Food critic Jay Rayner has heaped praise on an historic Salford pub recently brought back to life.
The Black Friar, a ‘humble’ two-story red brick building situated on the corner of Blackfriars Road and Trinity Way, was described as an ‘ambitious pub’, by the Guardian writer.
The new high-rise apartment blocks that now surround the pub are in stark contrast to the ‘rackety family home’ from the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory he compares the Friars to.
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Rayner often describes the price of the food not being what you would expect ‘on the edge of a dual carriageway in Salford ’, however, there is still much praise for what comes out of the kitchen.
For the last 15-years the pub lay derelict after a fire ripped through it.
It was brought back into use over the last few years as a marketing and sales suite for the huge apartment blocks that have popped up around it, but now it's under the control of local restaurateur Neil Burke.
Just weeks before it was set to reopen a car smashed into the building, killing the passenger, but the modern pub managed to quickly recover and is now in full swing.
Rayner says: “This is clearly now a local boozer with a particular locality in mind: the Spectrum development of which it is now a part.
“After a long day working at the very cutting edge of modern media communications, or whatever it is the denizens of these tidy apartments do, they might peer down upon the pub from their eyrie and decide they can’t be fagged to cook and will instead come down here, to drop £50 a head on dinner.”
The cooking is taken care of by chef Ben Chaplin, formerly of 20 Stories in Spinningfields, and is described as ‘big and bullish’.
“This is serious cookery: both profoundly beautiful and profoundly eatable,” Rayner says of the scallops dish.
He moves on to a staple of northern cuisine, the pie. ‘This is a pie’, he says.
“Today it’s stacked to the lid with braised chicken and leek and very good it is, too. On the side is a heap of proper mash, crunchy green beans and a jug of hot gravy, which I sip,” Rayner adds.
“I tell myself I am doing this for professional reasons, though obviously sipping gravy should be a thing. It is rich and sticky and meaty; the sort you’ll be licking off your lips for hours to come even when it’s long gone.”
The turbot does receive some faults, being described as ‘a very good dish indeed fighting to get out from underneath all this overkill’, for the ‘brave’ price of £32.
However, the meal is ended with a ‘beautifully made bitter orange parfait’.
“As with everything we are served, even that misfire of a turbot dish, there is attention to detail here. The front-of-house team is well drilled, the drink options are broad and all the various spaces look very pretty indeed,” he adds.
The pub has made clear how proud it is of getting a glowing review from one of the country’s best known critics.
They said in a Facebook post: “The Blackfriar has made the pages of The Guardian and we couldn’t be prouder.
“Thanks to Jay Rayner for paying us a visit and a big thanks to our team and customers. Without their hard work and support over the last 20 weeks what we have achieved wouldn’t have been possible. We love you all.”
Jay’s review of The Black Friar concluded: “I’d be rather chuffed if the Black Friar was my local. Instead, it’s the local for those now above it, living life at altitude.”
