Kitchen 91
Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire
CONTINUE READING
Already a member? Log in here
Subscribe to our newsletter to gain access to limited free articles, reviews, news and our weekly newsletter.
The Good Food Guide Membership: Save £100s at Britain's best restaurants - try for free for 30 days
Poppy Cartwright and Matthew Shelton's supper club in the tiny basement of their terraced house was a hard-to-book hot ticket, so the move to Hebden Bridge's main street has given locals more of a chance to bag a table. The couple have created a really stylish, pared-back space – all white walls, scrubbed floors and exposed beams, plus an open kitchen with Carrera marble worktops. The furniture is Ercol, the tablecloths crisp white linen and the music smooth – Hebden has got the stylish, elegant restaurant it didn't know it needed. Poppy's background as an ex-fashion student then lecturer at the Royal College of Art may explain her near-forensic attention to detail in the kitchen; Matthew deftly presides front-of-house. The old supper club ethos has been carried over, so expect a fixed-price set menu with a strong nod to the Italian 'Slow Food Movement' as well as Poppy's Sicilian heritage: a pork and fennel ragù, for example, sings of a long, slow cook although it's leavened by a dollop of ricotta shot through with lemon zest. The non-meat choice might be pappa al pomodoro with herb tordelli. Butternut squash velouté with pickled squash opened the menu on the night we popped in, while dessert was Madagascar vanilla panna cotta (with precisely the right wobble) served with strawberry gel sorbet and a lacy tuile. There are two sittings on Friday and Saturday, while the excellent-value four-course Sunday lunch includes the likes of beef shin and Chianti ragù followed by blossom-honey parfait. The all-Italian wine list is short but carefully curated.
