Ever since this little restaurant opened, the question on everyone’s lips when discussing where to eat has been ‘have you been to Chef’s Table yet?’. Whispers from friends of friends who had been there seemed too be good to be true. A new menu every night? Fresh, seasonal food? Michelin star level cookery?
So, for my birthday meal, it was only right that we go and try out this mythical place. Could it really be as good as the rumours?
Yes. This was fantastic.
The restaurant itself is very small with, as you may have guessed by the name, the kitchen openly visible in one corner. Despite being on show like this, the chefs were never flustered nor did they command your attention. They just quietly worked away and created some of the most beautiful food I’ve ever seen.
There was a large party of 16 eating and, with it being a small restaurant, they took up most of the room. Despite this, the waiting staff were not flustered and looked after us really well. They were friendly, polite and cheerful.
My scallop starterBack to the food. This was amazing – I wish I could think of a better adjective. I started with scallops, which were served with pineapple, carrot, crab and ginger beer. Sounds like a strange combination? Well, it made my taste buds sing! I mentioned when we were there that if I could only eat one meal for the rest of my life, that would be it. Of course, I’d changed my mind by the time the main course arrived. My husband started with a duck slider – he was worried before it arrived that it would be too big for a starter but of course the chef judged the size perfectly. It came with some beautiful duck under a glass filled with smoke, which looked beautiful when it arrived.
Hubby’s lamb with candy floss cloudNext up, mains. I had chicken, which was the softest melt-in-the-mouth chicken ever. It was served with jerusalem artichoke and had a fantastic smoky, sweet flavour. My husband went for lamb which was served with another talking point – mint sauce candy floss. This looked beautiful, and tasted incredible – salty and sharp.
By the time we’d eaten this, we were full – but the dessert menu is so tempting we couldn’t help but have one between us. In fact, the dessert menu looks so delicious that we couldn’t actually decide between the three listed. We asked the waitress, who recommended ‘lemon’. It turned out to be a fantastic recommendation – the dessert was wonderful – lemon meringue, mousse and sorbet, all beautifully made and presented.
Our lemon pudWe had a bottle of prosecco to drink through our meal – reasonably priced too. The menu is also fairly priced – around £6 – £8ish for a starter and £16-£18ish for a main. For what you get, this is an excellent price. They also do a cheaper menu at lunchtime.
To sum up – this was a fabulous meal and I can’t wait to go back. If you want to go you’d better book now, because understandably it books up well in advance – particularly at the weekends.
Chef’s Table can be found on Music Hall Passage by the Catherdral in Chester city centre.
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