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Alistair's call to the Arms

The pub: Soon to burst into colour ALISTAIR Myers sounds a little bit worried on the phone. Had I heard he’d taken over the Old Eyre Arms pub at Hassop? I had. I have sepia-tinted memories of dark rooms, a grandfather clock ticking hoarsely  in a corner and the ghostly shade of a cavalier lurking inside the glorious ivy-covered pub. And Derbyshire oatcakes on the menu. Well, said Alistair, …

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What a cheek!Don't slam extra on my cappuccino

FANCY A break? Let’s pop in here. Cappuccino  and an Americano, milk on the side? And a service charge. Yes, you read that right. Service charge when you’ve just had coffee. Of course, it is ‘optional’, that weasel word which means “We think you are a complete sh*t if you don’t. “ It’s enough to knock the froth off your cappuccino. Now as far as I’m concerned this is just not on. Restaurants,…

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Crackers, it's Sea and Sty at the Parsons' Pop-Up

YOU MIGHT not immediately think of pairing smoked salmon with pork scratchings and a smidgen or two of avocado but it works brilliantly. “Mexican influence,” says chef John Parsons in the kitchen of Sheffield ‘s Beer Engine pub between courses. Labelled as ‘pig crackers’, the scratchings were wedged  in a glass with some blood orange, lime, chilli and coriander,  combining slitheriness and…

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Six-and-a-half? It's a 10/10

Light my fire: Chef Leslie fans the flames WOOD SMOKE wafts enticingly around Dyson Place and there’s the smell of cooked food on the breeze. My nose twitches at the memory of Bonfire Night and Sunday afternoon barbecues but we’re in for something a lot more sophisticated than blackened bangers and undercooked chicken thighs. Tucked coyly away in the corner of this shops and eateries complex…

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It's Real Bread Week every week for me

Here’s two I baked earlier I HAD just switched the bread oven on when I heard the genial Paddy O’Connell announce on Radio 4 that it was Real Bread Week. Good me for me: I was taking part. But then every week in this household is a real bread week. I listened closely to hear what real bread might be and some pundit or other said sourdough. Well if your idea of a good bread is a crust with the…

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Bakewell: Market forces brighten for farmers

The pies have it IT’S getting better but there is still some way to go for Bakewell Farmers’ Market. We used to visit regularly and it was a busy, bustling place full of lovely stalls full of things you just had to buy. Then Covid struck and when life restarted the market was a poor shrunken thing. We went one Saturday 18 months ago and there was hardly anything there. So we gave it a miss …

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In memory of Sam n Ella's

I can never make French onion soup without remembering the menu at the long-gone Sam n Ella’s restaurant on Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, in (I think) the early Nineties. It was a minor sensation, mainly because of the cost. It was dirt cheap, even for then. Starters and desserts were all £1 and main courses £3. As I said at the time, for a fiver you couldn’t go wrong. If you liked it then you had a…

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Beaujolais Nouveau: When the booze is the news

Nouveau- at least it’s fun I MISSED Beaujolais Nouveau Day again last week  ( to be honest I had completely forgotten it was the third Thursday of the month ) but it wasn’t always so. In the Nineties I was up at the crack of dawn sipping that year’s offering on behalf of the readers of the Sheffield Star. Back then it was the height of the Nouveau craze,  first started when people raced to…

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Best seat in the house

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Where happiness comes in small bites

Star of the show: Psalter Barbecued Chicken HMMM, I THOUGHT sniffily as I ran my eye down the newly reopened Psalter Hotel’s menu (it’s gone a grade up from its previous moniker of Tavern), not much to get your teeth into. There is small plate after small plate in sections marked vegan, vegetarian, meat and fish, so you would look in vain for a three course meal here. But there is plenty to…

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Drama as former city tycoon confined a heartbeat away from hospital

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John has an iron in the fire at the Old Workshop

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Move over Tess, my turn to churn!

I had a free pot of double cream so made some butter

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Time to cruise by Lovage

Review of Lovage, Bakewell

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Chips under a village sky

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Pulling mussels from the shell

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Will there be tears from Tony again?

ON SUNDAY, February 25, there will be a poignant ceremony at a war memorial in Endcliffe Park,  Sheffield. It will be the 80th anniversary of the incident in which the United States Flying Fortress bomber Mi Amigo crashed on the site in 1944, where the memorial now stands. All ten crew were killed. Thanks to £21,000 raised by the Sheffield branch of the Royal Air Force Association, comrades in…