manchester

holidays

reviews

Email to a friend | Read later | Your comments

Wednesday, 17th January 2007

UK: A taste of exotica in Sheffield

David Graham

LUSH: Winter Garden

AHHH, those seven hills, the fountains, the strange accents, the smell of sublime Italian food . . . and we're only a few miles over the border.

Of Yorkshire, that is. Without having a passport stamped, even someone of the red rose persuasion - Lancashire, not Labour - can relish a taste of exotica in a vibrant city that's only a short drive away.

For here, we're not talking about the Eternal City of Rome, although the place does share many similar features.

Advertisement your story continues below

Steel yourself, for it's none other than Sheffield (sorry!), which has a lot more going for it than just a huge shopping mall at Meadowhall, just as there's a lot more to Manchester than tootling down the road to the Trafford Centre for what most blokes see as a retail nightmare.

There's shopping aplenty if you want it, of course, in a city centre that's as welcoming as over here, and you can even ride on a tram if you want, but a particular pull was that Italian food connection.

It all started in the kitchens of the new £20m Macdonald St Paul's Hotel, right at the heart of things next to the town hall and Millenium Square, with its spectacular water features, and with direct access to the lush indoor Winter Garden.

The four-star hotel's two restaurants, the Italian-style Zucca and The Yard, are already carving out a reputation under director of catering Robert Craggs - remember him as executive chef and hospitality manager at Harvey Nichols in Manchester? - with Zucca given an extra dimension by having an open `theatre' kitchen and wood-fired oven.

The Italian influence was underlined when Craggs opened his kitchen to London restaurateurs, TV stars and cookery book authors Giancarlo and Katie Caldesi.

Tribulations

The engaging Caldesis have shared the trials and tribulations of running a cookery school in the hugely enjoyable Return To Tuscany series on BBC2 and they shared their knowledge and expertise for a one-off evening in Zucca, with on-site interpretations of some classic dishes in a four-course themed menu from their newly-published book, including bresaola marinated with lemon, rocket and parmesan, hand-made pici and arrabbiata sauce, and dark chocolate semifreddo and hot white chocolate sauce. Mmmmm.

Craggs, who during his career has also been senior sous chef at the Michelin-starred Pool Court @ 42 in Leeds, joined his staff in getting hands-on experience of the Tuscan way of doing things and diners, too, were invited to join in making fresh pasta before tasting just how good it can be when prepared by the keen crew in chefs' whites.

All washed down, of course, with carefully-chosen Italian wine, which does seem sadly neglected sometimes when we have got used to having such a rich supermarket choice from all over the world.

And at the end of an evening like this, armed with Return To Tuscany cookbook, you, too, find out why chefs' pants have an elastic waistband.

If you can get through the door after Zucca's, late evening delights in Sheffield can include the Crucible Theatre, of course, which is just down the road, and the Last Laugh comedy club, again, nobbut a short walk or taxi ride away.

A visit to the Champagne Bar at St Paul's furnishes a suitable nightcap, before the zzzzzzs take over in one of the 161 rooms, ready for a wake-up session in the Vital City Spa and Leisure complex and its 18-metre pool the following morning, a suitably-substantial full English breakfast and out and about to sample daytime distractions, maybe the Sheffield Ski Village to loosen up the ligaments for the snow season.

Or maybe not.

But the Peak District is right on the doorstep and can round off a memorable weekend in what might seem an unlikely and too-near destination.

But it's worth a try with good reason - for Macdonald plans are well advanced for a plush new luxury hotel in Manchester in autumn. Robert Craggs is in at the ground floor, as it were, on this new venture, so if Sheffield is anything to go by . . .