David Kennedy's River Cafe - Fine Tyne Dining

Although historical naivety in the management of the Black Door might have cost David Kennedy's Food Social at the Biscuit Factory its existence, the highly reputable cuisine brought to the North East by the restaurant chain certainly lives on in North Shields. The slightly more casual venture - David Kennedy's River Café, aptly named for its Fish Quay situation, provides a refreshing outlook on archetypal fine-dining that effortlessly avoids any pretentiousness or need for nonsensical exorbitance. To put it bluntly, David Kennedy's River Café offers delicious British cuisine that is both wholesome and elaborate without being up its own arse.


The restaurant's menus strike the perfect balance between intricacy and value, the well constructed à la carte, set menu and Sunday selections boast robust, classical dishes with sufficient finesse to drive away any sense of pub food culture. In particular, the restaurant does well to avoid the drabness usually associated with Sunday lunch by ensuring every element of their food is perfectly on point. And better still, the kitchen capitalises on their waterfront location by regularly incorporating products from the local fish market into their cooking, resulting in ultra-fresh and expertly prepared fish and shellfish dishes that absolutely must be sampled by avid seafood fans.


As with the menu, the décor here is clean-cut but warming and similarly the service offered reflects that theme very well. It's only major limitation versus other fine dining ventures within its class is probably its location, whilst providing picturesque views and seafood sourcing benefits, North Shields might not be the most attractive prospect for the unfamiliar. However, for those looking for no-nonsense British food, cooked to an exceptionally good standard and almost ludicrously low prices, David Kennedy's River Café provides the perfect setting. 89%


 

Palace Garden - Dim Sum with the Royal Treatment

Sunday afternoon ‘high-tea’ has rapidly become a popular outing for the affluent and those wanting to take the mother somewhere fancy that involves feeding yourself too. But the Chinese have their own variant of ‘high-tea’ that’s somewhat more longstanding – dim sum Sundays. And Palace Garden is undoubtedly the absolute king of this delicious tradition. Although they have a highly comprehensive traditional Chinese menu and dim sum menu throughout the week, on Sundays they offer a highly convenient trolley service that really adds to the mysterious and magic feel of the dim sum dining experience.

With a pictoral menu, it’s very easy to select any number of interesting dumplings, steamy offal dishes and meaty wonders, made to order by the expert chefs at Palace Garden. Better still, speaking to the highly attentive and friendly serving staff will get you out of your comfort zone and trying some of their personal favourites, mooli cake and char sui baau are definitely two dishes worth a try. The numerous trollies, laden with bamboo hampers of beef, pork, fish and ‘other’ meat dim sum will provide you with a ‘YO Sushi!’-like eating format, where food is ever flowing, but without the associated costliness. Their thousand layer cake also abolishes the notion that dessert is absent in Chinese cuisine. And for those weak people lacking in culinary bravery, there’s plenty of ‘normal’ Chinese dishes available too.

Taking the outstanding quality of food, brilliantly personal service and stunning décor of the restaurant into account, it’s easy to recognise why this place is so a popular, there’s even an indoor pond with a bridge over it! Where, seemingly you can choose a sea beast to have cooked and served to you - ultra-freshness points there. The delivery of their dim sum makes Palace Garden simply the best outlet of this cuisine in Newcastle and if you have yet to pop your dim sum cherry, then it’s the ideal place to get broken into this wonderful and varied cuisine. 90%

Moulin Rouge Cafe - Hidden Persian Gem

Westgate road and the areas of Fenham that it lead up to are an absolute haven for numerous sub-standard 'cafés', 'restaurants' and 'takeaways' of sheer filth. Generic, baseless menu's that poorly represent Persian or Asian cuisine; childishly and arrogantly parading shawarmas, kebabs and mixed grills of questionable meat, married with lacklustre flavours in vulgar venues. Many of which even the drunk-beyond-belief low life of the region would turn their noses up at. But it isn't all doom and grease on Westgate Road, there are handful of hidden gems amongst the rotten eggs and Moulin Rouge is definitely the crown jewel amongst them.

