolo with peas, broad beans and shellfish cream; try its renowned saddle of Herdwick lamb or satisfy their sweet tooth with Tarleton strawberries, lemon verbena and meringue.
They can also visit on a Sunday for the incredibly popular Sunday lunch with roasted 40-day aged Lake District beef, complete with all the trimmings.
Mark says: “Produce is everything. At Moor Hall, it’s really special.
“We have all ample land so we can develop our own growing programmes. There’s still a lot of work to be done and a long way to go, but we are pushing hard to reach the level that we’re aiming for.”
Mark, of course, won his first Michelin star within six months of opening, in 2017.
His second star came in 2019. Working with Andy and Tracey Bell, he has done a remarkable job of turning around a formerly run-down hall into something that will last for centuries to come.
He takes particular pride in the historic walled garden, which lies beyond a substantial lake and Moor Hall. The garden is tended by three staff who have turned it into a fruit and vegetable larder for the kitchens.
Our food was remarkable – the best of the past 12 months.
Starting with a pot of Moor Hall’s own, delicate sliced coppa, we followed with a box of light, perfectly aerated bread rolls with a pot of cultured butter. It doesn’t get any better.
The starter was roast parsnip soup with lovage oil, chives and apple and horseradish cream.
If that sounds breath-taking, it was. The lovage was delicate, the apple and horseradish cream provided heat and a sweet hit of acid while the soup was seasoned expertly. It made for delicious eating.
A starter of pressed cornfed Goosnargh chicken with celeriac, leek, truffle and hazelnut was the food of the gods.
The terrine was flavoursome while garden shoots, a swish of celeriac purée and a pot of hazelnut and truffle dressing provided a taste of the season.
It was a true restaurant dish, though one that travelled well and lost nothing in translation.
Birchall and Co had clearly thought things through.
The main featured glazed belted Galloway beef with crisp shallot, smoked marrow, purple sprouting broccoli and artichoke.
An accompanying pot of buttered crosnes were sensational while Birchall’s bone marrow sauce was mouth-watering.
Great textures, complimentary flavours and divine ingredients made for a happy plate of food.
To finish there was a sensational dessert of poached Yorkshire rhubarb with woodruff mousse, meringue and almond biscuit, with a blood orange granita.
The sharp-sweet rhubarb and delicate mousse were dressed with floral meringues while the almond added creamy crunch. It doesn’t get any better.
Birchall is one of the UK’s best and most exciting chefs; a man for whom two Michelin stars will not be enough and who will push to the very highest level.
In hard times, his food shines a light through the gloom and provides reasons to be cheerful.
