8 | January 3, 2015 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News
Food Review Rhode Island, 15 High Street, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 9HX
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Lover of all things sweet Ella Walker more than meets her match at American diner-style eatery Rhode Island in Cherry Hinton . . .
Telephone: (01223) 778080 Website: rhodeislanduk.com Restaurant opening hours: Tuesday – Thursday 11.30am to 10pm Friday – Saturday 11am to 10.30pm Sunday 11am to 8pm Cost: Dinner for two, including drinks, £50.90 Food: 刂刂刂 Service: 刂刂刂刂刂
Weekend reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals
Atmosphere: 刂刂刂刂刂 Value: 刂刂刂
T day I had to pass The on one for the Rhode o N
OW, let’s be clear, I have a serious sweet tooth. If there’s a packet of chocolate biscuits (preferably Hobnobs) in the house, and they’re open, I will have no choice but to finish t the t lot (preferably before my boyfriend gets home). The T same goes for cake, doughnuts and chocolate offers going round the office: I’ll never say no, I’ll o probably be back for seconds. . . or thirds. p But Cherry Hinton American-feel diner, Rhode Island, promising “The best cow and milk in town” defeated me, and it was a bit of a shock for all involved. The former pub turned rustic-chic enclave ticks all the indie-décor boxes: brown paper menus clipped into wooden clipboards, bottles of chilli oil flecked with twigs of rosemary on each table, a counter bowed under the weight of locally made and sourced pastries, treats and shards of honeycomb, massive booths for big, hungry groups, big old windows, scrubbed wooden decks and a hatch into the bustling, stainless-steel kitchen. Then there’s the chalkboards dotted all over, screaming out about milkshakes (more of which later) and the stacks of ‘Jolly Good’ craft beer they stock. Having planned ahead, we’d gone light on breakfast and found a table for two in the window, all aglow with winter light streaming in and fancy filament bulbs dangling on metal piping above (see, told you it’s very ‘now’). Sipping on delicious homemade strawberry lemonade (£2.95) for me, and standard homemade lemonade (£2.75) for Sam (he who usually misses out on the biscuits at home), it was at this point we threw ourselves into the ridiculously-decadent
sounding menu. Reading it is enough to make your arteries shrivel with the fear of the sugary, milky goodness about to flood your system. I was torn between three mini brioche sliders filled with gherkins, slaw, pulled pork and chicken (£12), and the pork ribs (£15). In hindsight, I made a mistake, I should have gone for the sliders; the balance of flavour just wasn’t quite right on the ribs. Slow cooked in a Coca Cola brine and served with a chilli and maple sauce, the two rack serving was huge, sticky and not all that melt-in-the-mouth. And jeez was it sweet. Sure, the swamp of Coca Cola and maple syrup should have warned me, but I figured the chilli hit would cut through it, sadly that hit was more a light stroke than the powerful smack it needed to be. A half-serving with a double
portion of ale-battered onion strings (which were the absolute highlight: a snappy, salty, tangle of a triumphant side dish), would make much more sense. Sam went big with The Dirty Cow burger (£16.50) and it more than lived up to its name. Impossible to eat with your bare hands, it requires a messy dismantling to get it in your mouth. Its contents? A beef patty topped with pulled pork, treacle cured bacon, a fried egg and pickles, crowned with a cloud of those incredible onion strings. It’s seriously big: don’t underestimate it. We’re still not quite sure what the egg added, and the patty itself was on the dry side, but the pulled pork and gherkin combo was a winner. Somehow, among all this meat, we managed to share the house slaw (£2) – an olive oil drenched dish of shredded carrot, red cabbage and apple (where oh where was a mayo dressing?) – and a tin of suitably moreish, soft-on-the-inside, crispy-onthe-outside, sweet potato fries (£3.50). We’d fallen into a food coma long before our super chipper waitress asked if we fancied dessert. It would have been rude to leave without trying the milkshakes. The salted caramel milkshake (£4.95) came loaded with whipped cream and drizzles of caramel sauce, while the chocolate version (£3.25) arrived in a very cool milk bottle. They were dangerously sweet, thick with ice cream, dreamy with sugar and totally unfinishable. We could only shrug in disbelief, try not to faint thanks to the resulting blood-sugar level catastrophe and accept that perhaps even my sweet tooth can’t handle Rhode Island.