Food ✪✪
Service ✪✪✪✪
Ambience ✪✪✪✪✪
North Road
Ponteland
Northumberland
NE20 9UH
01661 822684
www.theblackbirdponteland.com
Mon-Sat 12-8.30pm
Sun 12-5pm
RE-REVIEW - 11th OCTOBER 2014.
A couple of weeks ago I heard on the grapevine that Chef Robson had suddenly left The Blackbird (see my ominous warning below). Since then a number of readers have alerted me to a sharp falling off in standards. I was alarmed, because I've been informed that many people had been heeding my advice and were now packing this exciting new gastropub. Concerned for my own reputation, I paid another secret visit this Saturday lunchtime and I'm afraid I found the criticisms largely justified:
It was 2pm, and Mrs Diner wanted to order the soup of the day, but it had already sold out. Instead she had ancient tomato salad (see my earlier review below), which was fine, except that the green beans had lost their colour and were tough and chewy, rather than bright and crunchy - I suspect they had been underblanched, and then not dipped in iced water to retain colour.
She also ordered a tuna sandwich, which arrived as two enormous and mismatched doorsteps of white bread into which had been roughly piled a mound of tuna and crème fraîche, its taste marred by the unnecessary addition of butter to the doorsteps. Not since 1970 has any self-respecting catering establishment thought of buttering bread that surrounds mayonnaise or crème fraîche! The sandwich was placed on a side plate that scarcely contained its bulk.
My rare flat iron steak, which had previously been one of the restaurant's flagship dishes, arrived so tough it had to be sent it back. I'm aware that the butler's cut, as it's more properly called, is by no means the tenderest part of a cow, which is why a kitchen that offers it rare should be very confident of its provenance, age and butchery. This was a hewn slab of underhung rare rubber shoulder.
In the absence of a burger, which had also sold out, the waiter replaced it with what he said was the last fishcake (quite what people were going to eat for the rest of the day was unclear). This was adequate, though more cake than fish, with some tiny shrimp. However, it sat with its spinach in a moat of buttery liquid that was so salty as to be utterly undrinkable. Rather than the beurre blanc that it might have been, this fluid had the consistency of skimmed milk. I suspect the capers that floated in this catastrophe may have been the cause of the problem. It came with a miniscule undressed salad of little gem and more ungreen beans.
It pains me to say this, because I really want to support this venture, and the residents of Ponteland desperately needs some decent British cooking, but this performance was so below par I've had to take The Blackbird off my recommended list and downgraded the rating from 4 stars to 2. I hope the owners manage to find a decent head chef soon, otherwise it will incredibly difficult for them to recover from this setback. When they do, perhaps someone will let me know and I might be persuaded to give the place yet another go.
Here's my original review, published just a few weeks previously:
The lineup is certainly impressive. Glen David Robson, one of Terry Laybourne’s most senior lieutenants, who was head chef of Caffè Vivo (my Best European Restaurant award for the past two years), has been paired with Danny Diver, the sommelier of Jesmond Dene House (Best Hotel Restaurant). Two culinary heavyweights in a Ponteland pub? This has got to be a serious attempt on the Best Gastropub in the North East crown.
A couple of weeks ago I heard on the grapevine that Chef Robson had suddenly left The Blackbird (see my ominous warning below). Since then a number of readers have alerted me to a sharp falling off in standards. I was alarmed, because I've been informed that many people had been heeding my advice and were now packing this exciting new gastropub. Concerned for my own reputation, I paid another secret visit this Saturday lunchtime and I'm afraid I found the criticisms largely justified:
It was 2pm, and Mrs Diner wanted to order the soup of the day, but it had already sold out. Instead she had ancient tomato salad (see my earlier review below), which was fine, except that the green beans had lost their colour and were tough and chewy, rather than bright and crunchy - I suspect they had been underblanched, and then not dipped in iced water to retain colour.
She also ordered a tuna sandwich, which arrived as two enormous and mismatched doorsteps of white bread into which had been roughly piled a mound of tuna and crème fraîche, its taste marred by the unnecessary addition of butter to the doorsteps. Not since 1970 has any self-respecting catering establishment thought of buttering bread that surrounds mayonnaise or crème fraîche! The sandwich was placed on a side plate that scarcely contained its bulk.
My rare flat iron steak, which had previously been one of the restaurant's flagship dishes, arrived so tough it had to be sent it back. I'm aware that the butler's cut, as it's more properly called, is by no means the tenderest part of a cow, which is why a kitchen that offers it rare should be very confident of its provenance, age and butchery. This was a hewn slab of underhung rare rubber shoulder.
In the absence of a burger, which had also sold out, the waiter replaced it with what he said was the last fishcake (quite what people were going to eat for the rest of the day was unclear). This was adequate, though more cake than fish, with some tiny shrimp. However, it sat with its spinach in a moat of buttery liquid that was so salty as to be utterly undrinkable. Rather than the beurre blanc that it might have been, this fluid had the consistency of skimmed milk. I suspect the capers that floated in this catastrophe may have been the cause of the problem. It came with a miniscule undressed salad of little gem and more ungreen beans.
It pains me to say this, because I really want to support this venture, and the residents of Ponteland desperately needs some decent British cooking, but this performance was so below par I've had to take The Blackbird off my recommended list and downgraded the rating from 4 stars to 2. I hope the owners manage to find a decent head chef soon, otherwise it will incredibly difficult for them to recover from this setback. When they do, perhaps someone will let me know and I might be persuaded to give the place yet another go.
Here's my original review, published just a few weeks previously:
The lineup is certainly impressive. Glen David Robson, one of Terry Laybourne’s most senior lieutenants, who was head chef of Caffè Vivo (my Best European Restaurant award for the past two years), has been paired with Danny Diver, the sommelier of Jesmond Dene House (Best Hotel Restaurant). Two culinary heavyweights in a Ponteland pub? This has got to be a serious attempt on the Best Gastropub in the North East crown.
