Food review: Local focus makes for a great catch in Broomhill

And so, when the former chef and regional area manager for a branded chain decided to open an independent restaurant in Sheffield, he had the chance to do something about it.

“One of the things was consistently going to restaurants and seeing the same salmon and sea bass on the menu”, said Liam, who set up Butcher and Catch with business partner Adam Pearce.

“The sea bass has come from Thailand so it has been shipped 3,000 miles. I was sick of going to restaurants and getting the same fish everywhere.”

Provenance is increasingly a consideration when it comes to dining out, but at some venues that can mean choosing between what you really want to eat, and the local, sustainable option.

At Butcher and Catch, the latest addition to a booming Broomhill food scene, that isn’t a problem.

All the meat comes through John Crawshaws – which has the Seven Hills Meat brand supplying beef and lamb reared within 30 miles _ and the fish is caught by M&J Seafood from Grimsby.

“It’s as close as we could get it”, laughs Liam.

“Everything there is MSC certified so they are really sustainable and we use whatever is caught by the fishermen.

“There’s some fantastic meat within 30 miles of Sheffield but a lot of places order it in. I was sick of that and wanted to use what we have got.”

Butcher only opened two weeks ago, but in its first week sold 140 British oysters, and has been fully booked on many nights.

There’s clearly an appetite for local, which is why Liam chose to open in Sheffield rather than the other northern cities he has worked across.

“It’s not quite there in terms of other cities for its independent food scene but it’s really on the rise”, he added.

Everything on the menu reads like something you really, really want to eat, which makes ordering a tad difficult. More of which later.

But there are also plenty of unusual cuts you won’t find - or might not have heard of before. We were certainly scratching our heads over a couple.

Flank steak, lamb Henry, and turbot to name but a few.

Liam added: “People are buying into what we’re trying to do with the meats.

“We’ve got beef ribs on the menu, which we cook for 12 hours and it’s a Jacob’s Ladder cut - you aren’t going to find that in the supermarket.

“One the fish side we’ve got Arctic char which is more sustainable than salmon and trout but you can’t really buy that anywhere.”

Butcher was buzzing when we arrived at 7pm last Friday, having booked in advance.

The interior is bright, with bold primary colours and stripped back wood, as well as an open kitchen.

It began with three oysters - fresh and on ice, though you can also have them deep fried, or with a blue cheese topping.

Here, they were happy to let us order starters and mains separately, which gave us more time to decide.

Service was top notch – friendly, fast and funny. Water came straight away and was replaced when empty, we didn’t wait for a thing.

Duck leg Yorkshire pudding (£7) was an interesting fusion dish.

Honey and Henderson’s Relish added a sweet tinge to the shredded meat, served inside a crisp, impressive pud and dotted with sesame seeds. Being fussy, just a dab more sauce on the pud would have been welcome.

Whitebait had the right amount of batter on the more-ish, oily fish, and came with minute slivers of straw potato plus a contrasting harissa mayonnaise. Both portion sizes were excellent, leaving plenty of room for mains. And it was a good job.

I’d dithered between the Butcher and Catch sections of the menu - cleverly divided into meats, seafood, sharing, steaks and grown categories - for so long that it eventually came down to panic ordering the steak and steak (£18).

The sliced flank was chargrilled dark on the outside and pink in the middle, so soft, so juicy. Well done to head chef Chris Billingsley - formerly of Brocco - for that.

Pan fried turbot – new to me – was pearly, fleshy slices of moist fish in between the layers of bones. Excellent chips and slim onion rings, not drowning in batter, were ideal accompaniments.

The waitress has chosen his main, and chose well.

Simply huge beef ribs (£17) had been slow braised to the point of collapse, but retained plenty of flavour.

The proper chippy chips were also worthy of note.

Again, the portion sizes left enough room for dessert.

A creamy wodge of lemon cheesecake came with curls of super sour lemon rinds on top by way of contrast, and silky vanilla Our Cow Molly (of course) ice cream.

His chocolate and frangelico mousse had added texture from a crunchy hazlenut praline coating. Both were £4.

With a bottle of pinot noir we paid £79, and there are local gins and vodkas on the drinks menu.

This is a reel catch for Broomhill. Butcher and Catch, Whitham Road, Broomhill Tel: 0114 263 1304.