Christmas Menu at Provenance, Westhoughton

Now that Halloween is safely out the way, our thoughts start to turn towards the looming celebrations and the festive foods that we may stuff into our faces with impunity for the next couple of months. Christmas menus have been a big thing in the last few years, with seemingly all pubs and restaurants laying on special set menus offering two or three courses for somewhere around the £20 mark. Truth be told, these menus are often anything but special, with fairly predictable options that often don't extend much beyond traditional turkey and the obligatory salmon option (although there are, of course, some notable exceptions).

How nice, then, to see a restaurant keeping to its normal à la carte menu but supplementing it with a few seasonal specials on a tempting-looking set option in honour of the festivities. Provenance in Westhoughton have maintained their place in The Good Food Guide for a second year, and are the only Bolton restaurant to feature; on the evidence of their recent Christmas menu preview, their continued presence is entirely deserved. Head chef Lewis Gallagher is still at the helm, and still knocking out a great selection of daintily-executed but deeply-satisfying dishes; here's what we had.

A Selection of Christmas Fayre Canapés. I'll overlook the use of the word "fayre" here in view of the general excellence of these bitesize portions of starters from the Christmas menu: Potted Salmon, Sauteed Chicken Livers, and Wild Mushrooms on Toasted Sourdough. The mushrooms were my favourite of the three but I would happily eat the whole lot all day, every day, and the Christmas Fayre menu from which they're taken looks outstanding value at two courses for £16/three for £19 between 30th November and 23rd December.

Cauliflower Espuma, Granny Smith Apple. "I don't like cauliflower," said my date for the evening. "I shall try it though." The inevitable conversion-to-brassica robbed me of a second ramekin of this smooth, earthy foam lined with a hidden layer of tart apple; must try harder to find someone pickier for next time.

Scallops, Butternut Squash and Chorizo. A straight-up knockout dish: two fat, caramelised scallops, salty chorizo and - just showing off now - butternut squash done three ways.

Onion Tatin. This is one of the mains from the Christmas menu, and underwhelmed me a little - I love an onion tart but prefer a squishier version rather than the sturdy half-an-onion approach adopted here. The deeply bitter ash on the side was utterly addictive though.

Pan Fried Cod, Chorizo Cassoulet, Basil Pesto. Another from the Christmas menu, this one sounded an outright winner - something that I would order from a menu on a regular basis. In practice, this dish was the one real letdown of the night for me; the cassoulet was far too sweet and lacking in texture, with only a tiny amount of the chorizo that would have brought it into a better balance of flavours and a jarring swirl of herby pesto that fought with the rest of the components. My piece of fish was one of the thinner ones (it's the first of the two you see above), and simply couldn't cope with the cloying mass beneath. Other people on our table felt less strongly about the dish, so this may well just be a case of personal taste.

Duo of Lamb, Potato and Celeriac Dauphinoise. Hurrah - right back on form, with a splendidly pink cutlet, a gloriously sticky piece of stuffed belly and - one of the out-and-out triumphs of the evening - one of the best examples of daupinoise I have ever had. EVER HAD. And I've had a LOT.

Oops Chef Dropped the Manchester Tart. A bit of a foodie joke, this one, inspired by the legendary Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart created by Massimo Bottura after a bit of an accident one evening at Osteria Francescana. I'm not the biggest fan of Manchester Tart anyway, so this wasn't really for me; nice enough, as such things go, and handily smashed up to save you the effort of having to do it yourself.

Coffee and Treats. This was a treat indeed, and reminded me that, actually, some desserts are worth the calories - mini versions of some of the desserts from the Christmas menu and an utterly splendid Christmas pudding-flavoured macaron. I was too full to eat this on the night, so I wrapped it in a napkin and took it to work the next day, where I was the envy of everyone, even the uncouth individual who asked me why I was eating a cake shaped like a boob.

I've eaten at Provenance many times now, despite it being quite a drive both from where I live and where I work, and it's been worth it every time. This was a press preview and therefore a freebie, but I've revisited on plenty of occasions as a paying customer, both from the à la carte and from the crazy value weeknight special deals. It also has a deeply splendid food hall downstairs, so you may well accidentally find yourself dining with a few sausages and some stinky cheese in your handbag; my kind of place.

- Provenance is at 46-48 Market Street, Westhoughton, Lancs, Bolton BL5 3AZ, and is well worth seeking out.

Bolton Food and Drink Festival 2017, including the Aidan Byrne Pop-Up Dinner and an Introduction to Carrs Pasties

Today's weekly(ish) phone call to my mum soon turned, as usual, to the subject of food. She'd been reading a James Martin magazine column about Bolton Food and Drink Festival, in which he sang the praises of a foodie extravaganza that is increasingly well-regarded and to which, until a couple of weeks ago, I had somehow never been. Part of this is no doubt sheer laziness on my part - driving to Bolton from South Manchester is easy enough, but if you want a drink you're looking at several different forms of public transport and a pretty early curfew.

