For some January is about giving up stuff. Or for restricting themselves. We very much stick to the principles of Tryanuary.
Try stuff. Explore. And the bargains on offer in January allow us to do just that. Especially when they’re as good as the offer at Wood on First Street – buy one tasting menu, get one free (restrictions apply). Umm hello.
So we booked, late Friday night, for the ten course tasting menu, and shared a wine pairing between us. (I mean, we had just done a wassail and consumed a fair amount of cider, so sharing was definitely a better option for both our heads the next morning).
After a hurried taxi ride, and a flustered arrival (it always takes longer than you expect to extricate yourself from conversations), we began at the beginning, with our amuse bouche. A charcoal cracker with eel and scallop roe, sat alongside a little tart of Lancashire cheese and onion jam. The tart was a mouthful of rich buttery cheese with that characteristic Lancashire tartness mellowed by soft onion jam. The cracker was a crisp pillow of round deep flavour. Despite it not tasting anything like one, I couldn’t help but think of it as a very grown up scampi fry. That satisfying crunch and flavour, but without the fake fishiness and citric acid. Maybe I’d had a little too much cider by this point?
Luckily, to soften the cider, there was bread from Pollen Bakery and fresh butter with lamb. Chewy sourdough, soft creamy butter with gently salty lamb fat. I’m going to have to try to recreate this at home with some lamb dripping, because I’m writing about it and revisiting it in my head. Is it lunch time yet?
Our first course was for me perhaps the weakest of the evening – a butternut squash pannacotta, topped with goats curd mousse, and a pumpkin seed cracker. I loved the idea, and the flavours worked well, but it felt like the amount of butternut squash overwhelmed everything else. It’s sweet starchiness was a little too much for the mousse, and it made me a little sad because it sounded like the flavours of autumn.
By comparison, despite there being a beef tomato involved, I loved the second course. Halibut with a soft beef tomato, verbena, samphire and lobster bisque. I love bisque when its frothed, there’s something about it’s intensity softened by aeration that I love. Then add in the firm sweetness of the halibut and the fresh tomato and it more than made up for my sadness over the butternut.
I’ll admit, I knew the next course was coming, because I’d had a message or two about it on Instagram raving about it! This was a deconstructed cottage pie, shredded beef shortrib, Seven Bro7hers Stout with potato espuma, and sweet carrots. Buttery light potatoes, rich beef, sweet crisp carrots. It was the very essence of a cottage pie made with the leftover Sunday roast. Comfort food dolled up fancy.
Onto our fourth course, and we were deeper into umami territory. Hen of the woods with teriyaki and miso. A little sweetness, and lots of earthiness abounded. I have a particular love for miso and it’s savoury saltiness and loved how it softened the sweetness of the teriyaki.
Our fifth course was all surf and turf. Softly earth stone bass, with crisply fatty chicken wing, the rye sweetness of potters malt, and crumchy sea vegetables. The salty fingers (the green fronds on the plate) are similar to samphire, but with more bitterness, so they cut through the fattiness of the chicken.
Over the half way point and firstly, let me apologise for the poor photograph. I took several photos and only two are even vaguely in focus. But this was the belly pork with apple, sage and onion, crackling and cider. Beneath that powdery crunch is the butter soft pork itself, the kind of melt in the mouth that makes you close your eyes for a minute or two to enjoy.
That was followed by perhaps my favourite dish of the night. Maybe. Butter roast cod loin, with caviar – it’s simple, but so rich, creamy, with those little pops of saltiness. It’s a dainty dish, but it’s all you need.
Before our final savoury course, we were offered a choice, the venison listed on the menu, or the lamb dish from the a la carte menu. Of course, we went for one of each.
For him, the assiette of lamb – lamb cutlets, neck and sweetbreads, potato puree made with Cheshire new potatoes, toasted Bosworth Ash goats cheese, savoy cabbage and a touch of honey. The lamb was tender, but with a crispness to the fat. This is the second time I’ve had goats cheese with lamb and it’s genius. It works so well, especially with a little honey added to the mix.
For me, the venison. Loin served soft and pink, and the haunch served in a suet laden bon bon on top of sprigs of Douglas fir, neeps and tatties with blackberry and elderflower gel. A dish with the flavours of winter, anything with suet is like a foodie comfort blanket.
Dessert beckoned, but just before we made the move from savoury to sweet, another snack appeared. These may look like Oreos, but instead, they are vanilla and ginger biscuits with Jerusalem artichoke. Earthy, round, warm and crisp. A nibbly transition into pudding.
Our pre- dessert was a citrussy anise nod to Eton mess. Meringue with lemon posset, fennel, sea buckthorn and linseed. I love the tart sharpness of sea buckthorn, adding a distinct sourness to the dish to soften the sweet meringue and take the fennel from something you’d find in a savoury dish, to sweet.
Finally, possibly my husband’s favourite dish (I’ll check) but a node to the Black Forest gateau. Chocolate doughnut, Chantilly cream, Kirsch soaked cherries, and a little earthy note from the baby beetroot leaves. Rich, creamy, intense, this was a little too much for me to finish, but if you’re a chocolate fan, this little baby is going to make your night.
Overall, what a night. So much great food, some absolutely stunning wines (the Simonsig was just glorious), and all for a bargain price. Get in and enjoy the menu while you can, the new one is no doubt on it’s way!
