Lancashire's Finest Food?
Paul Heathcote's Longridge Restaurant Serves the Finest English Food
If you were opening a gourmet restaurant in Lancashire in 1990, serving upmarket versions of local dishes like black pudding and Lancashire hot pot, in an unremarkable village somewhere between Preston and Clitheroe, what odds would you be given of survival? Well, Paul Heathcote not only survived, he thrived. 'I've always believed that if you can cook good food, people will travel,' he says.
Here I must declare a bias. No, I'm not related to Paul Heathcote, not a friend, nor ever had a free meal at any of his establishments. But I am Lancastrian and proud of what he's done for my home county's reputation, not to mention good regional English food. The first time I tasted his black pudding bread, and ended the meal with the best bread and butter pudding I've ever eaten in my life, I knew I'd be eating at Heathcote's again and again. And I have, and never had a meal that was anything less than wonderful.
More than just the food, though, Heathcote's original restaurant in Longridge has also encouraged people to visit the Ribble Valley and Forest of Bowland. Lancashire's countryside, like its cooking, has always been overshadowed by the Yorkshire Dales to the east and the Lake District further north. Yet the Ribble Valley has not just Heathcote's but, a few miles away, the Michelin-starred Northcote Manor. The county produces the superb Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire cheese, the sought-after Goosnargh ducks and the finest black puddings in the world: Bury black puddings.
The ingredients were already there, but what made Paul Heathcote think that the world was ready for gourmet black puddings? 'I didn't,' he told me. 'But they had been around for years, hundreds of years for that matter, and on many occasions done badly, so there must have been a market for better cooking of these dishes.'
Heathcote still sticks by local favourites, and on my last visit there was Goosnargh duck breast with a foie gras and truffle tart, fondant potatoes, savoy cabbage and a pepper and olive sauce. Well, it beats fish, chips and mushy peas.
To visit Paul Heathcote's website, click here.
Read more about Paul Heathcote by clicking here.
Read about touring London's best food market by clicking here.
