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Restaurant-wise, in these still uncertain times, there's little braver than attempting a fine dining restaurant outside the big cities. Perhaps if your ambition is cushioned by the deep pockets of a luxury country house hotel, you'll be OK. Or if you're an already celebrated chef. Or, at a pinch, if you've nabbed yourself a much-visited beauty spot. You could scrape by, Mr Michelin might condescend to visit and you won't be living in gibbering fear of every letter from the bank.
- The Croft Kitchen
- 28 Palace Street,
- Biggleswade
- SG18 8DP
- 01767 601502
-
Open lunch, Fri-Sun, noon-2pm; dinner, Wed-Sat, 6.30-9pm. About £35 a head, plus drinks and service.
Food 7
Atmosphere 6
Value for money 9
Which is why I have nothing but admiration for brothers Kieron and Michael Singh, respectively restaurant manager and chef, who have opened in a small market town without anything much to trouble the gastrotourist, unless you count the Jordans muesli factory. The view from their small windows – it is, I think, two old cottages knocked together – is of an Aldi and a car park. Despite the acres of (clearly expensive) crisp, starched linen, a dominating feature of the restaurant is two large air-conditioning units. It doesn't bode well.
And then the food starts arriving, and all is not just well, but a smack across our smug faces. This is the business. I genuinely have little idea how a huge, orange-yolked duck egg has been teased into such frilly-edged perfection on its croque madame of shredded ham hock laced with (underpowered) truffle. But when its contents lava over the buttery, burnished toast it delivers intense pleasure. Little bursts of acidity come from pickled – almost piccalillied – cauliflower and dots of acidulated carrot puree. It looks beautiful, too. As does treacle-cured salmon, thick cubes of it on a sharp, cream cheese slick (sheep's milk, perhaps?) scattered with beetroot, purple and golden, and fuchsia batons of pickled turnip. We didn't expect this.
And they keep it up: a fat slab of salted pork belly on a sort-of-salsa of sweetcorn scented with thyme and chilli, the skin crackling at the touch of the knife, the tender meat tasting of fine, fat-basted barnyardy porker. Crisp, delicate batons turn out to be homemade hash browns, but are far too chichi for this proletarian title, and there's a curl of featherlight chicharrón. Scotch hake has been saved from export to Spain and pressed into service: pearly fish on a tangle of roasted peppers with blobs of granular, nutty romesco and a wedge of almost toffee-d grilled fennel. Even cheese comes with homemade crumbly cheese shortbread, and a sharp, green tomato chutney. We hoover it up, eyes stretched in surprise.
Sure, I could get all metropolitan on their asses. Yes, the comté could have been more aged. The handmade mint marshmallow petit four could have tasted a little less like toothpaste. And why the laminate flooring? Why the oblong slate "plates"? (Here, endearingly, warmed before serving. Aw.) And surely TV's The Taste has put everyone off trying to eat anything off those ungainly decorative porcelain spoons that a cumin-rich little falafel amuse-bouche is served on? Gawping maw is never a good look.
But this would be churlishness, detracting from the effort that's been put in, from the pride the brothers clearly take in their baby and – of course – the excellent cooking. Once you get outside the major conurbations, people will put up with any old mass-produced pap. You there at the back in the Superdry: chill! Sure there are exceptions, but I've eaten those iceberg salads with chunks of raw green pepper, those microwaved fish pies with bloated, leathery salmon, that defrosted bread. The day we visit, the restaurant is empty apart from us ("we're really busy this evening," says Kieron, a touch frantically). Two minutes away, a pub serving a "South American sharing platter" is mobbed. Truth is, if we don't support and encourage the lovely likes of The Croft Kitchen, we'll get what we deserve.
The Croft Kitchen 28 Palace Street, Biggleswade, Beds, 01767 601502. Open lunch, Fri-Sun, noon-2pm; dinner, Wed-Sat, 6.30-9pm. About £35 a head, plus drinks and service.
Food 7 Atmosphere 6 Value for money 9
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