Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Rediscover food scene helping to bring city back to life
Mark Taylor visits Salisbury a year on from the Novichok poisoning and finds there’s plenty of choice on the menu
AS orders from the boss go, spending a few hours eating and drinking my way around Salisbury on a sunny, spring-like day wasn’t too much of a hardship.
Of course, as soon as I sent out a tweet asking people for their recommendations and top tips, there were the inevitable ‘ don’t go to Zizzi’ wisecracks, but I’m sure the reopened Salisbury branch of the Italian chain is now the safest, most hygienic place to eat in the UK.
Although perhaps best known for its military connections and cathedral, food has long been a part of Salisbury’s fabric and there have been weekly markets in the city since the 13th century.
Streets with names like Butchers Row, Oatmeal Row and Salt Lane still stand today, and elaborate Victorian shop frontages can still be spotted above modern day shop signs. One of the finest examples is for the Hart’s fish, game and poultry shop, the ornate sign for which is proudly displayed above the door of the recently closed branch of Patisserie Valerie.
Another reminder of the city’s foodie credentials is Poultry Cross, a 14th-century stone market cross on the junction of Silver Street and Minster Street, directly outside Salisbury’s oldest pub, the Haunch of Venison.
Built around 1320 to house craftsmen working on the cathedral, the black and white timber-framed pub in Minster Street is as historic as Salisbury’s main tourist attraction.
With its wood panels, rare pewter bar top and chessboard-style monochrome floor of marble tiles (apparently sourced from the Cathedral’s chorister area), this medieval pub boasts a restaurant as well as a characterful bar area.
A plaque on the wall from CAMRA recognises the “outstanding historic importance of its little-altered interior”.
As you enter the pub, the right hand door leads you to the telephone box-sized snug, locally known as the Horsebox. This is where Winston Churchill and American army general Dwight Eisenhower are said to have met to plan the D-Day landings in 1944.
Unusually, there are no beer pumps on the counter – they are all at the back of the bar – but they dispense a range of well-kept West Country ales including Exmoor Fox and the more local Wiltshire ale Summer Lightning from the Hop Back brewery.
A bustling road linking the railway station with the town centre, Fisherton Street is lined with interesting independent shops, from vintage clothes boutiques and stamp dealers to shops selling clocks and antiquarian books.
The hub of Fisherton Street is the Fisherton Mill gallery and cafe, which shares the ground floor with the shop in this restored Victorian grain mill.
At 12.30pm, there was barely a spare table free – they don’t take bookings and it’s first come first served – but then this is the only Salisbury eatery listed in the Waitrose Good Food Guide
My table was next to a rack of leather handbags, near the shelves of artists’ cards. With folk music drifting around the room crammed with local artwork, ceramics and jewellery, it’s a relaxed setting.
On a Wednesday lunchtime, my fellow diners were mostly retired ladies who lunch – I’m sure at one point I was the only customer not wearing a patterned linen scarf and dangling earrings – and the food is excellent. As well as sandwiches on sourdough or focaccia, homemade soup and salads, there are a handful of main dishes.
I went for the Italian-style slowcooked aromatic lamb with red wine – the lamb literally fell apart as soon as the fork touched it and the rich sauce was heady with orange and thyme. There were huge chunks of carrot and sweet baby parsnips, soft wedges of red onion and a pleasing thwack of heat from the chilli. Cannellini beans provided a nutty chew.
From a range of cakes on the counter, a slice of moist cherry and almond polenta cake wasn’t too sweet and boasted a light, crumbly texture.
In need of a further sugar rush mid-afternoon after visiting the cathedral and descending on the book sections of the countless charity shops on Catherine Street, I headed back to Fisherton Street to Culture Coffee, which serves excellent coffee from its shiny Italian La Marazocco espresso machine and a number of sweet treats including raspberry Bakewells, vegan banana loaf with dark chocolate and fudge chocolate brownies.
Also good for a reviving cuppa and slice of cake is Boston Tea Party, which occupies the impressive Grade I-listed former Old George Inn building on the High Street, a short walk from the cathedral. Climb the wooden stairs to the historic main room with its sloping, beamed ceilings, mullioned windows and black and white timber frame walls, one of which is inscribed with the names of the building’s past landlords and licensees, from 1320 Nicholas Teynturer to the present day. Former visitors to this building are said to have included Shakespeare, Cromwell and Pepys and you can really sense the history as you tuck into your coffee, cardamon and walnut cake.
Maul’s Wine Bar opened on Fish Row at the end of 2017 but owners Andy and Ellen Maul had a slow start due to the road outside being closed
off due to the poisoning last year. Thankfully, business has picked up now and it’s so busy at weekends that you have to book tables to enjoy the extensive wine list (including 30 by the glass) and the slates of artisan cheeses and charcuterie.
With its twinkling fairylights, woodburner and tables fashioned from old barrels, Maul’s crackles with atmosphere and the husbandand-wife team running it are passionate about what they serve. I certainly found it hard to drag myself away after a couple of glasses of wine but I had booked dinner elsewhere. I’ll certainly be heading back to Maul’s soon to give the menu and wine list a thorough workout.
Contemporary Indian restaurant Anokaa on Fisherton Street is one of Salisbury’s most popular eateries and by 6pm on a weekday, it was already filling up with regulars.
A spotlit ceiling, red carpet and mirrored columns create a pretty familiar look for modern Indian restaurants but the menu is anything but predictable.
After a stack of crisp, greaseless poppadoms and superb chutneys, I had the Goan beef – slices of the most tender beef fillet which had been marinated overnight in yoghurt and rum and spiced with crushed ginger, chillies and cloves.
It was followed by a main course of piyaza chicken – juicy strips of chicken breast cooked with onions, green chillies, red and yellow peppers in a garlicky jalfrezi-style sauce.
The food at Anokaa is a cut above many high street Indian restaurants and it’s backed up by efficient, friendly service.
Before I headed to Salisbury, a few people warned me that there wasn’t much of a food scene to speak of, but I disagree.
OK, the chain restaurants dominate, but if you look hard enough there are plenty of signs of quality independent food shops, bakeries, cafes and restaurants creating their own scene.
Further proof of this is The Tasty Tapas Spanish pop-up run by local couple Emma and Neil Adams. Using local ingredients, they create authentic regional Spanish dishes at their monthly pop-up supper club at Hendersons bakery/cafe on Oatmeal Row. The three dates for The Tasty Tapas suppers in March have already sold out but April’s dates have just been announced.
With past menus including the likes of black pudding croquette rolled in crispy pork crackling and Basque meat roll with beef and veal shin and oxtail slow cooked in Rioja, this popular pop-up sounds reason enough to visit Salisbury again soon.