The Oakwood – Is there a new Sheriff in town? #Blog
Stephen Wundke
18th October 2019
Our invitation to do a review of The Oakwood at Alderley Edge was an intriguing one. They have been on our radar, as any establishment that is associated with the great names of catering in the UK would be (notice I didn’t say who – there is a reason). So, it was with excitement that we crossed the county to arrive for dinner on Thursday night. Why excitement? (an over used adjective these days) but in this case, apt. Because we both liked the look of the menu – reasonably priced, lots of choice but with some dishes that required quite a lot of cooking. Something not so evident in a number of places these days and if they do try, mostly they fail. Which would this be – all coat and no knickers or a class act that reveals all slowly and with confidence. That was the exciting bit – not knowing.
On first inspection the fur coat was great. The outside was lovely, well lit and with adequate parking in an area that struggles for parking. It was also obvious from the number of cars in the car park that there were quite few in and that always bodes well at 6.30pm on a rainy cold Thursday. Having run a few pubs over the years you learn quickly what makes it work and what doesn’t. Sadly, mostly through mistakes but you learn. The rules are actually pretty simple, so before we give our judgement, let’s put some rules down and see after, how this one stacks up. My must have Pub rules would be :
- Make sure your place looks fresh, crisp, clean and tidy at all times (including toilets!!!)– make it a nice place to be
- Make sure the lighting is sympathetic to your product and makes your customers feel at ease
- Ensure there is a big smile and happy people who like serving customers and know about their products.
- A drinks list that is affordable and caters for the vast expectations of people in today’s demanding world.
- Get chefs who can cook and most importantly like to cook.
- Make damn certain every person involved in the production and delivery of your product cares.
It not exhaustive but that will do for later reference. So, back to our evening.
We were met by the Manager, Des, who couldn’t have been more welcoming. There is a fine line, over which he danced, between too much and not enough and his skills were evident right through the night. The tables were roomy, well lit and all had good views of the dining and drinking area. Washed wood that had been distressed and lightened but not trying too hard to be “ye oldy worldy” aided by comfortable seats with pads. You won’t stay a long time if it’s not comfortable!
Our waiter, Jaoa, hailed from Portugal originally, what is it about people from the Iberian Peninsula that makes them so good at giving service? He sorted our drinks, explained the specials and took our orders over a period of 10 minutes, all whilst serving other people and not once did we have to catch his eye.
Gaile ordered, on the recommendation of Jaoa, the Cheese Souffle which was served with a Wyke Cheddar sauce. It arrived at the table looking particularly splendid and then was treated with the utmost respect as Des poured the molten Cheese sauce over the souffle and created a fusion of the two components. Gaile described it as heavenly. A deft touch by the chef to balance the savoury flavours and ensure there was no “gluggy” taste that would overtake the dish. This was high level cooking and much appreciated. My starter choice was the Potted Cornish Crab with Guacamole and Sourdough toast with crab butter. It was presented in a kilner jar and as I put my spoon in to taste the first bit I could really taste the crab, so rarely is crab evident but by using both the brown and white meat you get flavour and this was a joy, as I dug deeper I hit the guacamole base and this gave sharpness and some heat to contrast perfectly with the richness of the crab. Placing teaspoons of the crab on to the sourdough toast was to give another texture of crunch and one that brought the whole dish to a perfect head. If we were on MKR now this would be a two ten’s start. Its one thing setting the bar high but can you keep delivering? Time would tell.
We left nothing on our plates so a small break was appreciated. Gaile had ordered the Mezze Plate, the influences of the French born Patron (do you know yet?) at the top of the tree is evident and of course Morocco was French for so long, so to see this as a nod to the many tastes we all now enjoy from across the globe was nice. It was a big plate of food – no doubt. It featured, harissa aubergine, globe artichoke, falafel with coconut cashew cream, houmous selection, pomegranate seeds, cherry tomato salad & flatbread. The harissa aubergine was fabulous but could have done with being a little hotter. Gaile said the star was the Falafel, moist and flavoursome and you could taste each component. They held their temperature well and were beautifully cooked. The two different houmous were generous and tasty. My own main was a little more traditional – in a true pub kind of way. It was described as Smoked pork belly with apple & crackling but it was so much more, slow-roasted, pork belly where you could taste a little smokiness, proper crispy crackling, apples three ways; that being baked, sauteed and pureed, all of them with a slightly different tang or sweetness, braised red cabbage, which I can take or leave, that’s a personal thing and Dauphinoise potato, which I did take, all of, very quickly, it was exquisite. If we were 10’s for starters it was definitely a 10 and a 9 for the mains. They were the very best examples of modern pub food.
Its rare we have room for desserts so we quite often share something and normally something that takes quite a bit of cooking. On Des’s recommendation we decided upon the Souffle. Of course anyone knows a decent souffle needs at least 12 minutes to cook and we were happy to wait. When it came the chef must have been so proud as it left the kitchen, a rich light, top heavy, risen souffle, flavoured with pistachio and accompanied by a deep chocolate ice cream, which we plonked in to the souffle to create a gooey, warm mess of fabulous flavour. It was a perfect end to a great pub meal.
Pistachio Souffle
So how did the Oakwood do on our list of 6 things that make a great British pub. I think there is a tick next to every point we raised and for that reason our evening was outstanding. You may recall at the start of this piece I mentioned about the hierarchy of this pub – look them up yourself if you want to know who they are because it really is unimportant. This is a great pub run by great people who work in the business every day and get a huge kick out of delivering a superb product. No amount of central intervention can deliver that. Yes the bosses probably create an interesting menu and the business framework to allow them all at the coal face to do their job but in the end that’s what they do at the Oakwood – a great job. Look out all those who have won Best Pub at the Taste Cheshire awards, there just might be a new sheriff in town.
Thanks for the invite guys and just keep doing what you do. We will be back soon.
Contact details for the Oakwood
- Tel: 01625 587 420
- [email protected]
- Brook Lane
Alderley Edge, Cheshire
SK9 7RU
*Taste Cheshire were gifted this experience by the Team at the The Oakwood but we stand by our comments, if you don’t believe us, or even if you do, we encourage you to check it out for yourself.