London Road, Restaurant and Wine Bar, Alderley Edge

Oct 5 2007 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Intrigued Emma Johnson visits the heart of Cheshire’s Golden Triangle to dine

ANYONE trying to deny Alderley Edge’s reputation as the spiritual home for moneyed show-offs would have given up and gone home, following the display I had the pleasure of witnessing there recently.

The first thing you notice about Alderley Edge is the cars – parking in the village is like picking your way around a Stratstone forecourt, Bentleys jostle for space with Aston Martins and the ubiquitous Porsches.

The second thing you notice about the area is the people, or rather they notice you.

Everyone is checking out what everyone else is wearing, driving, doing and – most of all – carrying (I am referring to bags, not babies).

We were in the Edge to dine at London Road, the latest venture from celebrity chef and Daily Post columnist Paul Heathcote, which is situated at the heart of Cheshire’s Golden Triangle.

And it would appear the restaurant, named after the main thoroughfare on which it sits, is perfectly located for this, hence the reason why, despite the late summer temperatures heading south, people were literally falling over themselves to dine on the pavement.

After all, if you sat inside – where it is absolutely stunning – how would anyone know you were there?

At least one dining couple on our visit asked to take their desserts and coffees on the pavement after spying a vacancy.

All this talk of London Road as a place to “be seen” may foster the assumption it is also ludicrously expensive.

But that is not strictly true. There are no real bargains to be had here, and it’s not the sort of restaurant you would head to simply to “fill a gap” but there is a good range of prices.

Starters come in at £5.50 for avocado, baby gem and rocket salad with boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, pumpkin oil and seeds, reaching £9 for foie gras. A similar range appears on main courses which are helpfully split into three sections.

So you have fish and seafood – from the incredibly reasonable smoked salmon at £8, to a whopping £32 for grilled Dover Sole with Jersey royal new potatoes and green salad. Meanwhile, in the meats and charcoal grills section, dishes go from £12 for duck confit to £24.50 for peppered fillet steak – not too outlandish, I think you’ll agree.

Adding even more variety to the user-friendly British and French influenced menu, there are also homemade pasta and rice offerings.

Now it may be un-PC but, to start, I could not resist the foie gras while my husband opted for the crispy duck salad with sesame watercress and spinach.

To drink with it was a glass of Pinot Grigio Rosé (£4.50 for 125ml or £6.25 for 175ml) for me, while he opted for a glass of Chablis (£10 for 250ml). We sipped them and nibbled on rustic bread as we waited for the starters.

We didn’t have to wait long. The foie gras came as two egg-shaped scoops complemented by tiny cuts of walnut bread and deep red pearl. It was highly memorable, light as air, and without the greasiness I have often tasted with the dish before. There was also loads of it.

The duck salad also went down a treat. The duck was sweet and rich with a nice ratio of meat to leaves.

By the time the main courses arrived, I was on to my second glass of rosé while my husband had switched to a diet coke (£1.50).

After hearing endless friends rave on about how great it is, I had chosen the seabass in an effort to widen my seafood horizons (£18) while, creature of habit that he is, my husband chose the lamb dish (£22).

The seabass lived up to the hype. It came on a bed of pepporanata, borlotti beans and – my favourite – chorizo sausage, and was delicious.