Finally though, I've been, thanks to overnight accommodation courtesy of some lovely Bolton friends and an invite to the Aidan Byrne "Made in Bolton" pop-up restaurant. Byrne was until very recently at the helm at Manchester House, a restaurant for which I have a lot of time, although he has now moved to a consultancy position within Living Ventures. A great chance, then, to try his delicate food in the relaxed environs of a giant tent pitched in the middle of Bolton, offering three courses from a set menu that I had trouble choosing from because I wanted it all.

In the end, the relaxed environs didn't prove particularly relaxing. I imagine it's tricky turning a multipurpose temporary marquee into a glamorous restaurant for one night only, but the efforts were perhaps a little wide of the mark - table cloths and proper crockery, yes, but strange disco lighting and curiously dancey music that set a rather uncertain atmosphere. Some of the others at our shared table felt the venue looked a little like a tacky wedding disco, although I think this was a bit harsh. And anyway, we were here for the food. For starters, we both had the shellfish bisque, grilled Sicilian red prawns and saffron mayonnaise. This was superlative, with a strong, punchy flavour that spoke of a fish stock many hours in the making, and served with two fat prawns, a generous crouton and a healthy blob of excellent mayo. This was a great start, although one wonders why such beautifully presented food was served up under such strange lighting. I've deliberately not fiddled with the photos, so you can see how everything actually looked on the night as it pulsed through a variety of pastel colours.

For my main, I was lured in by the meaty delights of the braised beef cheek, choucroute, Wagyu fillet tartar, sweet miso hollandaise and beef Secretto ham, although I should in truth have gone for the red pepper-crusted cod loin with aubergine caviar and mussels which my date had ordered. Everything on my plate was, individually, lovely, but the overall effect was just too meaty, meaning that none of the elements stood out and I found myself longing for a bit of greenery just to break up the wall-to-wall beef. And yes, that's a terrible photo, but when you put a brown dish under purple lights I'm afraid that's what it looks like. The fish dish was lovely though, and perfectly balanced in a way the meat dish wasn't, with the comforting blandness of the cod pepped up by the saltiness of the mussel sauce and the sweetness of the red pepper crust. He won again on the next course - I chose the selection of regional cheese and biscuits in preference to dessert, whilst he had the chocolate mille feuille with hazelnuts and violets. The cheese course was generous but a bit generic and quite variable in quality, with a lacklustre Brie letting the plate down. Meanwhile, the mille feuille was a thing of great beauty and delicacy, shot through with flavours of parma violet that prevented the chocolate from being too rich, and snarfed in a millisecond by a man who claims not to like puddings.

Service was also a little variable, with a huge fleet of young people on hand - some of them excellent but some rather guilty of whipping plates away before people had finished. Byrne said himself on Twitter later that night that he wasn't happy with how the night had gone, but we enjoyed most of it very much, and certainly wouldn't be put off eating at one of his restaurants again. In any case, we were also by this point quite merry from the selection of brilliant Aldi wines available at ludicrously cheap prices.

The next day we explored the festival itself, with the friends who had kindly put us up the night before. It's an impressive affair, with far more stalls than I had imagined (more than 200 traders attended) as well as two music stages, an Aldi wine tent and loads of chef demos (including the aforementioned James Martin, making his ninth consecutive appearance). More than 300,000 people attended over the four days of the festival, but because the stalls are spread out over Bolton town centre, things don't feel too claustrophobic or busy, and you can kid yourself you're walking off the seven lunches you've consumed. I'm pleased to say I enjoyed my first ever Carrs pasty so much I had two (the new cheese and jalapeno one is an absolute winner), and I was equally delighted to track down Paul from Fatjax Chutney and stock up on some essential pickle provisions.

So whilst this might have been my first Bolton Food and Drink Festival, it certainly won't be my last - roll on next Summer and my second consecutive appearance.

Provenance, Westhoughton: The Return

Back in September I went to a press event at Provenance, a restaurant and food hall in Westhoughton that was celebrating its inclusion in the Good Food Guide for 2017 under the skillful watch of head chef Lewis Gallagher, North West Chef of the Year 2012. Impressive credentials, and ones which stood up to vigorous tasting: we all loved it, our only concern being whether there was really a market for fine dining at pretty-much Manchester prices in a location just south of Bolton.

