Neil Sowerby
Wayne Rooney and Andrew Nutter are entwined in my brain. Former boy wonders on top of their game. Roo, a dead cert for Footballer of the Year, Nutters, the current Good Food Guide readersâ North West restaurant of the year. Be patient with me. Itâs not quite the spurious link it seems.
Think back to June 2004, the European Championships. The day I made my debut as a proper food critic â unleashing my quivering palate on Mr Nutterâs eponymous restaurant. Over in Portugal, Wayne â just 18, the pressures of fame and male pattern baldness yet to register â scored twice against the mighty Swiss. Oh and it was my birthday, too. As we drove north out of Rochdale en route for Nutters, crowds streamed out of the pubs, waving flags and chanting the Great Escape tune. I waved royally back, thinking this is better than baking me a cake. But, of course, the fuss was all about the prodigious Rooney.
A decade before, Andrew Nutter (if he were a footballer, heâd be Andy or âNuttyâ) had the north west culinary scene at his feet, returning home to set up his own restaurant at the tender age of 21. No one was dancing in the Rochdale streets then, but there was lot of pride in the local boy made good. After winning a national cooking competition at 13, he had spent his teens training in the Savoy and other stellar kitchens.
How the years have flown. Still in his thirties, he has crammed so much in â moving his restaurant from cramped pub premises up on the moors to a vast former manor house down on the edge of Norden, books, telly appearances and in 2008 an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Manchester Food and Drink Festival.
At the recent launch of his latest culinary bible, Nuts About Food, Nutters regular Gary Neville (perhaps more of a foodie than team-mate Wayne) turned up alongside the obligatory Corrie stars. Despite the glitz, it all had the feel of an exuberant wedding reception. Tiny nieces and nephews in their best party gear slid around the dance floor. Perhaps the ghosts of when it was a Whitbread family fun pub complete with ball pond still haunted the place. It was a good night. We all felt family.
Imagine my surprise on returning to review recently to find a similar joie de vivre permeating the place on a Wednesday lunchtime. Barely after noon, we chugged up the curving drive to the car park expecting tumbleweed and it felt almost like a rally. In Nuttersâ disarmingly ecclesiastical dark wood interior, the occupants of those cars were in full spate, enjoying themselves big time. Amazingly busy in these straitened times. The cannily priced business lunch (two courses for £13.95, three for £16.95) was the obvious attraction, which we would have taken but for Andrew having spotted us. We were forced â with little apparent struggle â to âaccept what the chef cooks for youâ.
This I like and it wasnât like some fancy tasting menus, which are simply a parade of smaller versions of a la carte staples. This was more an extensive run-out of dishes for spring. So Iâm glad Andrew was keeping a list of dishes to present to us.
Black pudding sings for its supper in so many Lancashire restaurants but thereâs a real bond here from the signature Bury black pudding wontons to black pud streaked rolls in a busy bread basket. Andrewâs partial to his deep fat frier and to oriental influences without straying into wacky fusion territory. On a narrow plate an underpowered lobster bisque separated a crispy lobster and basil fritter from a much tastier gingery beer battered brill on pickled red onion and fennel. Brillâs his favourite fish â and among mine.
Before this, our single scallops with bacon mash in a lemon and chive butter sauce came in a pair of little lidded pots and was simply grand comfort food. You wait all your life for one dish of St Asaph lamb to come along and then get two on consecutive Wednesdays. At Rossendale rival Ramsons, it came with a traditional flourish tweaked with aplomb by chef Naz â two ways, the loin roasted, the breast slow-cooked, pea puree, redcurrant and mint sauce. Here the Welsh lamb arrived as a slow-braised shoulder, very tender with a âdolly mixture sauceâ, which as a jeu dâesprit (or was it merely in honour of Dolly the cloned sheep?) was dotted with miniscule cubes of root veg.
A bottle of Ninth Island Pinot Noir from Tasmania (£24) was coping well with most of this; violet on the nose, velvety on the tongue with an unusual spicy chocolate aftertaste. Weâd finished it over our attractive main, seared Tabley Brook Beef with potato fondant, purple carrot fricasse and slow-braised blade of beef - so for cheese, Andrewâs dad and front of house stalwart Rod plucked out a half bottle of serious claret.
Chateau Puy Razac had appealing Merlot fruit but with a lot of structure. The cheese board ranged wide, a Calvados Camembert aside, it was wholly British. Stand-outs? A comparatively mellow Stinking Bishop, a chalky Sharphams from Devon and our own densely blue Baa Blacksticks.
A Symphony of desserts ran to five movements. Vanilla creme brulee was the stand-out for me. For my friend Ruth it was the dark fudge and white chocolate cheesecake. Only the warm Bakewell tart was a mite muted.
Many failed soccer campaigns ago, I only gave The Boy Nutty three stars out of five, the equivalent of going out in the quarter final. On this evidence (with the caveat that we werenât incognito and were being cooked for specially) heâs capable of going all the way and lifting a major trophy. The 2010 World Cup falls on my birthday, too. Fingers crossed for Wayne and Co.
A la carte starters at around £8, mains between £15 and £18.
Nutters, Edenfield Road, Norden, Rochdale OL12 7TT
T: 01706-650167
W: www.nuttersrestaurant.co.uk