Punjabi spice and all things nice
Saturday night in the middle of July and its pouring with rain outside. We had eaten too much and few too many sherries the night before. But, being the professional fatties that we are, we quaffed our hair, popped on some tinted moisturiser, and hopped into the car to make our way to FrenJabi in Macclesfield.
It’s very clear that FrenJabi has your safety and comfort at the front of their minds. The doors to FrenJabi were already open so you don’t need to touch the door handles. Walking into the entrance hall you’re met with a foot-operated hand sanitiser pump. Again, no need to touch anything. If that wasn’t enough, they have taken the French-inspired silver service to bring you your cutlery – served with a fork and spoon, your cutlery gets placed on your napkin. It’s very reassuring to see. The best part though was walking into the restaurant and seeing the staff stood with Rav welcoming us into their space. It’s beautifully bright and airy. Quite the surprise given we were in a listed building. The interior is modern and chic. Pink blush coloured chairs, grey tabletops and splashes of gold in the art on the walls and light fixtures. A botanical garden room sits right next to the bar. You can sit in this room for drinks while you wait for your table.. or while you polish of the rest of your bottomless Prosecco!
It may have been wet and miserable outside but that didn’t stop us shimmying at the set menu. 3 Courses for £30 or 2 courses for £25. There were so many dishes we wanted to try, it made our job really tough (First world problems). This is where we could see the French & Punjabi cuisines intermingle. From Spiced French Onion Soup to the Amritsari (Punjabi street food) Hake served with Lyonnaise potatoes (French, Obvz).
While waiting for the first course to arrive you are presented with an amuse-bouche called Gol Gappa, compliments of the Chef. A bitesize poppadum ball with some chickpeas and a spicy and sweet tamarind sauce. In your mouth in one go to make sure you get all the flavours and textures at once. You get a tsunami of flavours filling your mouth crunching with the poppadum. After that, we knew we were in for a good meal.
I decided I would be a little more adventurous and face an old adversary; I had the Steak Tartare, served with raw egg yolk, Dijon mustard and sourdough. I first tried Steak Tartare a good 6 years ago. I ordered it, didn’t know what it was, pretended I did and was then served raw steak. Loads of it. With a few leaves and balsamic glaze… Safe to say it was not my favourite dish. This time however it was a completely different experience. I can’t even begin to explain just how good the flavours were. The tartare was mixed with shallots, Dijon mustard, capers, tomato sauce, tobasco, some five spice in there and a Burford brown egg yolk on top screaming to be popped. Even Jamie, who initially turned his nose up, was finishing my plate at the end. Absolutely recommend trying this one.
Jamie opted for the Grand Mariner Flambeéd King Prawns with garlic and coriander olive oil, with French bread. Huge prawns with garlic, coriander and olive oil? Sign us up. Immediately you can taste the sweet & bitter essence of the Grand Mariner – if you weren’t aware, this is a French liqueur made from a blend of cognac, bitter orange and sugar. A combination we’ve never seen or tried before. This essence mingled with that all-important coriander really blew us away.
Following on from my carnivorous starting course, I opted for the giant fillet steak, beef dripping chips, garlic spiced portobello mushroom and tomato. Yes, you heard me. Beef Dripping Chips. Chips, cooked in beef dripping… essentially I had the biggest meat feast I think I’ve ever had when eating out. The steak was cooked to perfection (medium rare thank you very much). Plump and juicy, ready to be devoured. So devour I did. Choices of sauces were Peppercorn, Diane and Roquefort. You can also swap the beef dripping chips for Masala chips – Although we just ordered the Masala chips as an extra side because we’re obscene. Now I can see why Macclesfield have been raving about these takeaway steaks! Amazing.
Jamie took this opportunity to order the lamb. I can’t quite bring myself to eat it. All I think of is Mary and her little lambsies.. Jamie, however, couldn’t care less about Mary and happily polished off his meal without batting an eyelid or shedding a tear. Lamb Rump, Gratin Potato, Green beans and shallots, with red wine and port jus. Impeccably pink on the inside Jamie fell silent. A rare, but welcome sight…
We couldn’t quite bring ourselves to eat pudding. Another rarity for us, but we were stuffed and a dessert would have seen us fall into a food coma, right at our table.
Rav, your restaurant is gorgeous, your food is truly outstanding and your staff are beautiful & warm. I’m sure you are already, but you should be very proud of what you’ve achieved in such a small space of time. We’re so happy to be able to share this story with everyone and we will most definitely be returning.