Rafters, 220 Oakbrook Road, Nether Green, Sheffield
AT the foot of the stairs the price on Rafters menu reads £34 for three courses.
At the top, when we read it again at our table, it's 1 more.
"It only went up this week," says chef-patron Marcus Lane later, but we're in a forgiving sort of mood because it has been a terrific meal.
It all started with the bread. "Good heavens, you've got to try this," says my wife, tearing off a bit of blue cheese bread.
The crumb is so lustrous it's like silk.
My black pudding bread is almost as good and there are others to sample. We do.
"People always comment on the breads," says the Maitre D, bringing the basket round again.
Service is top notch here.
Rafters, at Nether Green, with spidery black rafters which give it its name, eight brick walls and porthole windows, has always been a special occasion sort of place.
It's small, cosy even, with glass sheets over the tablecloths, polished Sheffield cutlery and well-mannered service.
At 35 a head, coffee extra, it's by no means the most expensive place in town but it's getting there.
But it does have the reputation of being consistently good so you can feel pretty confident before you go.
The current menu is very tasty if a little more complex than you might expect.
There's a reason for that.
Marcus, who normally writes the menu himself, is ending his business partnership with fellow chef Michael Sabin and has taken on local lad Gareth Ducker.
Now he, if I'm not mistaken, is the former Castle College student who picked up an award or two in Europe some eight years ago.
Gareth has had a spell in Canada and has come back bursting with ideas and he's helped write the menu.
If you're not worried about the after-effects, try what my wife calls fart soup. It's Jerusalem artichoke, as silky as a veloute but it's just the vegetable in there, in which sit three roundels of ballotine of chicken.
Think chicken meat sausaged around a filling of ham hock and pistachio, then sliced, and you've got it.
Actually, I didn't to start with – this is the first soup I've needed a fork to eat – but was won over by the complementary flavours.
My wife was seriously impressed by her little goats cheese tart which had been baked so it fused completely with its base.
"That was a grown-up tart. So often, it's just cheese popped into its casing," she said, mopping up the last crumbs with the green bean salad and olive tapenade.
It's at the main course that many restaurants flag. Not here.
My only complaint about the pan-fried Gressingham duck breast was that too much was squashed on a smallish rectangular plate.
Flavours were very pronounced, whether the pink meat itself or the very crisp skin, the roast garlic mash (a square of dauphinoise was a bonus extra), the baby onions, the fricassd mushrooms, the cured bacon . . . you get your money's worth.
RAFTERS, 220 Oakbrook Road, Nether Green, Sheffield.
Telephone: 0114 230 4819.
Open Mon and Wed-Sat night. Upstairs restaurant: no disabled access or toilets. House 13.50. BYO Monday only (3 corkage). Credit cards. Low music. Credit cards. Street parking.
My star ratings (out of five):
Food 5
Atmosphere 4
Service 5
Value 5
Middle market restaurant. Do not compare ratings between places of different style or price.
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But sometimes it’s the little things which impress.
The halibut with buttered chick peas was precisely cooked to bring out its best but what my wife will also remember will be the chucks of courgette in a batter as wispy as candyfloss.
“I’d have the fish in this batter,” she drooled.
No secret, says Marcus, just cornflour, plain flour, self-raising flour, baking powder, one ice cube and soda water.
On top of all this Rafters still does side-plated vegetables. “I’m in Yorkshire,” says Marcus.
Desserts round things off splendidly.
Bread and butter pudding, layered with dried fruits, and a very superior Bakewell tart with amaretto ice cream, are sheer elegance.
This has been a very good, if pricy, meal.
The food was 70, coffee and petit fours another 6 and a bottle of Melon de Bourgogne 13.50, making a total of 89.50.
Now that’s a lot of money but remember this restaurant has what others sometimes lack.
Consistency.
You can’t put a price on that.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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