What I liked a lot about this venue is that it was literally opposite my hotel so not much walking needed. I always like places that require little effort to get there and end up loving places that are miles away. To be fair this place is actually in Hitchin and I live in Newbury but it says a lot that I would actually make the effort to return again even if I was coming from home. It is a fairly small, nicely decorated place with an interesting curtain arrangement as you come in which is just a bit scary, I wasn’t sure who was behind the curtain and if they were going to shout ‘SURPRISE’ just to terrify me into staying. Just so you know guys, that wouldn’t work. Ever. Luckily I entered unhindered into what seemed to be the bar area. Here is another thing about Hitchin and Lussmans in particular, there are a lot of hipsters here. Bearded men wearing long brown aprons although no man buns as yet so either they are behind or ahead of the game. Looks aside they were extremely nice and I was served by Joseph which I am sure is not the right spelling but I felt I was interrogating him enough about the place to start asking for spelling and grammar tips. This is the fifth Lussmans in a series that started in Southampton and is growing rapidly. Apparently there is one in Reading which surprised me as that is my local metropolis and I haven’t heard of it. If the food there is as good as here I will give it a go.
I was quickly seated, water brought to the table (bonus points) as well as the specials board. Hard to choose but as I am extremely poor right now and my food allowance has dropped through the floor I went for the set menu which was only £12.95 for two courses, a bargain as it turned out. I chose the mackerel with a pickled cucumber, potato and dill salad then steak frites. Extra bonus points for asking in between courses if I wanted to wait for a bit.
Very tempting but I was on a mission decided by poverty even though these dishes are amazingly well priced.
This was a dish of wonder. Crispy mackerel skin, very flavoursome potato salad with a lot of dill and also micro coriander and parsley and the element that took it from great to fabulous was the pickled cucumber. I should have asked for a little tub! Very pleasing on the eye as well.
Steak frites, as expected onglet which is a much better name than hanger. It is a thick fibred cut which has lots of flavour but needs to be cooked perfectly ie quickly on the medium rare to rare side or it gets too tough. Naturally this was cooked to perfection, I should have done a picture of the cut steak as I was so impressed. Fries are fries meh but the sauce was superb. Although it was peppery and alcoholy (not a word) it had no flipping peppercorns in it, Complete perfection and although I had asked for ketchup it was unused, this became a chip dip. All in all a place I will have to come back to and thanks to the lovely staff. I paid for this meal.
So ending on current other news, I have left my husband, moved into a little house in Newbury, am undergoing two weeks of amazing medical treatment and went to my friend Gerald’s husband Johns birthday party, as always terribly grand, Gerald doesn’t do understated. This is John cutting the cake with the familys ceremonial sword.
