Why doesn’t all chutney come in a wheelbarrow?

I’ve been in Leeds this week. It was great. Here are three things I learnt:

1.       People ARE friendlier up north

2.      Everywhere has good hand-driers

3.      A little surprise goes a long way when it comes to dinner.

I went to The Botanist in the city centre. The décor is really sweet – like a slightly ramshackle French farmhouse decided to start a new life in the north of England. The service was really good. But the thing that we really liked, in fact were genuinely delighted by, was how they presented the food.

We’d opted for ‘some bits’. A deli board of meats, salads and whatnot. We’d also plumped for the duck pate. The pate came out in a little plant pot complete with breadcrumb soil and edible flowers. The chutney came in a teeny wheelbarrow.  I know it sounds girlie. But the table next to us got a starter that came out on a trowel, and the boys oohd and ahhd as much as the girls.

The thing we really liked was that the menu didn’t make any mention of how the starters are served. None at all. If they had, I’m sure we would have thought the presentation was twee and try-hard. But because they kept it quiet, we thought it was fun and sweet and showed that they cared about their food and what their diners think. 

The moral of the story? A) go to The Botanist B) if you’re writing a menu, don’t give it all away then and there.   

By Charli