Engine Social Dining
Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire
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On a busy main road, this extensively and stylishly refurbished old boozer is run by Mark Kemp (one-time right-hand man to Simon Shaw at El Gato Negro up the valley in Ripponden) and front-of-house Wil Ackroyd. What they offer is a ‘global small plate vision’ that's a lot more cohesive than it sounds and doesn’t jar at all – 'despite the gritty West Yorkshire mill town location'. Kemp understands the marriage of flavours and textures, while his menu bristles with the likes of red-curry cod fritters, Korean spring rolls, Moroccan pulled lamb and 'baharat' koftas – really energetic and confident plates, made with an enthusiasm for ingredients and methods. Crab potato chips are like homemade Pringles loaded with crabmeat in miso mayo and 'just as neckable'. Expect earthy roast beets, too, with salty feta and floral notes of orange and dill. Elsewhere, gyozas stuffed with sobrasada references Japan and Spain, with a whiff of India from makhani sauce: sticky and sweet, sour and hot, they shimmer with flavour. Cauliflower and Manchego croquetas are feather-light, fresh, softly spicy and eye-rollingly good. And what’s this they’re perched on? Worcestershire caramel? Brilliant. Chraimeh is a traditional Sephardic dish of spicy sweet fish; here it translates as a chunk of sea bream atop a rustic stew of giant butter beans, peppers and tomatoes ('easily enough for two greedy people and under a tenner'). Vegetarians and vegans will also do well with dishes that are not simply an afterthought.
