A Tasty Tour with Taste Knutsford. #Blog

Victoria Hayes
25th April 2023

How well do you know your hometown? Do you think you know all the BEST places for food and drink or do you think you could be surprised?

I think it’s safe to say that the team here at Taste Cheshire consider ourselves on the expert side of the scales, but is there anything more wonderful than being surprised by a hidden gem?

In the spirit of this, we were delighted to be invited to join a Taste Knutsford Tour.

Whether you know Knutsford inside out, or if you are new to this beautiful historic town, this tour is sure to surprise and delight you.

We gathered at the beautiful Courthouse , a stunning and historic Grade II listed building which as been carefully converted in to a cool restaurant and bar space plus hotel rooms. They generally offer all day dining with a selection of small plates along with Sunday roasts and don’t forget the sides! We began our tour with a lovely brunch. Eggs Benedict with lovely rich hollandaise and fresh coffee. As we dug in we were introduced to our delightful tour guides and warned to “pace ourselves” as well as being issued with a doggy bag for those morsels we couldn’t quite manage. This was a sign of things to come, if you are giving this a go, wear stretchy pants and be prepared for a fulfilling culinary journey.

The Courthouse is infamous as the home of the trial of Alan Turing, but has been converted not only into a cool bar and restaurant space for us to begin our day, but also into 9  fab hotel rooms.  Up until 2010, the building served as an active Crown Court. Flat Cap Hotels bought the site in 2016 and converted it into the hotel and restaurant we see today. The restaurant is located in the former courtroom, which still features the original wooden docks and towering domed ceilings. However, a fairly suitable flashing neon sign reading “If these walls could talk” has recently been added as part of a modern renovation.

We continued on to our second site with a short stroll to Knutsford’s Market Hall. What a fabulous advert for local markets. Greeted by the charismatic Bahattin Atar who runs the market cafe. Brandishing a glistening tray of baklava and clearly demonstrating the energy, passion and love that he has for both his business and his town. I did learn something new…the best way to eat Baklava, is upside down. Not me, obviously, the baklava…so the flaky pastry doesn’t stick to the roof of your mouth. A delicious revelation which lead to all the Baklava ending up in my mouth rather than in my doggy bag.

The team from Taste Knutsford were keen to point out that the market needs some love, but the feeling we got from the traders was of a clear love for what they do and that they are a key part of their local community. We were delighted by Jonty’s Fruit & Veg (our next official stop) as not only was Jonty full of smiles and fun, his incredible display of fruit and veg was a chef’s dream. He told us he models his stall on the French market stalls and so much of his produce is locally grown such as the tomatoes from Peover just up the road. We were offered delicious fruit kebabs and I had to refrain from filling my doggy bag with marvellously fresh fruit and veg to take home…this was only stop number three…don’t worry Jonty… I’ll be back!

From healthy fruit, to admittedly the less healthy kind, my absolute favourite. WINE. After a short stroll through the cobbled back alleys, we skipped up the steps into the beautiful historic building which contains Morgan Edwards wine. The link between this and the market is more than just geographic as Mr. Morgan and Mr. Edwards started their business in the market and moved into this, the second oldest building in Knutsford after Covid deliveries helped their business expand rapidly. Dating back to 1580, the building, not the wine, Morgan Edwards as you enter is my idea of heaven. Shelves upon shelves of wine goodies… but before I got lost in my idea of Aladdin’s cave we were taken upstairs to the cosy tasting room.

This room is popular at weekends but can be booked out for wine tastings and as we we treated to a glass of fizz we learned their history as well as the history of the building, which for 200 years was the town barbers. The fizz was delicious. Not prosecco but from the same region, it was called Durello as was fresh and zippy with green apple notes. A perfect fizz for the summer.

We were both in love with the fizz and also immediately in love with these two passionate young men, with their obvious love of wine, their involvement in their community and their ambition. A word of caution however, we do believe the place to be haunted. By what we can only assume are slightly tipsy ghosts.

To follow the fizz we were treated to a glass of  Riverby Estate Gruner Veltliner, imported by a local couple in Peover, this was something special. There are obvious stone-fruit characters of peach and nectarine, alongside minerals and river stones, sugar snap peas and subtle herbal notes. This is a very elegant and refined wine, and very food friendly.

