The Broad Chare

Seasoned Newcastle restaurateur Terry Laybourne is the main man behind The Broad Chare – a thumpingly good, Bulldog-Brit gastropub opposite Café 21 on the city’s trendy Quayside. The sturdily furnished first-floor dining room is the place for accomplished plates of “amazing, locally sourced food” – think warm onion tart with fried duck and wild mushrooms, rare-breed pork belly with garden brassicas and scrumpy or spicy black pudding with smoked haddock and mustard. Specials such as ham shank and pease pudding are scrawled on mirrors, and the line-up also extends to things on toast, salads and puds such as chocolate stout mousse with ginger snaps. ‘Proper pub, proper beer, proper food’ is the venue’s slogan and it takes care of boozy business with a polished oak bar dedicated to obscure North Country real ales such as Mordue Apollo 40 or Full Mash Bhisti IPA. An “air of unashamed but spectacular of dumbing down” also shows in brilliant snacks such as crispy pig’s ears, hand-raised pork pie or cauliflower fritters with curry mayo. In short, “a proper British picnic, upliftingly simple, but beautifully crafted”.