Moulin Rouge is a god send for anyone looking for an affordable but delicious solution to authentic Persian cuisine. Fresh ingredients, a simple open kitchen, daily specials and a very welcoming atmosphere are all features that Moulin Rouge should certainly pride themselves on. Better still, their not afraid of going beyond the standard 'grilled meat with rice on a plate', (although they do that very well too), they also provide a selection of less common traditional dishes....a wet dream for any restaurant punter sick of the sight of generic dishes that riddle dining culture these days.

Although it appears to be a simple café, Moulin Rouge is a whole lot more than that, their more complex specials, cheerful BYOB policy and highly accommodative service means that you can celebrate almost any occasion in this perfectly relaxed rustic venue. And if that wasn't enough, the sheer cost effectiveness and clean-eat nature of their cuisine will have you coming back time and time again. Although if you are wanting your fill of grease, then they've also perfected the art of hangover breakfasts, offering bargainous fry-ups that might literally save your bacon. On top of all that, they even have plenty of choice for those odd vegetarian types! - literally every man, woman and child needs to give Moulin a try. 81%

DOJO - A Huge Fistful of Flavour

The Japanese takeover continues, as DOJO is yet another very fresh, vibrant and delicious Japanese dining experience that has recently set up shop in Newcastle. And it really has taken it's appearance very seriously; the venue is as bright and bold on the inside as it is on the outside. As the name suggests, it's loosely themed on a Japanese martial arts gym, clearly fuelled on bucket loads of LSD. But DOJO isn't just a pretty face, they've clearly also been training hard in the kitchen.

The equally as vibrant menu that DOJO offers may well throw you off your feet. It delivers everyone's favourite Japanese dishes, but also some more obscure dishes for the adventurous, such as their Lobster hot pot, soft shell crab tempura and teriyaki rock oysters. Die hard fans may prefer the way other places do their Katsu curry, but if you're looking to take on a new and exciting bout of Japanese culture, then DOJO is where you'll find it. Like the recently reviewed Osaka, they have a very impressive selection of various sushi, nigiri and sashimi, all served at blackbelt level quality. But what sets DOJO apart, is their very well constructed Teishoku set dinners, which allow you to mix your favourite elements of Japanese food and comes at wallet friendly price...think Bento box but better.

The blazing cuisine and ass-kicking visuals at DOJO are perfectly complimented by ferociously brilliant serving staff. Their perfected knowledge of the cuisine means that they can also suggest a meal to your taste, if taking on the roasted eel set meal is too tough an opponent. DOJO really has the whole package, blending a lively atmosphere with solid flavours in a beautifully elegant way. All the spirit of a real-life Japanese dojo, none of the strange over-weight blackbelts, dirty old mats or cumulatively pungent sweaty smells. 90%

Sohe - Asian Amalgamation

Not all of Newcastle's culinary action resides in the city centre, a number of fantastic fine dining experiences have started to set up shop a little further out. And many of them, like Sohe, can be found in Jesmond, however there is something quite special about Sohe. It has dared to go in a direction that many others have tried but generally monumentally failed to achieve, Asian fusion. Fusion cuisine can be dirty word in cuisine. It's often an excuse to cut corners, utilise cheaper ingredients or just force flavours together that would rather have a fight. No, melting blue cheese on to my lamb tagine is not cooking innovation, it's vulgar and despicable. However, the creators of Sohe's elaborate menu know exactly what they're doing.

Their very successfully accomplished classic Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian dishes are delivered with contemporary class on par with many of Newcastle's heavy hitters. Yet they achieve this without deviating from the originals too heavily, keeping the hardcore Nasi Goreng and beef rendang fans very happy. Dishes that refined looking, that even your grandma would be keen to tuck in, but should she linger in the spicy sauces too long, she'll be hit in the dentures with a fist full of Asian amazement. They don't stop at savoury either, with the fusion incorporation extended to some fantastic desserts.

The restaurant itself is even more alluring and quite possibly the sexiest restaurant of Newcastle. They have combined a huge variety of decor components that should be visually offensive and burn your eye balls out of your skull. But somehow they've achieved another element fusion here, an explosion of vibrancy that creates an exciting dining atmosphere as well as a elegantly lively bar area. The service is very good and although the menu is a little pricey, they do offer diners club discounts. They even have a Vietnamese coffee machine that looks like R2D2 after it won the Euromillions. 91%

Peace and Loaf - Ultra-fine Dining Has a New Name

Despite the UK still very much recovering from a lengthy stint of recession, the social bubble that is Newcastle has seen an exciting number of new eateries pop up in late 2013/early 2014. The Fat Spoon being both greedy and insatiable, has of course already been on a feeding rampage to trial many of these new places. Peace and Loaf is exceptionally different to any of the other new restaurants and in fact different to anything else Newcastle already had to offer. Boasting a Masterchef: The Professionals finalist as the restaurant's head chef, as well as a very extravagant menu and a beautiful interior to match. Being a top-end dining experience, this new kid on the block certainly has enough bite to make some of Newcastle's other big guns quiver in fear and check their underpants with shaking hands. That's because the food at Peace and Loaf oozes arrogance, flare and sensation like none other. The menu has been put together with originality at the very forefront and thankfully has the skill to deliver these gastronomical bombs with devastating effect. The finest ingredients matched with explicit flavours, an outstanding level of service and well balanced atmosphere will make a venture to this beauty truly special. Although students will have to sell a kidney to afford stepping inside Peace and Loaf, the experience itself will make any special occasion a long lasting memory. What's also great is that the menu is constantly changing and developing, each dish as impressively artistic as the last. It isn't just about aesthetics here, the flavour heroes here will leave you feeling hot and bothered...and possibly a little wet....in a good way of course. 94%

Bistro FORTY6 - Shoe Box Superiority

These days the country is littered with generic contemporary Italian or contemporary English restaurants, with little character and uninspiring menus. Often there's nothing wrong with their food (aside from being borderline extortionist), but fine dining must be visually exciting and gastronomically arousing. The Fat Spoon demands it. Gladly, Bistro FORTY6 knows exactly what it's doing. Despite being the size of student's living room, the tantalizing aromas from the kitchen, attractive decor and decent clientele helps create a very pleasant atmosphere in this dwarf restaurant. Don't expect to have your food in a hurry, as the lone waitress covering the whole restaurant herself can only go so fast and why rush something that is going to be brilliant. Despite seemingly running the whole show single-handedly, this particular waitress had more banter than a drunk comedian, a big plus for the Fat Spoon. The menu is strong. It showcases a range of sound but interesting seafood and meat dishes. And they certainly have a knack for scallops, the tempura scallops starter suggests a dish resembling deep fried shoe sole. But this dish was executed with razor sharp perfection. The main dishes also have masses of finesse, a particular favourite being the belly pork dish. Sex on a plate. Although it isn't at the cutting edge of fine dining, it's pretty damn close. Bistro FORTY6 isn't the cheapest of restaurants, but at least that keeps the scabbier diners out. They do offer a substantial discount with the Gourmet Society card however, making a visit here an absolute bargain. 85%

Café 21 - The Ultimate in Celebratory Cuisine

Surrounding the festive period and New Years the majority of restaurants across the country, both good and hideous will whore themselves out with 'special' seasonal menus. Many involve feeble attempts at festive cuisine with pointless 'quirky twists' and minuscule portions, which only enrages the Fat Spoon. That said, some of the festive menus are outstanding, but there can only be one king of celebration. That is Café 21, which specializes in offering excellent yet fairly priced set menus all year round. And being part of the 21 Hospitality Group you can expect amazing dishes with a great deal of effort behind each one, made with the finest of ingredients and erupting with finesse. Café 21 is only really out shadowed by it's burly bigger brother, The Broad Chare. But when you want fine dining with all that glitz and glam guff, then Cafe 21 has to be your first choice. So break out the champagne and make your choice from the range of contemporary dishes boasting great game, rotund beef dishes and exquisite seafood. The beautiful presentation across all dishes will make your best efforts look like MasterChef gone wrong. High level food should look as good as it taste, as should the serving staff. Thankfully Café 21 doesn't disappoint. There is also a convenient Café 21 installation in Fenwicks, if MacDonald's doesn't cut it as mid-shopping bait. Definitely another big shot...94%

