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Distinctly out of the ordinary
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
TONY POGSON finds the treat of a meal out begins as early as the car park
I confess readily that I'm biased. My wife Patricia and I have been regular visitors at the CragRats Theatre Bar in Holmfirth and when we heard of the opening of the CragRats Brasserie in July on the site of the old Chase restaurant in Sheffield Road, Hepworth, we were quickly along to try a bar meal.
Beautiful! Now here we were again to see what the restaurant proper could do. The visit would have been much earlier but holidays intervened.
Now different people expect different things when they are dining out and if you are going to avoid disappointment it's as well to get that out of the way at the outset.
The brasserie aims to give you some distinctly out of the ordinary tastes, with the food beautifully displayed as you have seen on so many TV programmes - and you must be prepared to pay for the experience.
It's not as extreme as the nouvelle cuisine excesses but this is the wrong place to come with a trencherman's appetite.
For me the excitement begins with the smell of food that wafts up to the car park and through the elegant approach past outside tables and barbecue stations set up for balmy summer nights.
Just beware that it doesn't take your attention away from the distinctly non-standard deep steps with small drops - especially on the way back!
Inside the minimalist modern decor, with understated pictures offset by sculptures that shout, suits me fine but I can foresee it being too much like an art gallery for some.
Maybe it helped that we were early birds but we found the young waiting staff on their toes. We had the choice of deciding on our pick from the menu either with our drinks just off the bar or in the Brasserie itself.
We choose the former and the eventually made an impressive entrance to the dining area, with a member of staff bearing our drinks aloft on a tray.
First course was tempura of king prawn and plaice, Thai style salad and red pepper syrup for her, (£5.95 worth) and, for him, potato gnocchi with sun dried tomatoes, asparagus, basil and parmesan cream, (at £4.50).
Patricia followed this up with lime-crusted fillet of turbot, slow roasted sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes with white wine and chive cream (£13.95). I picked out herb-crushed rack of lamb, butternut squash and roasted pepper risotto with salsa verde (£13.95).
Beware sending your bill soaring with too many of the extra veg etc. We plumped for mixed leaf salad (£2.25) and root veg dauphinoise (£2.50).
Which just left room for citrus cheesecake, sabayon sauce, (£4.50) and banana toffee crème brûlée with homemade strawberry shortbread (£4.50). Finally the coffee, which came in a satisfyingly large cup.
The food was excellent, the tastes as varied as the menu would suggest, the pictures on the plate sufficient to draw gasps from incoming diners.
It's the little things that make all the difference, like the water jug with added lime, the assortment of breads with butter.
This time I could not give them the highest marks - piping hot vegetables exposed the lamb as too cool - but it was very close to that.
The Bill ... CragRats Brasserie
Address: Sheffield Road, near Hepworth, Holmfirth, HD9 7TP
Telephone number: 01484 683775
Smoking: Only in the bar area
Children: Unlikely for a fine dining restaurant, but they would be allowed - and there is a children's menu with the bar meals served next door
Disabled access: From outside, yes via a special gate and a ramp off the main road. But it may mean being lifted down into the brasserie
Cost: £61.30 (with drinks)
Would you go back: Oh, yes!
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