The Wig & Pen in Sheffield city centre has opened a dining room with a view back in time. Lesley Draper reports
SETTLE back with a glass of something cool, gaze out across well-worn cobbles and prepare to turn back the clock a century or more.
Paradise Square may be synonymous with lawyers, accountants and sober-suited professionals but it was once a bustling hotbed of activity that could surely tell a tale or two... Of John Wesley and his followers, Chartist rioters, cabinet makers and potters, those who frequented the masonic hall, the school and even a 'house of help' for young women.
It also boasted at least two taverns and that long-forgotten aspect of its history, at least, has been revived with the opening of the Wig & Pen dining room.
See our Restaurant Guide for all restaurant reviewsThe Campo Lane bar and restaurant has been neatly extended backwards to link it with two terrace properties in the historic Georgian Square.
Now a couple of steps take you, via an extended bar area, into the back of the building where leather sofas and swivel chairs provide a comfortable, relaxed environment with a bird's eye view of the cobbles.
On a good day, customers can sit out and enjoy the square at benches specially adapted to level out the slope.
Old and new mingle artfully: bold wallpaper and contemporary furnishings offset an original marble fireplace and sash windows.
Burnished oak stairs lead down to the new dining room where 250-year-old flagstones have been sandblasted into 21st century submission. Soft jazz plays through concealed speakers and sunken spotlights cast a soft glow on polished wood tables and Georgian green-painted panelling.
It's impressively chic and laid back – more gentlemen's club than swanky bar – and it clearly sends out the right messages about Sheffield's aspiring status as a culinary destination.
"It's a dump around the hotel but I've discovered this place that looks out across a Georgian square... it's really very pleasant. And I've not had a better meal anywhere," the visiting southerner at the next table tells his wife on the mobile phone.
Food is in the capable hands of head chef Alex Shaw, who has unleashed his creative flair on a menu that dovetails perfectly with the new surroundings.
"I wanted to move away from the Mediterranean route, so I've decided to go very British," he says. "They're not necessarily classics but we're reinventing dishes and focusing on the provenance. We're being quite brave, sticking our necks out with it."
So there's a robust, 'old English' flavour to the menu with faggots, ham hock, rare breed pork chops and chargrilled feather steak.
Meat is from Yorkshire or Derbyshire, chicken from Lancashire and line-caught fish fresh from Cornwall. Herbs are picked and potatoes dug to order.
The wine list is particularly impressive. Listed by quality (soft/light/fruit, full/ broad/oaky), there is a superb choice in terms of both price and breadth, with more than 50 to choose from, 40 of them available by the 250ml carafe at £4.65-£11.
Alex turns up his nose at the term 'gastropub'. This is a quality restaurant and the fact is reflected in price, service and all those little extras that turn a meal into an experience.
So we chomp our way through a bowl of marinated olives and a board of bread and butter along with a glass or two of the house red, a wonderfully smooth and rounded Portuguese tinto at £12.95 a bottle.
Faggots seem an appropriate choice in such traditional surroundings, and they prove a good one. Balls of minced pork, good, solid and mercifully without the pig's caul wrapping, are braised in a gravy spiked with Henderson's relish and served with peas. It's gutsy, uninhibited food.
Asparagus, on the other hand, is a pleasantly light start to the meal: tender spears, doused in piquant orange butter and crowned with a soft poached egg.
On to mains and rolled lamb breast is slow-roasted to perfection, absorbing the rich fat and juices as it cooks, to emerge in all its flavoursome glory.
Served with roasted new potatoes and garlicky home-made aioli, it's a simple and appealing dish – but a complete absence of veg means no marks for healthy eating. Even fish and chips come with mushy peas, for goodness sake!
My venison is top notch: two haunch steaks, blushing pink in the middle, matched with a sweet port and orange sauce and mashed celeriac. It comes with a choice of veg or salad and, having been a fan of Alex's salads for years, I go for the latter – a wondrous mix of sunblush tomatoes, artichoke hearts and fragrant leaves more reminiscent of a foraging expedition than a supermarket trip.
As usual, pudding is beyond me but my companion obliges. Syllabub, treacle tart, summer pudding and trifle are all turned down in favour of stem ginger, pineapple and coconut parfait, an inspired combination which is indeed perfect.
We finish the meal with cups of excellent filter coffee. Dinner for two, excluding wine and service, is £50.75.
Verdict: An historic addition to Sheffield's city centre social scene, with food and wine that truly lives up to the location.
Open for food Mon-Fri, 12-2.30pm and 6-9.30pm, Sat 6-9.30pm. Sun roast dinners in the bar from noon.
Wig & Pen Bar and Dining Room, Paradise Square, Sheffield (0114) 276 3988. www.wigandpensheffield.com
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