Ducie Street Warehouse
Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor
Ducie Street Warehouse is one of our favourite multi-purpose venues. It has the lot: a restaurant, a co-working space, an outside terrace, a cinema, a bar and doubtless more things to do and places to explore. And now intriguingly, it has won the title of UK’s joint best roast, according to the Rate Good Roasts platform.
That’s too tempting to ignore and after scoffing a BMI-busting number of Sunday roasts over the past few months, we head along to give it a closer look, smell and taste.
Excitingly, what’s on offer is a tad more than just a Sunday lunch. The menu offers a bunch of starters, nibbles and even a separate menu devoted entirely to cauliflower cheese. There’s everything from vegan cauliflower cheese (pleasant enough, but fairly light on the cheese flavour, as you’d expect) to blue cheese cauliflower cheese (thick, rich and dangerously moreish).
Starterwise, there’s a good selection, especially for all you vegans. The sweetcorn and coriander fritter is something special, full of flavour without relying on too much salt and oil. It comes with a bright, fresh salsa bandera scattered over the top – which roughly translates to ‘flag sauce’ because it consists of the three colours of the Mexican flag: green, white and red, courtesy of the tiny tasty cubes of green pepper, white onion and, erm, red tomatoes.
Want something a little lighter? The (also vegan) beetroot hummus is a treat, partly thanks to the surprisingly potent vegan feta, but also the sheer deliciousness of the hummus itself. Sadly, the eagerly-anticipated crispy chickpeas were off the menu when we went so if you go, try them and let us know.
But what about the Sunday roast? Well, aside from the vegan roast, which changes weekly, for meat-eaters there are a few options: beef, chicken and lamb. Or, wonderfully, all three at once on the same plate. This game-changing option is known as ‘Something For Everyone’ and promises a slice of each of the meats, with all the trimmings.
It doesn’t disappoint. Despite generally preferring lamb, the chicken breast (sourced from WH Frost) is probably the stand-out meat in this Tower of Babel-style Sunday roast. The meat is soft, juicy and impossible to stop going back to. That’s not to do down the lamb or the beef, they’re great options with meat that melts in the mouth – though if you’re going to choose one of the darker meats, go for the lamb, purely for the powerful rosemary-infused flavour throughout.
No need to buy any extra sides, this is a hefty plate that has the lot. The vegetables are seasonal, so today that means perfectly-cooked tenderstem broccoli that goes well with the wonderful gravy, and a layer of buttery crushed carrots.
The Yorkshire pudding, pleasingly, does the job, and then some. It has the all-important slightly gooey bit in the middle, while the rest of this imposing creation is crisp and crunchy without tasting too heavily of oil.
The whole meal is a delight, and perfect to slowly graze upon on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Don’t plan anything for the rest of the day, simply pair it with a glass of wine or a beer from the bar and end your week knee-deep in the very best of the deadly sins: sloth.
