Cosy up at Alpine style Wildernest at city’s The Palm
The weather outside may be frightful, but the fire is so delightful at this Sunderland hot spot.
Despite the December chill in the air, the fire pit at Wildernest gave us a warm Wearside welcome when we visited for food on Tuesday night.
Part of The Palm complex, it’s one of four restaurants at this multi-purpose riverside site.
Each of the four restaurants has its own identity: Wildernest, with its Alpine ski lodge aesthetic, lends itself well to the season.
The menu’s also full of winter warmers. To start we rolled up our sleeves and tucked into the From the Land sharing platter (£17.95), a real meat feast of a velvety chicken liver parfait, grilled chorizo sausages with a good kick, flatbread strips, moreish popcorn chicken that we couldn’t stop popping, tender chipotle pulled pork croquettes, cured cold meats and salad.
You got plenty for the price on a huge wooden slab.
In a seaside city that’s ironically lacking in seafood restaurants, Wildernest also offers a good selection of seafood and is probably the only menu in the city that has a dedicated lobster section, where you can get your claws into everything from a sinful side of lobster mac and cheese (£6.50) to Steak & Lobster (£29.95), which features an 8oz rump steak as well as a half grilled lobster with garlic butter, homemade chips and burnt lemon.
Despite it being the priciest section on the menu, as you would expect for this type of food, we fell hook, line and sinker for the lobster and I pushed the boat out with the full lobster and chunky chips (£27.95), with a half portion setting you back £15.95.
It’s served dressed, with a choice of sauces, either garlic and lemon butter, classic thermidor or Asian. I had the creamy thermidor.
Drinks-wise, colourful cocktails form the bulk of the menu. As such, the wine selection is more limited but we enjoyed our crisp and pale Pinot Grigio rosé (£18.95 a bottle). Whereas with most restaurants you head somewhere else for post-dinner drinks, The Palm’s USP is that you can spend the night flitting between its bars, whether it’s for a pint overlooking the Northern Spire on the Liberty Brown terrace or off to Tropicuba.