Raffles at the Croft

OVER the years, we have sat in a few empty restaurants.

The demands of culinary research and the day job have meant early-week dining has been a regular necessity.

We can confidently say that if you are going sit in splendid isolation for a couple of hours, Raffles at the Croft (Spa as was) is as good a place as any.

On Monday night this week, the restaurant at the hotel just over the Tees from Hurworth Place, south of Darlington, was utterly deserted apart from staff, who, as we entered the reception area, seemed mightly pre-occupied with some sort of electrical equipment.

It transpired that this equipment, the sound system for Raffles, had been disconnected during some repainting work and nobody was able to get it functioning again.

Which made for a particularly quiet time. The hush was only disturbed by the large ceiling fans which are part of a décor scheme designed to recreate the colonial ambiance of the renowned Singapore hotel. In addition, there are lots of large potted palms and a wall-sized mural of what looks like a tea plantation.

It is, in fact, the screen which separates the dining room from the rest of what used to be the Croft Spa ballroom.

If this sounds a little on the naff side, it isn’t. The overall effect is very restful and calming; we dare say even when the place is full and the sound system operational.

This column has previously paid Raffles a visit, in 2005, not long after Malcolm McKee (of McQuays, Yarm, and Mint, Darlington, fame) had bought the hotel and carried out a comprehensive refurbishment. Then, we thought the food, certainly on the a la carte, was excellent but the atmosphere decidedly on the cool side.

Mind, it was January, the restaurant nearly empty and the temperature was anything but tropical.

This time, the “Dine with Wine” promotion was put to the test. A limited menu featuring four starters, five entrees and five desserts was £12.50 for two courses and £14.95 for three, including a free glass of house wine. Not quite a deal on the scale of Bannatyne’s three coursesfor- a-tenner sampled a few weeks ago but an attractive offer nevertheless.

Things got off to a bad start for Sylvia with the catering pack butter provided with the bread rolls but perked up considerably with the arrival of her starter – grilled black pudding with crushed potatoes and a poached egg. It should have also been served with onion sauce but Sylvia didn’t fancy that.

The spicy and firm black pudding, and the crushed, herby potatoes, were judged to be first class but the egg was a disappointment. Sitting atop the pudding and potato pile, it was expected to be soft enough for the yolk to run lovingly over what lay beneath.

Sadly, it was rock solid.

My Caesar salad with brown shrimps was a fine blend of cos lettuce, anchovies, croutons and Parmesan. The shrimps were on the teenyweeny side.

Sylvia’s crispy belly pork with apple mash and savoy cabbage received her more universal approval. The pork was lean for this cut and had a lovely, salty, savoury piggyness redolent of pork scratchings.

The mash was smashing.

I had chosen grey mullet marinated in charmoula with spiced cous cous, tomato and coriander. After pleading ignorance about charmoula, our waitress had responded by bringing chef’s well thumbed recipe book to the table for our inspection. We thought it was a nice touch and the marinade, North African in origin as it turned out, gave the fish a mildly exotic, aromatic flavour. The cous cous was lightly spiced and the tomato and coriander sauce nicely lifted the dish.

The best that could be said about the side dish of vegetables (carrots, cauli, broccoli and new potatoes) was that they were tired.

I finished with a creme brulee with perhaps the crispiest topping ever encountered.

The caramalised sugar costing was very thick and I was on the point of calling for an ice pick when the spoon finally broke through it. The custard had a good vanilla flavour but was slightly granular, suggesting it had been heated too long.

Service was very good. The staff managed to to look busy with no other customers to speak of, even if that only stretched to attempts to fix the resolutely soundless sound system.

The bill, with a G and T and an additional glass of wine was just over £37.