Long Friday in Jesmond - tipped in the Good Food Guide

Not at Long Friday.

Tipped for the second year running as one of the Good Food Guide’s 100 best local restaurants, this cosy little Jesmond restaurant is quite simply delightful.

It was a grim Saturday evening in April when I paid a visit. Wowed by its Instagram page (how I choose most restaurants these days) I was eager to book in, and so when my friend Alice was back home for a few weeks we decided to head down for a catch-up over a meal.

Despite it being a naff, rainy night, inside Long Friday was cosy and warm. The small restaurant was packed, every table was taken up by couples, friends and groups tucking into their food.

Like many restaurants these days, Long Friday specialises in small plates. Quite often I find this insistence at so many venues on doing a tapas-style service rather than just giving you the standard three-course menu a bit annoying, but not here.

The menu is cleverly designed to make you want to try something new. I can’t explain exactly how they do it but by pairing staples you’re familiar with and love with little twists and ingredients which push your tastebuds to places you’ve never been before you end up wanting to order everything on the menu – it’s quite a good way of running a business to be fair.

It pushes you out of your comfort zone, but the restaurant makes you feel so comfortable you don’t even realise.

The staff were very attentive, clearly passionate about the food and drink they were serving, and were keen to help us out when we were clearly floundering over how to narrow down our order from simply picking the entire menu. Our server told us we could choose how to dine and when we’d have each dish. If we wanted it all to come at once, fine. If we wanted dishes to come in two or three waves, fine.

We eventually decided to give ourselves two courses, the first comprising cold dishes with a Burrata with Blood Orange, Coriander Seed Oil & Mint (£12), Charcuterie (£9) and some focaccia (£4). The second consisting of the BBQ’d Bavette Steak with Green Herb Butter & Bone Marrow Crumb (£11), Shetland Mussels with Rhubarb Nam Jim & Fresh Herbs  (£11), BBQ’d Tenderstem Broccoli with Sesame Sauce & Furikake (£10), and Trout Crudo with White Soy, Black Pepper & Blood Orange (£10).

The cocktail menu offers drinks you’ve never heard of before too. The ‘No rum, No coke’ (it tastes like a rum and coke but without either drink) was my choice while Alice opted to try an orange wine.

Our first wave of dishes arrived and already the interesting combinations were a treat for the tastebuds. The burrata was creamy with a tarty taste from the blood orange, the focaccia light and airy, and the pickled celery with a plate of prosciutto gave the dish a crunch.

Our starter course: Burrata, Focaccia and Charcuterie. (Image: DANIEL HORDON)

By the time our mains arrived we were already impressed, but little did we realise things were about to get even better.

A personal favourite was the barbequed steak topped with bone marrow crumb – giving an even meatier taste to the perfectly cooked cut of beef. The sweetness of the rhubarb sauce complimented the muscles in a way I could never have expected. I still don’t know what furikake is – but with the tenderstem broccoli, it seemed to taste good. Even our risk order of the smoked trout impressed. I’m not normally a fan of smoked fish, but this had a delicate, fresh taste which paired with blood orange proved quite refreshing.

Tenderstem broccoli, BBQ'd Bavette Steak, Mussels and Smoked Trout. (Image: DANIEL HORDON)

Having pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones we’d been won over by every dish and would try them all again.

No meal is complete without dessert, and it was tiramisu and mini doughnut balls we chose to round off the evening.

Tiramisu and Doughnuts. (Image: DANIEL HORDON)

Read more Eating Out reviews:

• A culinary journey to Thailand with Mantra Thai's eight course tasting menu
• We tried Zaap Thai as new restaurant plans revealed - should Durham be excited?
• A dosa the good stuff at Dosa Kitchen - the Indians tipped in the Good Food Guide

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It’s easy to think it may all seem a bit pretentious with a different menu concept and strange ingredients you’ve never heard of, but Long Friday manages the exact opposite. It’s cosy, relaxed, casual. The drinks are as important as the food and the atmosphere was buzzing with diners enjoying an evening of amazing food and drink.

This is one of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had – and it’s great to see Long Friday tipped as one of the country’s best local restaurants. Give it a go, but please don’t all book at once as I need to pay another visit myself.