Bradway Hotel, Bradway Road, Bradway
TO the Bradway Hotel for Friday's fish night but first a public service announcement.
You'll need the telephone number if you want to book.
Forget those numbers in the phone book and on the internet. They either don't work, they're for somebody else or they don't take incoming calls.
And it's no good asking BT. Directory inquiries is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. So here it is. It's 0114 236 4672.
"When we moved in there was some trouble over the bill with the previous people," says a helpful female voice when I eventually find the right number.
"Then when we were refurbishing the place one of the workmen went through the cable."
Landlord Matt Faulkner takes up the story. "After we moved in a year ago it gave us time to get bedded in. But now not finding the number is beginning to annoy customers."
No beating about the bush, the Bradway, a squat stone-faced building opposite the Dore and Totley Golf Club, used to be a bit of a dive. So when Matt, aged 26, and girlfriend Abigail Fermie opened up they had an image problem.
"No one had ever been to the Bradway for good food," grins Matt, who looks after the kitchen. "So we had to start building up a good clientele.
Normally a place like the Bradway wouldn't tick any of my boxes. I avoid pubs with a telly but luckily the sound had been turned down.
And it's not what you would call a pubby pub. It's been refurbished in a way which leaves little room for individuality. But they do cook rather decent fresh fish.
The blackboard menu shows fish and chips with mushy peas, roast hake with asparagus, roast sea bream, pan-fried trout on a mustard mash and smoked haddock risotto. That's not a bad slate for a pub.
We get there early because we've heard there can sometimes be lobster on the menu and it soon runs out. That's not quite the story.
"People can pre-order fish and we get a regular party who often order that," says Matt later.
We both start with prawns. If you don't like whitebait (and I'm not that keen) they appear in prawn cocktail and as tiger prawns with a piri piri sauce.
Not bad although the cocktail (3.95) is best served in a glass not sprawled out on a plate but it tasted fine. The piri piri prawns were okay in a hot sort of way.
The Bradway does best with its mains. Most people go for the fish and
chips (6.95) no matter what else is on the board and so did my missus.
It was little short of excellent with a lovely, dark brown crunchy batter, pearly white flakes of fish underneath, what could very well have been home-made mushy peas and certainly a home made tartare sauce. And the chips were chunky.
It came with a couple of slices of bread and butter.
I went for the hake (8.95). Now normally I can take or leave hake but this was so fresh and cooked so accurately that I now regard it in a new light. Presentation was good. My fillet came perched on halved new potatoes with three asparagus spears draped over it.
Desserts are okay. An apple and pear crumble, served with a tiny jug of custard, would have benefited from the fruit being cooked a little more and peeled. There was also a chocolate mousse. Both 3.75.
Now fish cookery requires good timing and Matt is the first to admit he's no trained chef. But he has picked up a lot from others along the way, particularly Matt Rhodes from the former fish restaurant Blue Fin, who had a spell working at the Bradway.
In the week there's a pretty normal pub type menu and the last Saturday of the month is a theme night. They were due for a school dinners one when I was there.
Our bill with drinks came to 36.65.
- Bradway Road, Bradway, Sheffield S17 4QW. Tel 0114 236 4672.
- Open lunch and dinner. Credit cards. TV but sound turned down. Pleasant music. Disabled access and toilets. Large car park.
- My star ratings (out of five):
Food ****
Atmosphere ***
Service *****
Value *****
Pub food category
What do you think? Add your comment below.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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