Food > The Big Eat Out: or IN
Roots Bistro // Food Review
14/05/14
THE GEN: Roots, the bistro-come-farm-shop, occupies a space in what is quickly becoming the foodie quadrant of the city. Sharing a postcode with The Iron House, Maddermarket Kitchen and the notoriously well-loved Grosvenor Fish bar, it was in danger of opening as just ‘another Lanes restaurant’ when it opened its doors last year. When it launched, however, all slate grey paint, beautiful branding, pitchfork and hay bales stacked, you had a feeling it’d be staking its claim. Like fast-forwarding through a montage of Great British Menu, they reference local in everything they do, and some of the secrets of their menu are unabashedly sold in their farm shop / café downstairs.
ATMOSPHERE: A contrast to the straw bales of the café part downstairs, with newspapers strewn casually and invitingly, I ventured upstairs to the bistro, where the real grown up stuff happens. Smart, yet rustic, and snug, it had its arms open to you. The twinkly fairy lights and proud fireplace made you feel like you were in your own home… on a really, really good day.
STARTER: Chicken Liver + Pistachio Paté w/ Sour Dough, and Port + Orange Jelly Reigning champion in my Top 5 patés list (what, you don’t have one?) belonged to the French market ‘til now. A fiercely contested spot (you can see highlight on Sky Sports 9), the title was stolen tonight by this liver and pistachio paté. Smooth and fluffy, like an Offal Aero, it was served generously, to heap proudly on top of the accompanying sour dough, with little nuggets of port and orange jelly nudging awake your other taste receptors. THE MAIN EVENT: Chicken Breast w/ Goats Cheese Mash // Norfolk Honey Roast Ham, Egg + Triple Cooked Chips Tonight, the chef was obviously in a devil-may-care frame of mind, and we were able to choose from the café menu, and the bistro menu, so I played devil’s advocate and we chose one dish from each. The ham, egg and chips was a ‘proper’ meal. ‘Proper’ in the sense of a cup of tea made in a pot and only four channels on your telly. Ultimately a proven, and satisfying formula. The ham was generous and the chips had a wonderful golden crunch. I never order chicken in a restaurant, because I’m more of a leg girl myself (insert smut and LOLs), but Roots’ chicken dish may cause me to stray more often. It allayed my fears, and was respectfully juicy, unlike so many breasts I’ve had presented before me (LOL again). Served in the middle of a red pepper, and a basil oil, they were like vibrant rings of Jupiter, so pretty you didn’t want to break through its atmosphere. But I did. I’ve never thought of having goats cheese mash, but its smooth cheesiness danced through every mouthful. Gregg Wallace would have described it as a warm hug, and frankly, what he says is gospel.
PUD: Baked Wissington Cheesecake w/ Raspberry Sorbet Wissington is a local, full fat sheep’s cheese, if you didn’t know. Nor me. Now, perhaps my palate is a little immature (I did reference an aero when talking about paté), but this cheese did announce itself to ewe – I mean you – a little too strongly for my taste, but MAN, that sorbet! Hoovering it up with the accompanying tuile, it was a sharp signal to the end of a good dinner.
VALUE: You won’t always get the option of mixing the two menus, so if you’re Bistro bound, it’s good to know this is food at the higher price range. I felt the starters were maybe a quid over what I’d feel comfortable paying, but in terms of value for how much I enjoyed the main, those prices were appropriate.
OVERALL: Roots is a real taste of Norfolk, without any pretension. You get the feeling that ‘local’ is a strong ethos, not a gimmick, with even the wine list proudly introducing local bottles. The food is sophisticated, not stuffy, and round our table, there was even talk of booking a table for the following week. Testament indeed.