A very special dinner

I know that professional food critics can get a little hot under the collar about us amateurs treading on their turf, but this is not an attempt to do them out of a job, more an encouragement to get them out to Shrewsbury.  

We were thrilled to be invited to the Peach Tree for a special tasting menu, put together just for us by Executive Chef and good friend Chris Burt. To give himself an added challenge, he came up with a  vegetarian selection for us,  an opportunity to add an extra layer of inventiveness.
Chris is a hugely talented chef, heading up 3 restaurants in Shrewsbury, each offering exciting and imaginative dishes to liven the tastebuds and lift the spirits.
Important update: Chris is now the executive chef at the Mytton and Mermaid and his cooking has moved up several notches!!!

My first encounter with food from the kitchens of the Peach Tree was at the very first Shrewsbury Food Festival in 2013.  It was also the first festival that we had attended, but what a fabulous experience.  We will back again for the fourth time this year, supplying pans for the demo stage chefs as well as the cookery workshops, which will be overseen by none other than Mr Burt himself and of course, with our own stand selling our great British cookware..
I was manning our stand single handed and in need of sustenance.  Of course, there was a staggering selection to choose from, but the menu from the Peach Tree stood out and called to me like a siren.
After that, I was hooked and couldn't wait to introduce the family to Chris's food.
It was only the following year at the same event when we got to know Chris himself - and the rest, as they say, is history.
We are now firm friends and not only do we supply woks for the restaurant kitchens, but we also do specially commissioned woks with the MomoNoKi logo, which are on sale in the eponymus establishment.

Back to the more recent past.........

The following is in part a description of what we ate and in part a little hero worship.

We love not only Chris's talent, but his enthusiasm, passion, even obsession with food, his love of great flavours and his championing of local suppliers.... And yes, that does include us.... this is one of our woks, much used in the restaurant kitchens

So, what did we eat?

Amuse - a shared plate of heritage beets with aged Lockley cheese, made by the lovely  Mr Moyden and goats cheese snow, a frozen cheese from Sarah at Brockhall Farm.  The plate was finished with pumpkin seeds for extra texture.

Off to a good start, with bouche well and truly amused.

Green velvet up next, a voluptuous velouté of wild garlic and nettle, presented wearing a pixie hat of penny wort. As if the flavour wasn't punchy enough already, Chris had upped the ante with truffle roasted radish and Romanesco.

So many huge flavours distilled in a tiny cup, but with each flavour still individual and identifiable. Utterly luscious.

From green to purple, hummus blitzed with beetroot and pitta spiked with pomegranate, which merited star billing in its own right.  Harissa and pistachios added another layer of flavour, again enhancing rather than distracting from the main players. All topped off with a rose wafer for colour, texture and fun.

If I hadn't been sitting in a restaurant I'd have licked the plate.  As it was I made do with wiping my finger around the plate to make sure I got the last little scrape.

Three dishes in and my tastebuds are rejoicing, but there is so much more to come.

These dishes have been full of flavours, but they have been delicate, well behaved, polite, the next one was decidedly kickass.

A true Momo No Ki smack in the gob bowl of oomph. Noodles, salad, tofu and peanut with a generous dollop of lip smacking kochujang ketchup.

This is the kind of food that makes you sit up and take notice, an assault on your senses that leaves you knowing that you'll be back for more.

I have to admit, I had no idea how Chris could follow that, surely  anything that followed would seem tame in comparison, a sensory letdown, not doubt pleasant, but a pale shadow of the previous dish.

Oh me of little faith, I really should have known better. Chris produced a dish of ceps and truffles on Robert Swift's sourdough that topped the last course for sheer umami punch. Wave upon wave of fungal depth with a sublime combination of texture. Simply stunning.

As each dish arrived, my admiration of Chris talent and inventiveness grew, we knew he was good, we hadn't realised just how good.

With the flavours creeping up the scale, I was intrigued to know what would come next.  And whilst everything that had gone before was a new riff on dishes we'd had before, professional versions of dishes we eat at home, then the next one was totally new.

The salsifondue was a complete revelation. Salsify is one of my favourite vegetables and in my opinion, much overlooked and underused. This was like no salsify I had ever had before, an intense fudge like paste, blended with buckets of butter for an almost foie gras experience and served with salted roasted salsify for dipping.

The roasted, salted salsify was the perfect partner for dipping into the unctuous goo.This was a fondue like no other and deserves wider recognition.

Touring the globe, the next dish is inspired by Italy and we share a plate of gnocchi with a pretty purple beetroot and acorn sauce, topped with another of Martin's delicious Shropshire cheeses, this time it's Newport. Best described by Martin himself

This assembly has a subtly sweet overtone, cleverly bringing our palate back on track for dessert.

And not one, but two truly delicious puds to round off the meal.

As vanilla as you can get without sucking on a pod, this ice cream with spice of angels knocked spots off the average scoop and the intriguing and subtle spicing created an extra dimension.

To finish, we were treated to chef Liam James's flower brulees - I must admit that had these simply been described to me, I would have shared Chris's initial thought that I was about to be served with a selection of boutique hotel soaps - his description, not mine, but like him, we were won over by the exotic and delicate flavours of rose, geranium, lavender and violet, that left our tongues feeling caressed.

You may well think that all this sounds like "too much of a good thing", but it's further testament to Chris's skills that each course and the overall balance of the meal was such that we could enjoy every course to the full, without filling full.

By the end of the meal, we scraped the last vestiges of brulees from their shell, felt replete, but not stuffed and privileged to have been given this amazing treat.

The boy done good, thanks Chef.

And if you fancy checking out this most inventive and passionate chef's work, seek out Momo No Ki, the Peach Tree and Havana Republic, side by side on Abbey Foregate in Shrewsbury

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk