Can’t remember the last time I bought bread in the UK. Last Wednesday I not only bought a loaf, I went to England to buy it.
You’ve probably heard of Elite Bistros run by Gary Usher – half a dozen bistros set up in the past twelve or so years + a pub, all in a band across The Wirral, Cheshire, Merseyside and Manchester. Interesting, imaginative food, good cooking, very competative pricing, frequent offers. Relaxed atmosphere, friendly inforrmative staff. Hard to find anything much to dislike. Well, all right then, they weren’t really thinking of us (aged people, relying on public transport and living in North West Wales) when they sited their restaurants. So only two bistos, Sticky Walnut in Chester and Wreckfish in Liverpool, are accessible to us. Hard life …
News finally filtered up to us via Telford’s old mail coach route that Gary Usher had opened a bakery late last summer in Chester. Given that he’s not a person to do things by halves and, needing a day away, I set off for Chester with great hopes.
The Romans are noted for planning, engineering and for their roads. Well, they certainly fucked up wirh Chester. They built the rail station well out of the city centre with the only two places of interest (for me) on opposite sides of the tracks. There is no rear exit to the station and the two bridges over the lines are probably about a mile apart.
So I want to go to Hoole Village where there are some interesting shops (a butcher and a fish monger!) and more importantly, Sticky Walnut. I have to come out of the station, turn right along the taxi ranks and car parks, and up a scuffy set of stairs by a scrap yard onto a grim viaduct carrying the main road, and turn right along a pavement barely wide enough for two people to pass, trying to avoid stepping into the oncoming traffic. This widens out into a normal, boring, busy road the only highlight being Richer Sounds which I walk swiftly past intoning, “Get thee behind me Satan”.
About a quarter of a mile on, turn right onto the comparative calm of Faulkner Street which, apart from the ubiquitous wall-to-wall parking and the cruising four-by-fours, is a bit like the way High Streets used to be in Miss Marple’s day. As well as the butchers and the fish monger, within a hundred yards there’s a deli, a fruit and veg shop, cafes, restaurants, three pubs. Turn left onto Panton Road and there’s Sticky Walnut (current offer, an amazing 2 courses for £17).
My other Chester destination is my personal sanctuary The Old Harkers Arms. Whenever I need a bit of time on my own, or to do some planning or just to sit and gaze into the middle distance, this is where I go for an extended lunch. Might only happen three or four times a year, but it’s been going on for a hell of a lot of years (plus, of course, birthdays, family reunions, lunch with Sue, shopping relief, etc).
From the station, this is dead easy: straight ahead up City Road, about seven minutes walk to the canal, down the steps and there you are. Combining the two destinations is the problem.
From Hoole you have two choices: walk back the way you came + the seven minute walk from the station (too boring); or, work your way through the residential streets, over the other rail bridge to the canal, and complete the circle by walking along the tow path, past the biggest-Waitrose-in-the-world, to the Harkers. Which is what I did.
And finally, we get to the point of all this, Ushers Bakehouse which is tucked away in a little commercial unit on Lightfoot Street, just round the corner from the ramp (Westminster Road) up to rail bridge number two. I didn’t find out till the following day that this building is the nerve centre of the Elite Bistros empire where the management, administration, planning, menu development, etc. goes on. The bakery is on the ground floor: a nice simple sales area leading to a cafe area at the front. Had a little chat with the sales person and chose my loaf – you don’t need to cut it to recognise good bread but this is what it looked like sliced:
I was seduced by the word “Guinness” and completely forgot to check out the other ingredients – oats is OK but the sunflower and poppy seeds which became apparent when I sliced it for the next day’s breakfast certainly aren’t OK for Sue.
Poor me, have to eat the whole of this lovely loaf myself …
Poor Sue got a rapidly defrosted burger bun for her breakfast ….
The PArtisan Baker 