Podge and Tin Eatery Review.

Welcome back to the review blog peckish people!

I've had another interesting week of food related shenanigans this week (as you'd expect!). I've been working on some very simple things to do with leftovers, which I will be blogging about in a few weeks and during my experiments have come across a brilliant way to make the best potato wedges ever!

I've been eating and sharing Salt Beef and Falafel with anyone I've bumped into and the lads at work are all eating like kings.

So, Saturday 1st March I decided to give the cooking a miss for the night and go out for a bite to eat. I wanted somewhere local and reasonably cheap so I popped into The Podge and Tin.

Eatery in Cannock.

I found out, about this time last year, that there was going to be a new restaurant/ bar opening up at a pub that used to be called The Fern and Fallow. (older readers may remember it being The wheatsheaf years ago) In Cannock.

At the time I was looking to get back into cheffing with my old sous chef, and great cook,Wayne Hensley so we went and had a look round. The place was completely stripped out and nowhere near finished. We found a guy who was fitting a walk in fridge and asked him about the new owners, when they would be available to talk to, who they were and if he knew what the plan was for the place. He looked a bit bemused as we had just walked into a building site so we explained ourselves and  he gave us some details and told us it was going to be a fish restaurant.

I have to say, even then I thought it was a good idea. For those of you that don't know, my family from years ago had a few chip shops in and around Walsall. In fact, if you've tried chips from the chippy at the  Black Country Living Museum in Dudley then you will have had them from my Nan's old fryer from her Birchill's chippy, as my family donated it to the museum in 1989.

So as you can guess a fish restaurant in Cannock spiked my interest no end!

I eventually got to meet the new owners and had a good chat with them about their venture and told them all about myself,and how I'd like to be involved as Head chef. They told me they were looking to open a "cross between Harry Ramsdens and Nando's" and again i couldn't fault their idea as that would be a new thing for Cannock, and the location of the place ( right opposite the bus station and Cannock College) was ideal for a pop-in-for-a-quick-bite kind of place.

Unfortunately, and as is so often is the case with these things, by the time the Podge and Tin was ready to start taking staff on I had already started a new job with a promise to my new boss that i wouldn't be there for just a few weeks before I went back to cheffing. They phoned me to come in to show them what I could do but, sadly I had to decline. ( I'm a man of my word, what can I say?).

Well, anyway, that's enough of the back story so what's it like to eat there?

The first time I went was a couple of weeks after they opened and to tell you the truth I wasn't that impressed. I wont dwell on that visit too much as I know how tricky it can be to get a big venture like this off the ground and with the owners learning as they went I had hopes things would improve as they found their feet.

So I popped in on the way to a friends house and thought I'd try it again last night.

The decor inside is very nice. Stripped back with exposed brickwork, sturdy wooden tables and nice metal french bistro chairs. There's a well stocked and reasonably priced bar and, on entering the place a takeaway chippy counter, another good idea!

I took a table and was brought a menu by a very friendly member of staff.
The menu is refreshingly simple. Burgers, roast chicken done Portuguese style a'la Nandos, with various sauces ranging from mild to very hot, Classic fish and chips, and a few other tasty sounding dishes like Mediterranean lamb kebab wraps, along with a good selection of sides and  puddings.

I wanted to try their "twice cooked chips" and fancied a bit of fish so I  chose haddock and chips.I went for the small size which was £6.50. I also wanted to try their homemade coleslaw from the sides menu ( £2.20)

I placed my order and, while I waited, sat and took in the atmosphere.

 It was reasonably full and there seemed to be a few birthday parties and  family get-togethers going on, lots of chatting and laughing, which is never a bad thing for a restaurant. I must say I was surprised at how many people were in there as there were only a few cars on the car park. It did look like most of the groups were just starting their nights out, having a bite to eat and meeting up before disappearing off into the town for a few drinks, which would explain the lack of cars outside.

After about 10 minutes my food arrived.

Of course, the first thing I had to try was one of the chips. They use beef dripping in their fryers ( as every good chip shop should!) although they can do them in vegetable oil for all you chop-dodging vegetarians out there.
The chips were good. Not your fancy take-all-day-to prep restaurant type chip ( like the triple cooked chips that I make.) But, I have to say, probably the best chippy-type chips anywhere in Cannock. The two stage  frying technique of blanching at lower temperature then frying off at a higher temperature gives them the edge over your standard once fried soggy chippy chips.

The fish too was excellent. nice bubbly beer batter done to a  golden brown crunchiness that you cannot get with batter mixes that come from a packet. The haddock inside was moist and flaky, as it should be, and because the fish had been properly battered and cooked there was no soggy batter or greasiness to it.

The meal came with a ramekin of mushy peas and a little Tartare sauce which, although neither were home made, were good quality.

My only gripe really was with the coleslaw which was perfectly acceptable, but if you're going to go to the trouble of making it in-house why make it exactly like a shop bought one? When I see "homemade "on a menu I'd like to be able to tell that whoever has made it has added something to it so that lets you know its homemade. It's a personal thing, I know, but that's just me.

I went to pay my bill at the bar and had a quick chat with one of the owners, Jas. He's a very affable chap and has a lot of enthusiasm for what he's doing. I got the impression that him and his brother, co-owner Raj are indeed learning as they go and they're both up for changing things if that's what's needed. He did say they might be turning the chippy counter into an open kitchen as it might suit what they plan to do with the place in the future better. .

So, to conclude then, I liked it. The food is good for the price,the service is friendly, the room is nice and modern and the owners are learning quickly which way they want their business to go. Its places like this that deserve your custom. Believe me, as The Podge and Tin establishes itself and the owners get to know more about what people in Cannock want from a restaurant it will just get better and better, hopefully that will include a more "homemade" coleslaw!

Thanks for reading and look out for my next recipe blog which should be published this coming Wednesday 5th March.

Happy Eating!

Mat.