Fell Bistro

Fell Bistro is the gastronomic endeavour of not one, but two MasterChef: The Professionals finalists. It stands to reason that the food should be very, very good. Foraging is a big part of the menu but it’s a pared-down offering, focusing on quality rather than fancy-pants cheffy twiddles. Serving the sort of food you really want to eat, Fell Bistro is big on flavour. Could this be the ultimate neighbourhood restaurant?

There’s a fine-dining sensibility behind simple dishes like beef burger, cauliflower steak with massaman sauce, and sweet ‘n’ sour pork cutlet with salt and pepper chips which means they aim to be the best in their class. Everyman food with lofty ambitions sums up Fell Bistro.

It’s relaxed and unpretentious enough to offer a kids menu and even takeout, but a meal here feels special, a celebration of good cooking. The Sunday roast is a stonking success; treacle beef rump with Yorkshire pudding and horseradish mascarpone shows Aunt Bessie up for the freezer fraudster she is. Pure weekend bliss.

The takeaway inspiration behind food like KFC hen of the woods with black garlic mayo or beer-battered cod with chips and curry ketchup shows a playfulness, but the dishes haven’t been played with. You order chips, you’re going to get chips. Which is exactly as it should be.