Copthorne Hotel, Bramall Lane, Sheffield, S2 4SU
FRIDAY night, 8pm and the 18FIFTY5 restaurant at the new four star Copthorne Hotel at Sheffield United is as dead as a failed promotion challenge.
"Just us?" I ask our head waiter who sees us to the table of our choice. We could have any we liked.
"You will have your own private team of chefs and the head chef had a Michelin star," he replies suavely and I mentally gave him a bonus point for his quick wit.
Which is more than I would give the 18FIFTY5. Millennium Hotels spent 17 million on the 158-bed hotel which takes up one corner of Bramall Lane and designed one of the most boring restaurants I've eaten in.
It's got corporate written all over it. The decor is sort of office Sixties reception, big swathes of unexciting beige and grey, enormous lampshades and chunky tables. "It's like eating at the end of a corridor," says my wife, peering all the way past the entrance to reception.
Is this why it's empty? Or is it the price of the food, with starters touching 7 and main courses on the carte hovering around the 17 mark. The table d'hote comes in at 25 for three courses.
Now price is no indication of quality but despite the lack of atmosphere - the sound system plays lift music until it relents and gives us The Eagles - this did turn out to be a memorable evening.
For the kitchen under head chef Daniel James, a 38-year-old Welshman without a trace of yakky-dah in his accent, cooks like a dream. An expensive one but still a dream.
Eat off the carte and your three courses will turn into five, with an amuse-bouche to begin and a pre-dessert.
Daniel retained the star at the Llangoed Hotel in Powys (when the previous head chef left Michelin came back to judge him and he kept it) where he worked from 1999 until 2001 and was previously at the Cardiff Copthorne where he earned good reviews and two AA rosettes.
It shouldn't be too hard for him to emulate that here.
At first glance it seems a lopsided sort of menu. The six starters include two soups and two fish (salmon rillettes and grilled sea bass) while the half a dozen mains offer two fish (brill or lemon sole), two fowl (guinea fowl and chicken), lamb and a veggie. No pork, no beef although a steak is on the bar menu.
But forget that, enjoy the cooking. The breads are home made, yeasty little rolls with eggshell glazes and, having studied what we've ordered, the kitchen sends out beautifully cooked little slices of foie gras with a soft-boiled half of quail's egg and hazelnut dressing which, with its julienne of apple, is a scaled down version of one of the starters.
Daniel had better watch out for a visit from Sheffield's Foie Gras Liberation Front!
You can tell a lot about a kitchen from the soup and I order the chicken consomm (pricy at 5.95) which was delicate yet flavoursome.
It's infused by a julienne of vegetables and shredded herb pancake which appears only as a few scraps.
It was lovely, as was my wife's grilled sea bass fillet (7.50), accurately cooked, packed with flavour and served with a difficult to cut swirl of braised Belgian endive.
At this point the numbers in the restaurant increased by 100 per cent as another couple of diners arrived. The night would finish with six.
Both main courses were impressive and showed great confidence in timing. Roast rack of lamb (17), marinated in oil and cracked pepper for a least a day, was so beautifully tender and the pepper fused deliciously to the bones. The duck (17.50) was similarly well handled and bounced with flavour, set off with kale, nutty-tasting salsify (a seldom-seen vegetable) and a vanillary tonka bean veloute.
After a stunning sorbet of kalamansi (Chinese orange) as a palate cleansing pre-dessert we tackled the puds. Dark chocolate pannacotta was a little stiff but had great chocolate intensity. A mixed berry compote layered between slices of too-tough brioche disappointed (6.95 each).
It's high time Sheffield had a new talent on the scene but it's going to cost a bit to enjoy what Daniel has to offer.
Rob a bank, mug your granny but do save your pennies and eat here. The food totally outshines the surroundings.
We paid 66.45 for food, 16.95 for a soft French merlot and 4.60 for lacklustre coffee.
COPTHORNE HOTEL
My ratings (out of five)
Food HHHHH
Atmosphere HHH
Service HHHHH
Value HHHH
Bramall Lane, Sheffield, S2 4SU. Tel: 0114 2252 5480. Open daily. Credit cards. Quiet music. Veggie options. Disabled access and toilet. Ample parking at SUFC car park. Website www.millenniumhotels.co.uk
Middle market category. Do not compare ratings between places of different style or price.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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