Za Za Bazaar - Buffet Slayer

This is definitely a first. The Fat Spoon is having to eat it's own words. In a previous review (of Flavours) it was vowed that Indian food could never be done well in a buffet format. This new restaurant from Bristol had the Fat Spoon very much mistaken. This literally dazzling restaurant is another one of those world buffets, except the interior concept is anything but bland. The interesting layout, retina-burning neon lights and beautifully aggressive colour scheme generates a very holiday-esque aura. Like all world buffet restaurants they aim to cover all bases with a vast ranges of stations such as Italian, Tex Mex, 'British' and Chinese. But these are generally tag-on cuisines with little to offer other than making you fat with carbohydrate overload. The real heavy hitters at Za Za Bazaar include the substantial Indian contingency, Thai curries and Vietnamese dishes. If you can resist the generics of the restaurant and focus on specialities of Indian and Far East Asia, then you will be in for a right treat. They've clearly sourced a large number of excellent international chefs that are not only able to produce the classics, but also rarer regional dishes such as Dosas, Amritsari machi, gulab jamun, Pad Thai, Shui Ziu fish and Nasi Goreng to name a few. This flavour explosion is as vibrant as the decor here and might leave you weak at the knees and the sheer volume will definitely result in you walking like a 30 stone gangster rapper with a peg leg. Fantastic. The service is and quality of excellent, but you would expect that from somewhere that's just opened and has put so much into their opening delivery. What will be interesting is how Za Za Bazaar deal with the test of time, that usually sees other world buffets crumble in integrity and quality, like the British transport system when we get half an hour of snow. But for now it is vigorously recommended that you give Za Za Bazaar a try. 84%

Blackfriars - Experience Equals Excellence

Well established but also well secluded from the city's visiting riff-raff, Blackfriars has been serving up great food for countless years...literally. This exquisite Dominican friary, stunning from both the outside and in was established in 1239! The food has always been fairly good over the 6 or so years that the Fat Spoon has been dining here, but over the last couple of years they have compiled a menu full of both rusticity and elegance. If you have ventured to Blackfriars in the past, but haven't recently, then it's strongly implored that you make another visit soon. Particularly over the festive season when their ambience really fits the mood. The wine menu is beyond excellent, as is the level of service. But it's the cuisine that really stands out here. Expect pant-wettingly-good dishes that have been constructed with great local produce from across the region. Sophistication minus all of the ponce. Ideal. Although the set menus are more affordable, it's all about there strong signature dishes, so this isn't the place for scrimpers. If you want to try Blackfriars at its best, then why not tackle it at full force and really push the boat...the whole fleet in fact. And if you're booking for a big group, then you can eat like Henry VIII in the adjacent medieval banquet hall, minus the gut, gout and gonorrhoea of course. 91%

Fitzgeralds Newcastle - Posh Pub with a Knockout Menu

Having gone unnoticed, for apparently years, this cheeky little gastro pub has had a recent refurbishment...bringing it straight into the Fat Spoon's eye. Now sporting a classy finish and plenty of British culture, its well worth a try. This is another of Newcastle's many pub/restaurant that offers a fantastic selection of real ales, continental beers and decent array of wines. However, it has something a lot of the others don't. A well conjured contemporary British menu that delivers a variety of warming dishes that are somehow both very robust and elegant at the same time. The menu seems to be augmented fairly often, which isn't necessarily a negative... experimentation should always be commended. They do all the pub classics in a way that makes them look, smell and taste like something innovative and new, brilliant. The pub platter to share is an absolutely crucial starter, featuring a beef and red wine pie, an angelic sausage butty, an outstanding hamhock terrine and a brilliant duck croquette. The Fat Spoon almost lost it completely with this amazing dish. The level of service is very good and the prices aren't at all offending, stop wasting your time with amateur bland and feeble pub dinners and make a visit to Fitzgeralds soon. 82%

