13 minute read
FOOD AND CONVERSATION
Green Park Brasserie
6 Green Park Road, Bath BA1 1JB; Tel: 01225 338565; greenparkbrasserie.com
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Review
Newton Farm’s 42oz côte de boeuf (for 2)
Melissa Blease devours the croquettes, gets her skate on the plate and manages to fit in the best crème brûlée ever consumed. She also chats to Alex Peters about the last year at Green Park Brasserie and is blown away by positivity.
As we all know too well, times are hard for the hospitality industry at the moment. At the tail end of a 18-month-long crisis that resulted in an imperfect storm in eating out world, it would be easy to forgive restaurant owners, when asked how they’re coping, for allowing a mindset revolving around optimism and gratitude to slip down the menu a bit. But ask Alex Peters – director of marketing and strategy for long-standing Bath institution the Green Park Brasserie –where he’s at right now, and the only storm you can expect to have to weather is a great big wave of positivity.
“Getting our team back together and doing what we love doing again was a big moment for us, and hugely exciting. To welcome both locals and those visiting the city back to the Braz has been an absolute pleasure.” And that’s it; no ‘poor us’ moans, no self-pity, no blame – just gratitude for where he’s at this summer.
Even when lockdown was at its most severe, Alex kept calm and carried on, keeping GPB life as ‘new’ normal as possible. “We’re lucky to be a versatile business, which helped us remain optimistic for the future while we tried to make the most of such challenging times,” he says.
“While the Brasserie was forced to close completely, we took the opportunity to give the building some love and get on with less sexy but essential jobs like flooring, plumbing and ventilation. It gave us time to focus, too, on re-evaluating our commercial offering and positioning to make sure that, when re reopened, we’d be an even better business than we were pre-pandemic.
“Meanwhile, we opened our little sister operation the Bath Pizza Co as a takeaway for six of the eight months of lockdown. I was totally overwhelmed with the fantastic support our local community offered us throughout the pandemic, particularly in the cold depths of winter; even then, we still saw our regulars picking up a takeaway. Being one of the very few places that remained open is something I’m really proud of; we were able to offer a sense of normal life in the most challenging of times, and maintain a sense of community for our customers and our team.”
The team of which Alex talks so fondly (“led by our outstanding general manager Alex Pitts”) has a huge part to play in the uplifting vibe that suffuses the whole GPB experience now the doors to the business are open again, from warm welcome to nightcap by way of menus that offer fully flexible food for thought (à la carte on a modern bistro theme, or perfect pizzas firing up more casual tastes). And if you visit on any evening between Wednesday to Saturday, live jazz, funk, swing and/or soul adds a subtle beat to the eats.
I ask Alex what aspect of this buoyant, multi-faceted operation, opened by his father Andrew back in 1992, he’s most proud of today. “Broadly speaking, the atmosphere! And simply seeing how much guests enjoy being here when the terraces are buzzing, the cocktails are flowing and there’s live music inside the restaurant,” he says. “I honestly don’t think there are many other places in the country that have the unique environment that we offer.”
Indeed, our most recent visit to GPB reminded me of visits to London’s Shoreditch, or New York’s Union Square – there’s something unselfconsciously, comfortably cool about the whole affair; it’s a ‘welcome to the neighbourhood’ party to which everybody’s invited.
After pre-dinner drinks on the lively terrace on the Green Park Road/James Street West intersection to the front of the building, we took to a cosy little corner table in what was, between 1870–1966, the Green Park Railway Station booking hall and is today the dining room at the heart of GPB, as suitable for families and party groups as it is for a smoochy supper for two.
While local swing/jazz supremo Gavin Lazarus crooned dreamily on the little stage, we dived into starters of exceedingly moreish crispy/creamy smoked west country pancetta and leek croquettes and divine Monkfish scampi; one course in, and the going was very good indeed.
From the main course selection, Alex cites the steaks (“sourced from our producers Hugh and Celia at Newton Farm, who are just
up the road with their herd of North Devon Reds; the fillet cut is incredibly tender and flavoursome, and our head chef Steve Derry produces a world-class peppercorn sauce that’s very popular and goes with it incredibly well!”) and Bath Pizza Co head chef Jonah Pole’s goat’s cheese, mushroom and truffle oil pizza as his personal current fave raves.