Well, thankfully Provenance is not only still going strong, but - if the near-flawless meal I had there last week is anything to go by - is better than ever. I'd begun idly perusing the new Spring menu at around 7.30am on the day of my visit, and the more I looked, the more I wanted; indeed, there is perhaps too much choice, prompting worries over whether this would be a case of jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. A more careful look however makes it clear that this is actually a very clever menu, with the same core ingredients and flavours running through the dishes and suggesting a sensible approach to both food preparation and waste reduction. There has also been an exciting development since my last visit in the form of a CHEESE TROLLEY (more of which later), and it was this overwhelming need to last it out until the cheese course that prompted my sensible approach in ordering two fish dishes for my starter and main.

And what inspired choices they turned out to be. Our charming waitress (young; friendly; knowledgeable; enthusiastic) told me that I'd chosen her two favourites from the new menu: the crab starter (Picked White Crab Meat, Mascarpone, Lime and Radish. Crab Crackers) and the King Prawn Linguine main (Tiger Prawn Tails, Wild Garlic Pesto, Langoustine Bisque). The crab starter was quite the prettiest thing I'd seen for some time (with apologies to my dinner date for the evening); almost too pretty to eat. I'm glad I did though - light, well-seasoned crab adorned with a fetching cracker hat which turned out to be one of the best things of the night. If they sold these in packets like Snack-a-Jacks I'd be bankrupt within the week. My only thought was whether the £10 price tag was a bit steep (maybe), and I had the same concern over my £19 main. This worry, however, was misplaced; this was a generous and wonderful dish, with eight plump prawns, a subtle-but-punchy pesto, and a little jug of lobster bisque that actually tasted of lobster (unlikely a woefully disappointing dish I had at a well-regarded place in Manchester recently, which tasted of nothing and didn't cost much less than this). The waitress even pours the bisque for you, although rather embarrassingly kept telling me to "say when" until it became obvious to us both that the jug was now empty (does anyone actually stop her pouring? anyone??) and the word "when" had never been further from my lips.

Meanwhile, across the table my date had chosen rather meatier options, having apparently spent the day worrying that three courses of fine dining plus cheese trolley might leave him unfulfilled. The Duck Egg & Ham Asparagus starter (Poached Duck Egg, Asparagus Spears Wrapped in Homemade Duck Ham) might not be a looker (a friend who saw the photos on Facebook queried why we were eating asparagus wrapped in beef and served with ice cream) but was spectacularly tasty, with a perfectly-cooked egg and a lovely sharpness to the hollandaise. For main, he had the Crispy Duck Breast with Creamed Cavalo Nero Cabbage, Smoked Bacon and Wild Mushrooms; this was a similarly good dish, with pink, tender duck and impossibly light, fluffy gnocchi (which weren't even advertised as coming with the dish, but which were a real highlight). On the side we ordered the veg of the day, which turned out to be a generous dish of green beans, mange tout, sugar snap peas and purple sprouting broccoli, all beautifully al dente and dressed in just the right amount of butter. Yep, even the veg was perfect.

I've never really been a dessert person (and I still had both eyes firmly on the cheese trolley), but was swayed by the prospect of the Chocolate Orange Bread and Butter Pudding with Blood Orange Sorbet. There are no two ways about it: this was one of the best desserts either of us had eaten anywhere, ever. The bread and butter pudding was soft and light, without that cloying texture that so often comes with a chocolate pudding, and the sorbet was sharp and bitter and sweet all at the same time. Outstanding. The Arctic Roll with White Chocolate Ice Cream and Gariguette Strawberries, which we ordered in a fit of 70s nostalgia, simply couldn't compete; indeed, we both felt a bit sorry for it as we openly fought over the Bread and Butter Pudding (technically mine). Still, it was perfectly nice (and banished all thoughts of the Bejam's horrors I remember from childhood), even if it was the part of our meal that didn't quite match the flavours and quality of the rest.

Finally, FINALLY, it was cheese trolley time. All cheeses are locally sourced (although not necessarily locally produced), and you can choose any three for £9, served up with really good crackers, a lovely grainy fig chutney, grapes and celery (which I ignored). We shared a Cornish Brie, a goat's cheese, and the Lincolnshire Poacher from a selection of seven; I could happily have eaten all seven, although would have liked some kind of offensively oozy blue rather than a rather standard-looking Stilton. Next time, I might just see if they'll park the trolley up by me for the duration of the evening.

The restaurant was busyish but not noisy, and dinner was accompanied by a nice man playing on the piano, which made for a pleasing atmosphere and masked the sound of lobster bisque slurps; service, as mentioned, was excellent. When we left, I noticed one solitary green bean on the floor where it had clearly fallen from our dish of vegetables; this was literally the only thing that got away from us all night, and still I regret it. Provenance is very, very good, and I for one will be making the journey to Westhoughton far more frequently from now on.

- Provenance is at 46-48 Market Street, Westhoughton, Bolton, Lancashire, BL5 3AZ. Go - it's a belter.

