Pan Haggerty Restaurant

Number 21 Queen Street, Newcastle has been home to some pretty exciting culinary experiences over the last few years, but longevity has tended not to be amongst their qualities. However, those with a taste for a bet on the side might well be considering that Pan Haggerty is all set to reverse this trend.

What is so special about this restaurant in the burgeoning Newcastle eating out experience? A catering business professional once said 'there are only so many permutations to what you can do with a restaurant - the skill lies in picking the right ones'. One of the most basic of these is that you don't wish to emerge from having a meal, particularly if it has left your wallet with hunger pangs, suffering from those same pangs yourself.

Not everybody wants 'a reet good blow-out' as the saying goes, but most of us want to feel adequately fed, which is where Pan Haggerty really ticks the box. After all it's named after a traditional Northumberland recipe for a good, robust no-nonsense dish of pan-fried layered potatoes and onions topped with cheese. Basic it may be, satisfying and well presented it most certainly is.

Head Chef Simon Wood, formerly of McCoy's at The Baltic and The Grainger Rooms, believes in offering dishes that bring pleasant memories of home cooking at the hands of your Mum, dishes such as Heather smoked lamb, smoked cheese and chive tart and other British contributions to the well-being of mankind. Food is about enjoyment, not suffering misunderstood anguish about health and personal weight.

Poached salmon, crayfish and smoked salmon roulade with pickled cucumber and green sauce lay the foundation for things to come. Soup nowadays has moved into the realms of the sublime, often, as here, still only using simple ingredients such as spicy carrot and rosemary to make an exceptionally tasty starter.

Black pudding enjoys a warm reception up north - and increasingly in the south let it be noted - frequently used as a form of stuffing. Take hard boiled eggs, wrapped in a black pudding mixture and deep fried, and then add a helping of bacon and tomato jam and what do you have? Total satisfaction and lots of happy customers.

Sit and enjoy beer battered fish and fat cut chips, secure in the knowledge that the sea from whence its ingredients came is only a few miles away, properly served with minted mushy peas. Thoughts of English strawberry syllabub with a shortbread biscuit could by this time be having a punch-up with the enterprising selection of cheeses gathered from both afar and close to home.

And just in case you're thinking all this is going to cost the earth, think again. For Sunday lunch you will be asked to part with £12.50 for two courses, £15 for three. For more details log on to their Website.