Alex’s tried-and-trusted recommendations will have to wait until our next visit to be sampled though, because on this occasion there was the irresistible offer of skate wing on the specials board (huge, creamy, delicate but not fragile, and sweetly meaty) and a tantalising dish of chargrilled, lemon and herb-marinated Castlemead Farm chicken breast served with chilli-roasted cauliflower and cumin and turmeric crème fraîche on the à la carte, which turned out to be even more fascinatingly foodie-complex than the description suggested.
But if those dishes tempt you into playing copycat, move fast and be warned: GPB menus are strictly seasonal and always wrought from locally sourced ingredients, including as much produce from the thriving Green Park Station Farmers’ Market as possible. As a result, a dish that’s trending today might well be consigned to the files marked ‘last season’ by the time you read these words. When it comes to puddings, however, GPB’s legendarily good signature dessert crème brûlée is always in vogue, so make like us and try one; I guarantee it’s the best crème brûlée you’ve ever tasted.
Even before the enormous challenges and devastating restrictions that the pandemic era threw at the hospitality domain, questions around how restaurants survive in such a competitive market subject to the whims and vagaries of fashionability, fads and an insecure financial climate have always loomed large over the most successful business plans. But for over almost three decades now, GPB has skilfully moved with the times while still retaining all the original charms that made it so popular from the get-go; in so many wonderful ways, Bath’s beloved brasserie is still very young for its age. Is this youthful outlook the secret of its success... or are dedication, adaptation and diversification the key factors in play here? As in all the best recipes, it’s clear that all these ingredients go into the pot.
“Aside from the pandemic, we’ve been able to grow the business over the years while building on the strong foundations that my dad Andrew laid in 1992 – and I’m really, really proud of that,” says Alex, who stepped into his directorship role in 2018. “I feel a strong responsibility to Bath to ensure that this magnificent building is a place that people can love coming back to time and time again. I want our future to hold and offer yet more of the best things in life: great food and drink in a wonderful setting to enjoy with the people you care about. We’re committed to doing what we do; next year, we’ll have been doing it for 30 years... and we’re hoping we have at least another 30 to look forward to!”
If you too fancy accentuating the positive, the good times at the glorious Green Park Brasserie offer multiple reasons to be cheerful. n
Dishes with duck and hake
The Green Park Brasserie menu offers starters from £7.50, mains from £14.95, steak from £19.95, desserts from £6.50
Earthy, rich and tangy, this luscious duck stew, called fesenjan, is bursting with Middle Eastern flavour
Ingredients Fesenjan
2 duck legs, 1 large onion, 150g walnuts, 5 tbsp pomegranate molasses, 2 garlic cloves, ½ pint chicken stock, ½ cinnamon stick 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, ¼ tsp salt, or more to taste, ¼ tsp cracked black pepper, or more to taste
Tahini dressing
130g tahini sesame seed paste, 100ml lukewarm water, 3 cloves garlic, 1 large lemon, juiced, ¼ tsp salt
Method
• Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Roughly slice the onion. Sauté slowly in the vegetable oil, on a low heat, until soft and brown (they should be roughly the same colour as the walnuts). • Finely grate the garlic and add to the onions, along with the cinnamon stick and cumin powder. Stir and keep on the lowest heat for 10 minutes. • Spread the walnuts on a baking tray and roast for 5 minutes or until golden brown. • Add the roasted walnuts and pomegranate molasses to the sautéed onion and garlic. Keep on a low simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. • Add the chicken stock and slowly simmer for a further 20 minutes. • Meanwhile, place the duck legs in dry pan on a medium heat.
Season with salt and pepper and render the fat off for seven minutes each side, or until golden brown. • Put the duck legs in an ovenproof saucepan and pour over the pomegranate sauce. Cover with foil and braise in the oven at 180°C for 1½ hours or until tender and falling off the bone.
Season to taste.
For the tahini dressing
• Grind the tahini paste, lukewarm water, garlic, lemon juice and salt together in a food processor until the sauce is creamy and ivory-coloured. Scrape the sides of the processor during processing. • After a few minutes of blending, the sauce will turn into a rich, smooth paste. If the mixture is too thick, slowly add more water until it reaches the preferred consistency. • To serve, drizzle the tahini dressing over the duck legs. Delicious with roast potatoes tossed in cumin and turmeric or a herb rice.