Provenance Food Hall and Restaurant: Fine Dining in Westhoughton

First things first: despite having quite a lot of friends who live in Bolton, I am woefully ignorant of the merits of this particular town and its environs. Thus I have to trust their judgement (and point the finger of blame squarely their way if this offends anyone) when I say that the news that Westhoughton, some four miles southwest of Bolton, had a more-than-decent restaurant, with an excellent young chef and a menu full of British classics, was not immediately thought to be credible when the invitation to its new menu tasting arrived a few weeks ago. In fact, some went so far as to suggest that "fine dining" and "Westhoughton" were not words that naturally collocate.

And yet it is indeed so; in fact, on the evidence of last week's preview, Provenance is far, far better than even the most open-minded Boltonians of my acquaintance could ever have dreamed. For one thing, it has a most excellent food hall on the ground floor, full of things I would like to eat. Fortunately for my bank balance this had closed for the evening, but I had a quick roam around and made a mental note of essential future purchases (by which I mean, essentially the whole shop). For another thing, the head chef Lewis Gallagher was awarded North West Chef of the Year in 2012 and went on to be runner up in the national competition, as well as winning Lancashire Young Chef of the Year twice in succession. And if that wasn't enough, Provenance have got themselves into the Good Food Guide 2017, after just one year of trading. All of this boded most auspiciously.

We started off with a platter of miniature versions of dishes from the forthcoming Christmas menu: goose rillettes, beetroot gravadlax and black pudding with apple. All of these went down a storm but the black pudding was probably the favourite across the table, certainly going by the evil looks that came my way when it transpired that my date for the evening didn't like black pudding and was in need of someone to eat hers on her behalf. This was followed by an exquisitely velvety pumpkin soup, which was widely decreed a proper taste of Autumn and equally widely devoured despite it being pretty much the hottest day of the year; I particularly liked the contrast between the rich smoothness of the soup and the crunch of the toasted seed topping.

Next up was a big fat scallop, briskly seared and served with some sharp Granny Smith apple and different textures of cauliflower. Rather excitingly, the apple had been vacuum packed and had its juice forced back into it, resulting in joyous, refreshing little bursts of flavour to complement the already varied textures of the cauliflower. The ravioli of truffle and Jerusalem artichoke that followed was initially met with a little suspicion, with some of us worrying the truffle would be overpowering and pretty much all of us wondering where the sauce was. We should, of course, have had greater faith - the pasta, filled with ricotta cheese and lightly drizzled with oil, was more than moist enough on its own, and boasted beautifully subtle notes of its bolshier ingredients (the chef clearly has more self-control than I when faced with a dish calling for either artichokes or truffle).

On to the two larger courses of the tasting menu - monkfish with a chorizo crumb, crisp ham and a lemon sauce, followed by fillet of beef with onions and mushroom - and both an absolute knockout. One of the most impressive aspects of Provenance is its focus on traceability (hence its name), and nowhere is this more visible than in the in-house ageing facilities, responsible for both the beef (which cut with ridiculous ease) and the ham. Another obvious strength is the sauces - the lemon sauce was brilliantly tart and very brave in its full-on citrus flavour, whilst the onion sauce that accompanied the steak was rich and smooth and sweet, and forced me to run my finger over my plate with a complete lack of dignity (although to be fair, the sauce does perhaps not look completely dignified itself).

The dessert course had got us all wondering what a chocolate "mushroom" might be, and visually this didn't disappoint. Chef Gallagher is quite rightly very proud of this dish, which was chosen as the dessert option at the Gala Dinner at the recent Bolton Food and Drink Festival, and whilst this was my least favourite course of the evening (I don't really care for chocolate-flavoured things), the clever combination of textures (think chewy meringue, soft ice cream, crisp chocolate shards etc) was a massive hit at our table. Similarly, the violet macarons that finished the meal weren't really for me - the texture was perfect but the flavour just too Parma Violety - but were wildly popular elsewhere, with one blogger successfully eating three before being captured and dealt with by the authorities.

Any downsides? We thought that the prices - which are essentially the prices you would find in central Manchester - might be a little steep for the area, although in my opinion the quality of the food justifies the pricing and in any case, there are plenty of fixed price menus and offers available (I am already eyeing up the Wednesday night Grill Nights). The only other downside was a small, personal sorrow - I live a long way away from Westhoughton, and therefore had to forgo the wine that flowed so generously throughout the evening. This aside (it's hardly the owners' problem that I live elsewhere, particularly as the restaurant is rather romantically located in the premises of the old family toy shop), I can't really fault Provenance. I shall certainly be back - and next time, I'm taking a shopping bag (and a credit card).

- Provenance is at 46-48 Market Street, Westhoughton, Bolton, Lancashire, BL5 3AZ. This was a free event but I have already made plans to go back.