Happiness Inn - The Daredevil's Chinese

Despite this restaurant being situated in a prime location, it often goes unnoticed by pretty much everyone. In all fairness it isn't the most appealing looking restaurant, but overlooking the Happiness Inn would mean missing out on some of the finest Chinese cuisine in the city. After clambering up the derelict stairwell you will be shocked to find a relatively attractive palace-like restaurant with an imperial aura about it. You are immediately greeted by exceptionally joyous staff (so happy that you might question their recreational habits), who will offer you a crucial choice. A choice that will dictate the outcome of your meal for gourmet glory or dining disaster. Opt for the Chinese menu, as the English menu will only disappoint you more than NUFC's recent games. The Chinese menu, however, holds a huge host of excellent and authentic dishes, brimming with flavour, spice and delight. The level of service remains excellent throughout the night as you struggle to decide what you want to eat, as part of the fun of the Chinese menu is deciphering it. Although there are some pictures and short English descriptions of the dishes, they can often be very misleading, or even completely wrong. The food is brilliant, but there are a number of dishes that offer parts of animal that you didn't think were remotely edible. Despite looking like alien genitalia, the frilled kidneys are exceptional, a must try. On the other hand  the Fat Spoon will eat most things, except chicken feet, they're easily the most hideous thing on the planet. The stew style dishes are particularly tasty and great value for menu as they're gigantic. Life is far too short to stick to the boring lemon chicken dishes and bland chow meins. Take a risk and give the wonders of the Happiness Inn a try. 79%

The Broad Chare - The Gourmet Gold Standard

Although The Broad Chare describes itself as a proper pub, with proper beer and proper food, it is a far more exhilarating experience than gives itself credit for! The menu hammers you with a variety of contemporary British cuisine, with a few international twists, exhibiting the finest local cuisine. The modest exterior opens up to a very warming pub and rustic upper dining room. For such a relatively small venue the range of real ales, international beers and outstanding wines is amazing. The hybrid pub/restaurant offers a series of bar snacks, pub lunches and exquisite gourmet dining experiences, that all work in harmony with one another. Without a doubt the best scotch eggs in all of Newcastle. Other menu highlights include the rib steak sliders, the fried monkfish cheeks, the pork crackling, the hand-raised pork pies, the Lindisfarne oysters, the duck hash, the mutton masala....actually the entire menu is exceptional. You will require multiple trips to this fine establishment. And that's just the regular menu, they always deliver a number of outstanding specials. The Fat Spoon's favourites include the venison and trotter pie, and the slow-cooked shoulder of lamb. Opting for the lamb is the pinnacle of existence, serving 5-6 humans this ultra-tender, juicy, melt-in-the-mouth, super-flavoursome mountain of meat (served with vegetables and Dauphinoise potatoes) is very reasonably priced. There are many reasons for why The Broad Chare deserves the Fat Spoon's highest rating yet, but you have to go try its wonders yourself, immediately! 96%

Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Newcastle - A New Level of Excellence

Situated in Newcastle's new Hotel Indigo flagship installation, this ultra-highbrow restaurant delivers a new standard of outstanding cuisine to our city. The a la carte menu really does speak volumes, and it isn't all about grilled meat. It features a number of other exquisite contemporary dishes with a variety of international influences. As you'd expect from a restaurant ran by a 3 Michelin starred chef, the quality of food is exceptional and delivered with finesse rarely exhibited in Newcastle. The level of table service is equally outstanding, and genuinely aim to ensure you have the greatest meal possible. They are also very accommodative towards larger groups and celebratory functions, making your special occasion memorable. Although there is the option of an evening set menu, compared to the gourmet wonders on the a la carte, it resembles the McDonald's saver menu. Thus highlighting the only negative point to the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, the expense. If you aim to indulge to the finest of the menu, i.e. the bresaola, the signature t-bone steak, the cheese board, etc. then you might have to consider a bank loan. But in all fairness, you will be content, at MPWs you get what you pay for...sheer brilliance. Certainly not a place for those on a budget however. 91%