Bath’s culinary stars come together for the Great Bath Feast’s festival weekend
The line-up for the Great Bath Feast’s festival weekend has just been announced! Taking place on 24th to 26th September in the city centre, the festival line-up features many of Bath’s renowned and much-loved culinary stars, including:
Ping Coombes, MasterChef winner in 2014, owner of Ping’s Makan Supper Club and Ping’s Masak Cookery School; Chris Cleghorn from The Olive Tree; Richard Buckley from OAK; Gavin Edney from The Elder; Noya Pawlyn from Noya’s Kitchen; Charlie Hopkins and Dylan Ambasna-Jones from Walcot House; Garry Rosser and Dan Rosser from Scallop Shell; Dan Moon, formerly from The Gainsborough; Marty Grant and Richard Knighting from Corkage; Pravin Nayar from Castle Farm in Midford; James Golding from The Pig Near Bath. Plus, Nathan Outlaw from Fish Kitchen, Restaurant at The Capitol and Siren at The Goring; and TV personality and Celebrity MasterChef winner in 2018, Ulrika Jonsson.
The line-up has been curated by Richard Bertinet, who will also be doing a chef demo. Festival sponsors include The Bertinet Kitchen Cookery School, Visit Bath and Bath BID.
Starting at Milsom Street and leading to New Bond Street in Bath, the streets will be lined with an array of market stalls that offer the best local and international food and drink. The chef demo area is not to be missed, with a jam-packed programme of events - positioned at the bottom of Milsom Street. For three full days, food and drink enthusiasts can enjoy a buzzing market atmosphere and tantalising food and drinks option, for free.
As part of Bath’s collective plans to reignite its local hospitality scene, the festival organisers would like to encourage food and drink retailers and producers to get involved in a number of ways: by booking a stall at the festival weekend, taking part in the Bath Bites Trail and/or hosting a fringe event in October. Find out more about these initiatives via the Great Bath Feast’s Get Involved page and sign up to their newsletter for competitions and future announcements:
www.greatbathfeast.co.uk.
EXTRA DELICIOUS
THE DELICIOUS GUIDE TO BATH 2021
New additions and featured favourites from our 2021 guide to all the best places to eat, drink and enjoy in Bath. See our website or search ‘Delicious Guide to Bath’
BOHO MARCHÉ
EXCELLENT CHOICE
The Francis Hotel, 6 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HH Tel: 01225 473351 Web: bohomarche.com
Boho Marché offers a touch of eclectic dining in Bath’s restaurant scene, celebrating the culinary cultures along the hippy trail to Marrakech – followed by rock stars, filmmakers, fashion designers, artists and writers in the Sixties and Seventies. It’s wildly Bohemian, playfully creative, quirky, indulgent – a feast for all the senses. The city’s hottest venue offers a menu that celebrates modern, playful Mediterranean and Moroccan dishes that are bursting with colour and flavours. With an interior that feels like a never-ending summer, Boho Marché fuses Parisian café culture with lush tropical greenery, Andalusian floral walkways and punctuated with cues from the infinitely stylish era of the 1970s in Marrakech.
FAB WORKING CAFÉ
CASSIA BATH
Sovereign Point, Midland Road, Bath BA2 3GJ Tel: 01225 685825 Web: cassiacommunity.co.uk
Cassia takes the best elements of a café and a co-working space and combines them in a fantastic location on Bath Riverside. Guests are welcome to drop by for breakfast or lunch, book a desk in The Study to work at for the day, or come for a post-work drink. Cassia’s menu is plant-focused with a wide range of vegan options available. Room hire is also available for meetings and workshops, and from September 2021 there will also bea wide-ranging events programme under the company’s C-Here banner.
BAR BRETON
Bar Breton is a small but perfectly formed French bar in the heart of Bath’s theatre district on Barton Street. Offering Breton-inspired drinks and small plates, the concept was inspired by trips to Brittany and France with family and friends. You’ll find delicious artisan ciders and beer from Northern France and the wine comes from all over the country (as it does in Brittany) and focuses on smaller family producers rather than big ‘names’ so you can enjoy tastier wines at much better value. The vol au vent is trending again here, as well as other French small plates to go with your drinks. There’s no need to make a reservation –just rock up and staff will try to seat you straightaway. Email any enquiries to bonjour@barbretonbath.co.uk.
C’EST FORMIDABLE!
