When I visited: April 2017

Location: Newcastle, near Jesmond

Team: Dave Coulson (part-owner and Head Chef)

Rating in the Michelin Guide: Recommended

Dining Owl Hoot rating: 3/5

What to wear: Men – jeans or nice trousers and a shirt; women – jeans and a smart top or a smart dress

Ambience: Smart / casual, cool

Course of the meal: Celeriac

If I could change one thing: Less gloopy octopus starter

Review:

Peace and Loaf has acquired a bit of a following in Newcastle and it is easy to see why: it is cool, in a great area, generous with the bonus courses and strong on the service. I came very close to giving it 4 hoots and maybe I will in the future if some minor things are changed.

I went with a group of friends and we ordered a bottle of red Pinot Noir to go with our meal. We admired the very arty and attractive coloured crockery and sampled some amuses bouches – a mini green macaron, Thai fish cake ball, white loaf with beef dripping butter and a mini pease pudding ball served on a spoon. We got a further bonus after my partner Owl’s starter, which was a mini lamb kebab (as the waiter explained, you cannae have a night out in Newcastle without a kebab man).

My partner Owl’s starter was one of the reasons I haven’t given this restaurant 4 hoots – it was octopus and its accompanying sauces were just a bit gloopy and not really up to the standard of the rest of the food. Our mains (sirloin steak, chicken and hake pie, and celeriac) were all strong though. The desserts (ginger cake with pineapple, and chocolate with coffee) were good but not amazing – I felt that the ginger cake could have been improved by a further element, maybe something like lavender ice cream.

With coffee, we got a mini madeleine, another example of the great bonuses at this restaurant. Although the atmosphere is fairly formal, the staff really are very friendly and the service was always prompt throughout the whole meal.

I would definitely go back to Peace and Loaf and think that the more I try there, the more likely I will be to bump it up to 4 hoots.