Again, I had to resist the urge to fill my doggy bag, this time with bottles of wine, as we had plenty more to see.

A stroll back to the other end of King Street for some delicious nibbles in the historic Rose and Crown pub. The black-and-white clad pub dates back to 1647 and boasts stunning beamed interiors and a huge fireplace bearing that date. The pub is legendary for it’s Sunday Roast which get booked up three weeks in advance. Five minutes in the company of Head Chef Jamie Pickles made it clear why it’s so popular. Local produce is front and centre of his menu and we were treated to warm flatbreads oozing with caramelized garlic butter, whipped goats cheese mousse with seasonal radish, bitter leaves and hazelnut pesto and Gilda skewers.

Shirley and David Sims, a husband and wife combination, recently acquired the establishment after discovering it while visiting the area. They fell in love with the community and the bar, and they now have high expectations for upholding its culinary reputation. We were happy to help by offering Jamie a slot on our chef demonstration stage at this year’s food and drink festival where he wowed the crowds. Don’t worry if you missed him, we hope to have it back next year!

At this point, I didn’t think I could eat much more but immediately as we walked into Spanish wine bar and restaurant Evuna, I knew I would have no problem eating again. The warmth of Evuna brings you that holiday feeling immediately. Opened in 2017 the Knutsford branch is home to tapas and gorgeous Spanish wines. We were treated to fresh, crisp calamares,  Chicken skewers marinated in paprika, garlic and olive oil and Pan Catalan with garlicky tomato sauce. Our host was delightful, having come to the UK with very little English, she decided the best way to learn it was to study wine, in English. The best kind of logical learning to my mind! I missed the wine at this point and cannot wait to go back and sample their  reds!!!

At this point our group divided, I don’t think this is the usual procedure but we were a large group and entering some of the smaller venues would be disruptive to usual trade and that wouldn’t be fair, so I was happily lead off to drink on the best coffees I’ve ever had at the remarkable Detaljer. This independent coffee shop also contains a lifestyle store and once again the limits of my doggy bag were tested by my desire to buy half the shop. Fortunately, I was distracted by the  marvellous plate of cakes to tempt me along with my coffee. I enjoyed a taste of cinnamon bun, followed by a delicate Lemon, Thyme and Ricotta cake and finished with Punschrulle.

This I had never heard of before but with marzipan, Arrack and cocoa flavouring, I’ll be recommending this to everyone I meet. Having cured any post prandial lethargy I was feeling with the strong coffee, we were off again, although I was relieved to discover that the sole aim of our next stop was GIN.

Dexter and Jones is fantastic. Oozing with bags of personality and shelves groaning with brilliant beers gins and other spirits, this bottle sgop and bar stocks over 450 craft beers and over 100 artisan gins. We love its laid back vibes and in the summer they have an outdoor area that really brings the party. Our host Katy lights up as she talks about the fabulous gins that they have created themselves and named after their dogs.

I loved the “Daphne” or Black currant Tart gin which combines juniper with fresh blackcurrants, vanilla, toasted oats and shortbread for a rich mouth feel and a bit of bite! The secret ingredient? A cheeky hint of pomegranate for that extra something special….genius.

By this point I was full, a little tipsy and so happy it’s hard to describe. All this love, passion, food and drink in this one little town that I thought I knew so well. What an experience.

It turns out, it wasn’t over as we met back up in Hot Cocoa, to sample single origin chocolates as well as rich and decadent chocolate ice cream. Hattie who runs the place is obivously both a wonderful chocolatier and host and makes everything on the premises. She is clearly proud to be part of Knutsford and if you ever need a special thank you, mother’s day, Friday treat yourself gift, we cannot recommend her enough.

What a tour, what a town….this experience made me want to explore more, not just to walk off all the delicious food but to explore some of the other remarkable venues, April’s Kitchen, Tatton Perk, The Tea Room and The Real Fruit Creamery to name just a few. We’ll be booking another tour soon!

The Taste Knutsford food tour is a walking food tour of Knutsford taking guests to visit 7-8 of the town’s independent food and drink providers from 11am to 2pm. The mix can change with the seasons and the restaurants involved but some stops can be tailored to preference.

Tour guides will guide groups of up to 12 around the different venues and our tours run twice a month. They offer private tours for groups of 8+. Tickets are priced at £45 and to find out more info and for booking see the Taste Knutsford website.