There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the restaurant world at the moment, and rightly so with almost all winds against it, from food prices, stretched customer, inflation and changes in national insurance to name but a few. Yet when you get as old as I am you have seen moments like this before. Which is not to belittle the struggles of so many people trying to offer great food and service in tough times. More that those places that keep the confidence to continue to offer a great experience and do so at a price that understands the state of the world stand a great chance of coming out the other side stronger and better.
Which is, to be fair, something of a statement of the bleedin’ obvious. But it does bear repeating and illustration because all things come to pass and you do have to hold your nerve and believe in what you are doing.
Which brings me to The Cock in Hitchin. First time I have visited there -yet it’s only 35 miles and a very short train ride from the centre of London – and I can see why this place attracts, shall we say, pretty wealthy residents. A string of higgldy-piggldy ancient buildings, as all ancient buildings should be, given the then absence of building regs and tape measures. Actual bank branches – when did you last see one of those?. And the sort of independent shops selling beautiful things that will make you feel warm at first, and then broke.
In the middle of all of this The Cock sits perfectly – established as a bustling coaching inn around 1563 and with a rich history all of its own. Indeed, so central was The Cock to town life that Hitchin’s main thoroughfare, now known as High Street, was, they state, historically called Cock Street in its honour. It’s a pretty half timbered building that is an hotel, pub and restaurant, and also has a newly built and very elegant function room that will, I suspect, be very busy as we head towards Chirstmas.
We visited to try their midweek menu, and this is a menu that tells you exactly why on an otherwise quiet Wednesday evening in September the place was packed to the rafters. I’ll tell you what we ate first, and then tell you how much it cost.
FIrst up was milk bread with marmite butter. There is a reason marmite has become an adjective, but not here. I hate marmite but I loved this: soft, warm and (yes…) milky bread cut by the deep umami flavour of the marmite butter. Paired with a perfectly dry crisp martini – not a given outside of zone 1 – I could have spent a happy hour or two with these alone.
Then a deep, rich, very more-ish butternut squash soup with knuckle sized crutons that allowed that silk/crisp offset in the mouth, and which I devoured. Marmite and butternut squash. Two of my least favourite things in the world. Two dishes I absolutely loved. Which should have led me to reflect in confusion but, for once, when my wife asked if they could bring the dishes out fairly quickly, the outstanding servers and kitchen did exactly that – she will be back for the service alone.
So it was quickly on to the fish course – cod with clams, chicory and lovage, and perhaps the one slightly weaker dish. A great idea and the flavour texture combination was spot on, but the sauce needed to be a bit tighter. There’s a very good dish in the making there though.
Yet if anything the fish course just served to heighten the impact of a banging main dish: chicken with mushroom ketchup. A description which does no justice whatsoever to perfectly cooked, and clearly well sourced, chicken with a fabulously rich and umami drenched sauce. If the phrase finger-lickin-good had not been nabbed by KFC then I would use it here. My wife hates mushrooms and she was practically licking the plate with this one.
Which is a good point to reflect on another thing they have taken seriously, which is where you source your ingredients. Both a taste and an ethical, welfare issue, they have cut no corners. Take their meat, which is from Aubrey Allen, a family business supplying us with quality meats and cheeses. They even supply the Royal Household, which tells you something about their standards! And in full disclosure, Lucy Allen is one of my wife’s best friends from school. Butchers don’t come any better than this. For seafood, they use Flying Fish Seafoods of Cornwall and Keltic Seafare for scallops, both of whom get their fish to The Cock in under 48 hours, ensuring ultimate freshness. For vegetables, it’s Sparshott Fruiterers Ltd, an old-school supplier who only sources the finest British produce. Finally, for the dry store, it is Woods Foodservice provides sustainable, high-quality products. That’s a regal list of suppliers, and you can taste the quality on the plate.
Back to the meal, where the sweetness of cookies, chocolate crumb and ice cream was smoothed out by a rich, freshly roasted double espresso. Happy days indeed.
The cost of all of this? £45. Fine, you can eat for less, but not this kind of food, and definitely not with these ingredients. Sure it’s not the experimental experience of great places like Kiln or even (the generally excellent) Six By Nico. But if you want a dinner with some friends after work, or a catch up with family, a birthday dinner, it’s absolutely spot on. If you want to eat battery farm hens and asparagus flown from South America then go elsewhere, but what you have here, and the reason it is rammed, is top quality, precise cooking, with a menu that everyone wants and loves to eat, and all at a price that is very affordable (and very, very affordable for the residents of Hitchin I suspect). This is how you get through difficult times: give people the food they want to eat, at prices they can afford and serve it with warmth and welcome.
What a winner.
The Cock, 8 High Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1BH
Tel: 01462 539 200 – [email protected] – The Cock
OPENING HOURS
Monday & Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday to Saturday: Bar: Midday – 11pm; Dining: Midday – 3pm & 6pm – 9pm
Sunday: Bar: Midday – 7pm; Dining: Midday – 5pm
