They appear to be keeping to Gordons formula, wish I could eat there.
http://www.silversmiths-restaurant.com/http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/foodguide/Silversmiths-polished.4394611.jpThe dust has settled after Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares visit to a Sheffield restaurant. Lesley Draper tests out the results
COCKTAILS crammed with fresh blueberries, raspberries and pears are a speciality... the fish is really tasty, delivered fresh from the south coast and they're very excited about the new wine list...
We know all this because we've heard Justin explain it at length to at least three tables of eager diners, while also taking the orders, serving meals and making coffee.
The former recruitment consultant and nightclub boss is taking his new duties very seriously, which is hardly surprising considering the verbal onslaught no doubt still ringing in his ears.
Justin Rowntree is the latest protegé of Gordon Ramsay, whose reputation for good food is overshadowed only by his reputation for bad-tempered outbursts.
When Ramsay spent a week knocking the erstwhile Runaway Girl club into shape as Silversmiths restaurant, he transformed more than merely the business.
"I've always been a food lover but I was an impresario before – now, all of a sudden, I'm a restaurateur," says Justin, "and I'm loving it!"
He won't give away much about the Kitchen Nightmares programme in which this transformation is featured but admits: "It won't be a pretty sight."
"The process I've gone through is literally life-changing and without that brutally honest feedback of yourself, why would you change? I've come out a better person for it and my business has been turned literally upside down."
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For now, Ramsay has gone, the dust has settled and Silversmiths has a few months to find its feet before the new series is aired, triggering the inevitable influx of curious customers. We beat them to it...
The first thing to point out is that the influence is Ramsay, the menu is Ramsay, but the head chef is very much Richard Russell. He's good but he doesn't claim to have even one Michelin star to his name, so those who expect Pétrus or Claridges are heading for disappointment.
On the other hand, Russell clearly knows his stuff and, according to boss Justin, he's risen to the Ramsay challenge like a star in his own right: "The vibrancy in the kitchen now is great. Richard is like a new man!"
Live music is no longer on the menu at the Arundel Street venue but it retains its late licence, so late-night customers can still call in just for a cocktail at the bar.
That's where the new mix of fresh fruit specials come in, boasting names such as Rowntree Sour (fresh apricots, bourbon, lime and sugar syrup), Arundel Collins (pear, gin, vanilla liqueur and lime) and Watermelon Martini.
There's also a new, extended wine list featuring a range of contemporary European and New World wines from £12.50. We went for El Furioso, a wonderfully jammy Spanish tempranillo.
The new menu, described as 'modern Yorkshire', is a lot simpler than the exotic-sounding dishes at Ramsay's restaurants, but it has his distinctive touch.
Food is fresh, seasonal and local (increasingly so, as new suppliers are found) and there are six starters, six main courses and five desserts – enough to offer a choice without over-stretching the kitchen.
The place isn't dramatically altered inside or out but it's amazing what a coat of white paint and a few potted herbs can do.
The padded black leather wall remains, as do matching banquettes and red bucket chairs. But the tables are now covered with starched white linen and the stage at the far end of the room has become a softly-lit extension of the restaurant.
We sit in the window, observed by passers-by who can't resist peering in to catch a glimpse of the city's latest attraction. There's no complimentary bread, although Justin has promised to review that policy.
Homemade chicken liver paté is rich and smooth with an unexpected chilli kick. It's made to a secret recipe passed down by the grandmother of Ramsay's right-hand woman Angela Hartnett, we're told.
She might have been proud of the Silversmiths paté and light, fruity chutney but she would be horrified by the bought-in melba toast that accompanies it. That, with the frozen chips, is due to be replaced as soon as the kitchen team is fully up to speed.
My salad is simple but a great combination of creamy goat's cheese with chunks of sweet beetroot, crunchy pine nuts and rocket tossed in tangy dressing.
Trademark venison sausages from Round Green Farm near Barnsley are a big hit: juicy and meaty with plenty of flavour, wallowing on a soft bed of buttery spring onion mash, topped with sweet red onion marmalade.
Pan-braised halibut is a Ramsay contribution, although it has been substituted with cod on this occasion, but it's good and it's cooked with a deft touch.
The accompanying sauce could have been more concentrated, if I'm being picky – the extra cooking would have thickened it up, softened the chorizo and melded its smoky flavour with the sharper peppers, spring onions, capers and potatoes. But this is good food and it bears promise of better to come.
On to dessert, where chef Russell has already begun to make his mark. We share an apricot bread and butter pudding: deliciously light, moist, fruity and a triumph once we ask for some cream to go with it.
We finish our meal with a cafétière of coffee, with mint chocolates. Dinner for two, excluding wine and service, is £41.
Verdict: It may have been a Kitchen Nightmare but Silversmiths is set to become a foodie's dream if it carries on the way it has started.
Open: from 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday; last orders 9.30pm, 10.30pm at weekends.
Silversmiths restaurant and bar, 111 Arundel Street, Sheffield (0114) 2706160.
