British Food Fortnight

Perhaps there’s no better time to find something quintessentially British to celebrate, so the imminent British Food Fortnight could be just what the doctor ordered.

Running from Tuesday September 20th to Sunday October 2nd, the celebration – now in its 21st year – is all about drawing attention to our vibrant, diverse and ever-evolving British food culture. There will be events, activities and celebration menus across Britain, from lessons in produce and agriculture in schools to special promotions in supermarkets, festivals of local produce and campaigns to raise awareness of the amazing food we produce on our own doorstep. Even universities, prisons, hospitals and care home catering will be changed to coincide with the event.

Obviously, Newcastle has a reputation for fantastic food and traditional dishes, from pan haggerty to pease pudding, and the surrounding countryside and teeming North Sea are second to none for brilliant produce. So first of all we’re going to suggest some city centre restaurants with a reputation for keeping it local and seasonal and then we’ll look at cooking for yourself.

Route – Side

Route takes its food very seriously and offers a regularly changing and carefully curated menu that really does place an emphasis on region, season and freshness. As well as a 3-course set menu at £28 (today’s menu included black pudding and fennel sausage with gnocchi), there’s an inspiring range of mains and small plates as well as the obligatory Lindisfarne oysters. And the drinks menu is assembled with equal care.

House of Tides - Quayside

Everything about House Of Tides screams ‘best of British’, from the amazing 16th century premises to food which delivers on their promise of ‘natural, seasonal & sustainable’. The tasting menu is £125pp with wine pairing available for an extra £70. The menu changes frequently but might include salt aged lamb, halibut with turnips, hazelnuts and razor clams and a dark chocolate cremeux. There’s a really inventive vegetarian menu too, that might include dishes like kohlrabi ravioli and braised heritage carrots. All cooked to a standard that won Kenny Atkinson Newcastle’s only Michelin star.

The Broad Chare – Broad Chare

Situated above an excellent, old-school pub, the Broad Chare’s dining room is very conducive to hearty British meals. Traditional staples like mince and dumplings, wild sea trout and proper roasts are cooked to exacting standards and there’s a lengthy and appealing range of bar snacks and small plates too (everything from pork crackling to monkfish cheeks and, yes, Lindisfarne Oysters).

Redhouse - Sandhill

Pies are about as British as it gets, and Redhouse is a Pie & Ale House par excellence. There’s a range of ten pies available (and occasional guest offerings), from the firmly traditional like steak and mushroom to the more outré like bolognese and mozzarella, and a couple of vegetarian options (the sweet potato, pepper and onion is amazing). Pair your pie with your choice of potato, peas and liquor and get the lot for just under a tenner. There are some snacks and sides as well, and an excellent range of beers.

Horticulture – Pilgrim Street

Horticulture is a restaurant with an ethos: it’s all about locality, sustainability, minimal food waste and a reduced carbon footprint. All the good, important stuff. Which isn’t to say there’s anything austere about the venue or the food. There’s a focus on simple, tasty, inventive dishes using local produce in international ways, so you might try BBQ langoustines or octopus tagine. The vegetarian selection is great and so are the cocktails.

Blackfriars – Friars Street

You don’t get more traditionally British than an eight-centuries old monastery refectory, and that’s before you even see the menu. Settle into arguably the oldest dining room in the UK and spend some time taking in the ‘gutsy, traditional British food’, with seasonal a la carte and set menus and all sorts of tasting and pairing menus to boot. The autumn set menu offers 2 courses for £21pp, 3 courses for £25, and offers delights like Northumbrian venison pie, roasted autumn pumpkin and North Shields sole goujons - which is about as local and seasonal as it gets.

Of course, Newcastle is also a great city for shopping and that definitely includes buying all the ingredients you need for preparing traditional British meals with local seasonal ingredients. The big stores are always excellent starting points for meals like this: Marks & Spencer and Fenwick in Northumberland Street both have excellent food halls - M&S is all about tradition, of course, and Fenwick is particularly strong on those more unusual ingredients that can add a little something to your creations. Meanwhile around the corner in Eldon Square is John Lewis, which is an excellent place to buy all your kitchen essentials from cookware to cutlery and all manner of labour-saving gadgets.

And perhaps the jewel in the Newcastle culinary crown is the Grainger Market, the vast indoor market that has been the destination for discerning shoppers for nearly 200 years. There’s a constantly changing variety of food stalls these days, with excellent cuisine from all over the world, but at the heart of the market are a number of stalls that emphasise exactly what British Food Fortnight is all about: fresh local produce. With Hector Hall and B Muers & Son servicing all your grocery and fruit needs, Chirton Fisheries always well stocked with fish and seafood from right off the coast and quality butchers like Finlay’s and Hunter’s Deli, there’s almost nothing you can’t find in Grainger Market and you can depend on its quality and provenance. You can even arrange deliveries from Grainger Delivery. And don’t forget the excellent, locally produced sausages from Geordie Bangers, made down by the Tyne in North Shields.

So whether you want to treat yourself to some hearty British food in one of our excellent restaurants or try your hand at something properly British at home, Newcastle has you covered.