Gimbals

For years, Gimbals was a mesmerising neighbourhood bistro with a good reputation. Run by talented husband-and-wife team Simon and Janet Baker, the Sowerby Bridge stalwart has now closed its doors to the usual bookings, and is available for private dining and as a high-end takeaway.

The team are continuing to cook, only this time the meals are for you to pre-order, pick up and pop in the oven chez vous. Order by 7pm on Thursday, and your tea is sorted for the weekend. The playfully eclectic menu has a Spanish bent – think fig, Serrano ham and melted taleggio bon bons with a Pedro Ximenez dressing. But you’ll also find Persian and North African influences in dishes such as spiced lamb kofta with a cashew nut pesto. True, it doesn’t hang together on the page, but in real life there’s a sense of a chef having fun at Gimbals. Dishes are nothing but surprising and generous; a trio of (not so) petites desserts, for example, could include apple and Pedro Ximenez raisin turnover, a sharp lemon tart and fragrant mango sorbet.

Gimbals also has its deli shop open on Fridays and Saturdays, when you can get hold of the likes of a “bundle” of pork pie, mushy peas and mint sauce and a slice of parkin from the fresh counter, or stock up on store cupboard staples such as pots of Spanish hot chocolate, tins of gordal olives and truckles of cheese. To drink, hand-harvested Hebridean kelp is the signature botanical in the Isle of Harris gin; take the opportunity back home to sprinkle extra ‘sugar kelp’ water into your G&T for an out-of-body (and out-of-Sowerby Bridge) experience at this one-off stockist in the Calder Valley.

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