Summer 2020

The one when everyone mostly stays in 😔

I don’t think I can bring anything new to the 2020 table that hasn’t already been said. Yet another post about the ‘top takeaways in Newcastle’ doesn’t cut the mustard for me either.

So here’s just some bits and bobs from the summer that was(n’t) 2020 — when there was an odd occassion that we were legally allowed to leave the house and eat food in a real bloody restaurant. Good times, eh.

🍕 The AVPN Hunt & London

Was in London in September and booked 50Kalo, purely based upon its AVPN accreditation. Jesus. Christ.

Consider the benchmark for a margherita permanently raised. Probably the best pizza I’ve ever had.

I suppose the prior all-day-drinking might have helped with that, but still, this was perfection. Once we’re able, the plan is to head around the UK and tick off all 8 AVPN places in the UK, because if they’re half as good as this, wow.

🦡 Another one of Tom Kitchin’s gaffs

Since our first visit to The Kitchin way back when, Tom Kitchin’s bars and restuarants have proven to hit that quality mark every single time. Makes sense that his hotel The Bonnie Badger in beautiful Gullane on the North Berwick coast was the same.

It’s generally lovely, but food-wise, full-on; scones and champagne on arrival, lobster, grilled octopus, chocolate fondant, cheeses, far too much hefty red wine, grouse in September, and the best breakfast I can recall. If you’re up that way or hey, even if you’re not, it’s worth a detour. Serves as a perfect pit stop on the way up to Edinburgh, or just a mooch down the Northumberland coast, stopping at Seahouses for chips, Morwick Dairy for ice cream, etc. like we did.

💸 Eat Out to Help Out: Greatest Hits

We tried to make the most of it while it was a thing, and I mentioned it in my post about the latest Meat:Stack iteration, but their tenner deal was best in show in Newcastle for me.

Only trumped by twenty quid for 3c Michelin star food at Elystan Street. Thanks, UK taxpayer!

2020 has obviously been a weird one, and despite quite likely being much of the cause of ‘the second wave’, I feel like EOTHO was one of the very few highlights of the year. I wonder what 2021 will hold in terms of venues recouping costs, reflecting on 2020, who survives, and who thrives…tough times, and unfortunately, still no end in sight.

🥘 More great street food & tins

From Smoke & Sear (you might remember then as Shanty Town) serving up the goods at Almasty’s new tap room in Benfield Business Park to weekly tacos from Good Time Tacos, we’re trying to get a new takeaway every week to make sure there’s always something exciting to eat.

It was tough in March-May for businesses, but there’s a lot of street food traders and full restaurants who’ve now pivoted to genuinely good takeaway offerings, with robust online ordering, proper packaging, etc. I tip my hat to you all.

This surf & turf from Shanty Town was everything you want to accompany a shit-load of Almasty’s bang-on new range of 2020 beers.

Definitely give it a go (when possible) as a trip to Benfield Business Park can now consist of scran like this, tins from Almasty, and a couple in the Anarchy taproom as well. What could be a better Saturday afternoon out? Nearest metro is Walkergate — you’re welcome 🍻

🍺 Brewing at McColls

This was one of those things I’ve been meaning to do for a while now! So to get the chance to chuck some grains into the mash, and then sweat my tits off digging it back out again a couple of hours later was a treat that massively helped me break up the lockdown monotony.

I’ll probably write a bit more later on my time actually in McColls Brewery, as well as some words on their fine beer selection, but for now — I’ve done my bit, you do yours by checking out chief Danny’s online shop.

Next up for 2021 — Newcastle Eats in the trenches peeling tatties at 21? Maybe…

🌶 Breakfast at Luigikhan’s

I noticed Luigikhan’s was offering traditional desi breakfast, must be worth a punt, right? Their curries on a normal night are canny.

Spot on! Obviously a desi breakfast on a dreary morning on the West Road isn’t quite an Indian summer in Delhi, but this was a great, if heavy, start to the day. Luigikhan’s seems to have stopped doing the Italian/Indian hybrid thing — thank god — but it was criminally quiet when we visited so my recommendation is give the desi breakfast a whirl before they pull it. Chana, halva, aloo bujhia, puris, and even a chai. Seven quid! You’ll not need dinner.

🍺 Drinking more beer than tea

It has been/still is hard for the breweries of the North East since, well March, but one easy way to support them is through their online shops, like McColls above. If you can’t drink their beers in a pub or visit their taprooms, you can go straight to source and drink at home, and mebs even get some merch. It genuinely might keep your favourite joints afloat over the next quarter.

Donzoko have been smashing it this year, and this was particularly delightful. I’ve got half the Brewdog collabfest beers in the fridge, my monthly subscription to the Northern Monk Patron’s Society arrived today, and we’ve got enough natural wine in the cupboard to start a wine bar. What else you gonna do 🤷🏻‍♂️

For now, I’m perpetually looking forward to:

• Copious sunny pints down By The River Brew Co. Not even complaining at the seven-deep queue, because having that pissed hen party standing two feet away from you, spilling cheap gin smuggled from their handbags on you is finally OK again.
• Being able to book a holiday somewhere — packing away garlicky pil-pil and cheap Spanish wine like it’s your first time in Europe again.
• Proper ‘can’t move afterwards’ Sunday lunch at somewhere like Blackfriars.
• Making the most of takeaways from Bao Bar, Dot Bagels, Patties, Sobramesa (jeez, Heaton…) 
• Stumbling through Manchester or Liverpool looking for that shady little place you’ve seen on social media that everyone raves about but seems to be located in an actual crack den.
• Just finally getting back ticking off the dozens of restaurants still ‘on the list’.

Take care of yourselves, and each other ✌🏼