Read April's's The Edge as a PDF - The Edge Magazine

Despite it’s idyllic village
green setting, Grahams on the
Green in Writtle is hardly the
most attractive looking place
on the outside, is it? But once
you pass swiftly over the
threshold, everything slots
nicely into place and it really
does come into its own.
Strangely enough, I’d never
eaten at G-O-G before
(although the wife has on a fair
few occasions), yet I felt
immediately at home, such is
their unusual (these days)
attention to detail and the way
they genuinely seem to go out
of their way to look after you.
I’ve mentioned on many occasions
that my all time favourite
Chelmsford restaurant has
always been Bada (when it was
spelt like that - when Barry
and David owned it), but there
are some definite similarities
at Grahams.
It’s all about the way you do
things so far as The Edge is
concerned - how you set your
stall out. For instance,
Grahams gets 10/10 for its
place-mats. Now, who in their
right mind would notice a thing
like that, you might wonder?
Well, little details such as that
are important to your editor,
clearly.
Then there’s the exquisitely
shaped, super-large wine glasses
and the lovely drop of
Italian red we had in them,
served at the most perfect room
temperature (important, that).
Even the background music
seemed to be at a considered
level and all these things surely
don’t happen by chance. It’s
clearly no accident that
Grahams is the way it is.
On top of all that, the food was
lovely, and whilst that’s mainly
what you go for, the way The
Edge sees it, it’s the overall
package that’ll make you
return again and again.
It was also pretty full for a
mid-week evening as well.
The wife and I opted for the
2-course midweek set menu at
£18.50pp. My salmon, potato
and dill fishcake with tartar
sauce was delicious, whilst
Mrs Edge’s Confit Duck Salad
with sauteed mushrooms and
a walnut dressing was probably
even better (damn)!
Good starters definitely settle
you down. If they’re only adequate,
or poor, you’re on tenterhooks,
dreading what might
be served up next.
What I particularly liked about
Grahams was the fact I felt
confident about the place’s
high standards pretty much
immediately.
For my main course, being an
‘adventurous bloke’, I had the
pan-fried rib-eye steak (ha!),
but with new potatoes (instead
of chips) in a reduced balsamic
roasted shallots whilst my
nearest and dearest had the
chicken supreme stuffed with
semi-dried tomato, goat’s
cheese and pesto, croquette
potato, tomato sauce and
salsa verde.
Both were delicious and full as
we were, we managed to share
an equally scrumptious chocolate
& hazelnut brownie with
vanilla ice-cream for dessert.
Would I return?
You betcha!
SUPPORT
YOUR LOCAL
CHELMSFORD
RESTAURANTS,
READERS!
zen
restaurant & noodle bar
★ great food, excellent service
★ stylish environment
★ family’s welcome
★ large parties catered for
CHELMSFORD’S
NOODLE BAR
01245 353899 ★ 86-87 DUKE STREET CHELMSFORD
WWW.ZENCHELMSFORD.CO.UK
www.theedgemag.co.uk Page 11
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