Silver Street, Bury
The Clarence is an independent, contemporary gastro-pub in Bury. One of the highlights of the town centre, it’s a
four-story Victorian building which houses a pub, restaurant, wine bar and even
its own brewery. Inside, it has a timeless contemporary feel, cosy yet classy.
Established, as we know it, in 2014 by Lee and Lottie Hollingworth, they aim to
provide a first class dining experience using only the freshest local
ingredients, alongside a boozer which oozes Northern charm.
I’ve heard great things about
The Clarence, and it’s long since been on my ‘to dine’ list. We paid a visit on
Friday evening. The Kitchen Restaurant is situated on the first floor, above
the pub. It’s a brassiere-style restaurant with a traditional gastro-pub feel. It’s
full of quirks: vintage, with plenty of nods to Lancashire’s industrial history, complete with spinning wheels and a dumb waiter.
There’s a whole host of menus
on offer, from time-honoured pub grub to upmarket a la carte. In fact, there’s
too much choice. They offer a fixed price two course menu from Monday to
Friday, throughout the day until 7.00pm. Naturally, we jumped at the chance to
try the a la carte selections at such superb value. There’s plenty of choice,
from meat and fish dishes to a good old fashioned burger and a vegetarian
risotto.
To start, I had the ‘New
Season English Asparagus’, served with a soft boiled egg, delicately placed on
top of truffle emulsion, and a few rocket leaves. The three (yes, that’s right,
just three) spears of asparagus were deliciously crunchy, and the soft boiled
egg was the perfect texture, with the yolk just runny enough for it to trickle
out onto the plate without causing a stream. I’m not quite sure exactly what I
thought of the truffle emulsion. Normally, I love truffle, but this lacked
taste and had a rather slimy texture. It didn’t really add much to the dish.
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| New Season English Asparagus |
The main course selection
covered all bases: chicken, pork, fish, a burger and a vegetarian risotto - a
superb choice. I had the Chinese Spiced Pork Belly, served with Swiss chard,
mashed potato and a sweet and sour chilli broth. I had my reservations, as my
palate doesn’t suffer spicy foods gladly. Luckily, this was absolutely fine.
The pork fell apart as I cut into it and melted away in my mouth. The sweet and
sour spices made for a moist, flavoursome piece of meat. The Swiss chard was
cooked to within an inch of its life to create a healthy alternative to
crackling, with a deliciously satisfying crunch. The mashed potato was
delightfully creamy, and soaked up the sweet and sour jus. When it comes to fine dining, presentation is everything, and this dish was beautifully set out. It was an exquisite
main course which really demonstrated why The Clarence has acquired such a
superb reputation.
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| Chinese Spiced Pork Belly |
Sadly, two courses at The
Clarence won’t leave you feeling stuffed, or even moderately full. The downfall
of fine dining is always in the small portion sizes. But, never fear, there’s
always dessert. It wasn’t an overly inspiring choice. Whilst the selection of sundaes
did sound extremely tempting, I’m not keen on ice cream based desserts. I had
the melting chocolate pudding, which was essentially a chocolate cake with a
gooey fondant centre. It was delightfully rich, and primarily milk chocolate,
which I loved. It’s the, more common, use of dark chocolate which often makes a
chocolate dessert too rich. It was served with a scoop of raspberry ripple ice
cream, sat on a bed of chocolate biscuit crumbs. It was a delicious combination
and a perfect conclusion to the meal, without lying too heavy.
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| Melting Chocolate Pudding |
It was a splendid introduction
to this charming little gastro pub that I’ve heard so many people talk about. The
staff were friendly and attentive. When placing our orders, I was concerned
that the pork belly may be a little too spicy for a wimp like me. During the
main course, our waitress popped over to check that it wasn’t too hot. It’s
these additional touches from the waiting staff that make you really appreciate
the way the place is run.
The delicious food is
definitely for the more sophisticated palate, but you don’t have to go a la
carte, as they also offer a fine selection of pub classics, as well as
signature grills and steaks. I’d like to try the pub grub, but, having dined on
the two course special, I’m not sure I’d return for the main a la carte menu,
simply because I don’t think the place justifies the prices. It was very nice,
but a little over-ambitious with its pricing.
Once you’ve dined, you can
head upstairs to the Fallen Angel, the wine and cocktail bar. If you’d rather
enjoy a more relaxed drink, the pub, downstairs, is open to all, whether you
eating or not.
The vast range of menus can be
found at the website:
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