Long Friday

A mercifully short stroll from Jesmond metro station for the benefit of those not lucky enough to call it their local, Long Friday’s friendly welcome sets the tone for casual, light-touch hospitality which can effortlessly pivot to encyclopaedic product knowledge when required. 

A list of snacks, including the must-order beer-battered sage leaves (an inspired, British translation of shisho tempura), prime you for a build-your-own-banquet of small plates, which many reporters have praised for their inventiveness. In the kitchen, local Northumbrian produce meets influences as far-reaching as Mexico, the Mediterranean basin and Asia (the kitchen seems to have a particular soft spot for Japanese flavours), and the menu reads like a dream. 

Among the highlights when we visited was a weighty piece of hake, leopard-print skinned from the BBQ grill, in a pool of umami-rich, perfectly spiced Bloody Mary butter, while fried flatbreads (with just the right combination of chewy and charred) soaked up the zippy brown-crab aïoli that dressed a white crab, samphire and rocket salad. Elsewhere, puttanesca was taken back to its elemental form and served as a warm salad, topped with slices of pink lamb leg. 

Do save room for dessert, especially the deep-fried bread and butter pudding made with Japanese milk loaf – although the peanut butter and cherry ice cream sandwich is also a tempter. And there’s dependable drinking too, thanks to a curated collection of bespoke cocktails and an extensive list of modern wines, all available by the glass (from £5.50).