A Visit To Hinnies In Whitley Bay For A Spot Of Dinner
Published On Thursday 3 Oct 2024 by Sticky Beak
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Eager to show Mummy Bird some more of the North East's lovely places, we headed to the recently zhuzhed-up Whitley Bay and the delights of the new Promenade and the Spanish City. Weather-wise, we were enjoying another belter of a day; warm enough for light clothing, with a gentle breeze that prevented being mithered, we couldn’t have asked for more.
Mummy loved the flatness of the pavement on the new promenade; it made her 4-wheel stroller so much easier to manoeuvre...shame the same can’t be said for the older pavement we’d had to use to get from the car park to the Spanish City area!
Needing a little rest, we settled in T.J’s amusements, a place that I’d spent many enjoyable hours over the years. Let’s just say that this time around, the experience was marred by what us Derbyshire folk would call ‘shonky’ practices. The slots for coins to go into the 2p-pusher had jammed and, when reported, the girl merely undid the front, cleared the channels and shut it up again: no offer to refund the coins we’d put in. Then there was the question of winnings; now, I’m not a fool, I know that you never win any money, but it just takes longer to lose all your money.
If you’re really lucky, you might win a super-shiny key-ring or a knock-off purse – or if the gods are on your side, 10p for every £5 that you put in! These slots have side channels that, if coins do drop, they merely get siphoned into the back of the machine; again, I accept that. What I don’t accept is that, when coins drop into the central channel (from where they go into the dish at the outside of the machine, for you to scoop up gleefully), they also disappear into the belly of the machine. The first time, I thought I’d been mistaken about my ‘win’; the second time, I was like “nope, this ain’t right” and called His Nibs over to witness the calamity. It happened a third time, and His Nibs confirmed that I hadn’t imagined it. The young lass was called over and, with clear exasperation, she opened the machine, flicked a few coins out into the winning dish and said “Happy?”; far from it, lady, far from it. All the joy had been taken from my 2p-push indulgence. I gave the meagre tickets I’d won to a small boy and his mum and left.
Good humour was restored a few doors down, at Di Meo’s cafe; we all had a lovely coffee and appreciated the marvellous looking pizzas and pasta that people were tucking into. If we hadn’t already got dinner plans booked, we would’ve been seriously tempted to stay and eat here. After being buoyed up, we headed down to Hinnies, a fab restaurant that His Nibs and I have had several delicious meals at over the years.
The young lady who was our server has to be among the nicest, most helpful server we’ve come across! Honestly, she couldn’t do enough and her smile was one of those proper soul-warming ones. Having got our drinks sorted, she gave us a few minutes to peruse the menu; this was nice and simple: a decent-sized set menu that offered two courses for £24 per person, or 3 for £29.
To kick off, I had the Smoked Trout, Potato and Watercress Salad with Soft-Poached Hens’ Egg; Mummy had slow-cooked Ham Terrine with Pease Pudding and Piccalilli, and The Man Bird opted for his beloved Black Pudding Scotch Egg with Gooseberry Ketchup.
Presentation-wise, all three starters were beautiful; everything had been carefully arranged on the plates, each of which was a different shape and colour to best showcase its contents. Mummy remarked on how delicious her terrine was, with its gentle texture and bold flavour; she also liked the chunky Piccalilli and the contrasting smoothness of the Pease Pudding. To me, Pease Pudding is the Geordie version of Indian Dahl or Mediterranean Hummus, just not as attractive – Mummy liked it though, and it was her meal, so that’s what matters.
There’s something about a good Scotch Egg that makes me smile, and I think it’s because Mummy Bird always made them for family days out when I was a chick; they hold comforting memories for me. His Nibs just likes them because they have a fab crisp outer, and the combo of tasty sausage meat (Black Pudding here) and a rich egg hits his pleasure spot! At Hinnies, I have to say that they do a ruddy fab version; the deep, earthy Black Pudding really popped against the creamy richness of the still-runny egg yolk.
My Smoked Trout and Potato round was sublime, with a great texture to it. Flakes of the fish provided an enticing blush colour against the pale tone of the soft, floury spud, and the combined flavour bounced in my mouth really nicely. Adding a bolt of taste was the undeniably bold taste of fresh Watercress, whose rich verdancy provided a great visual element. I’m a bit of a funny bugger when it comes to ‘soft-poached’ eggs; I have a real aversion to any ‘snot-like’ white being the cost of getting the yolk warm but still runny – it gives me the proper ‘ick’! Thankfully, Chef at Hinnies had got it spot-on so that the egg was warm and its yolk runny, and its white was cooked through softly but not that awful, glutinously snotty mush.
Our server had checked back on us, and was super-happy to be taking a trio of clean plates back to the kitchen. A short while later, she returned with our main courses: Pan-roasted Chicken Breast with Creamed Corn, Potato Gratin, Charred Gem Lettuce, and Smoky Bacon for The Man, Pan-fried Lambs’ Liver with Confit Crispy Shoulder ad Champ Mash for me, and Grilled, whole Sole with Buttered Potatoes, Mixed Salad and Herby Lemon Butter Sauce for Mummy.
The central bone in the Sole was easily dealt with, leaving a generous amount of flesh to enjoy, and enjoy it Mummy did! Soft and moist, the Sole melted in the mouth, partnered by the indulgently glossy, buttered Potatoes that lingered on the tongue. Contrasting with the fish was a cool, crunchy Salad of Mixed Leaves, nicely dressed with some of the Herby butter sauce; the rest of the sauce was drizzled around the plate, allowing Mummy to dip into it as and when she wanted.
Chef had cut my Liver into two pieces and balanced them gently on the mound of Champ mash; a medley of Broad Beans, Peas and Shredded Cabbage sat at the side of my plate and plenty of rich pan juices encapsulated the whole dish. Personally, I love the musky depth of Offal, and its taste roiled over my tongue and palate in waves, imparting its unmistakeable flavour as my teeth pierced through the gorgeously soft morsel. The Champ mash had a subtle texture to it from the inclusion of Spring Onion, and the brighter note paired well with the sweet earthiness of the Potato. A perfect little round of crunchy-outered Confit Lamb Shoulder was marvellously sweet in my mouth, the complete diametric opposite of its Offal cousin; a wonderfully balanced dish, I would happily eat this time and time again.
I hadn’t thought The Man would go for his dish, purely because of the inclusion of Creamed Corn -goes to show what I know, eh?! Still beautifully juicy and moist, the breast was creamy and mild in the mouth, matched by the Corn. Crunch and texture came via the multi-layered Gratin (it always fascinates me, the millions of wafer-thin layers of Potato!) and the smoky leaves of charred Gem. Small pieces of Smoked Bacon added another layer of flavour to this great offering that had His Nibs grinning with happiness.
We did take a few minutes to decide whether we were going all-in and having dessert, but our gluttony won out – no great shock there! I fancied the Lemon Meringue Sundae, Mummy had the Baked Vanilla Cheesecake with British Strawberries and His Maj reverted to type by selecting the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Salted Caramel and Vanilla Ice Cream.
As with the previous courses, each dessert was marvellously presented and we took a moment to appreciate the details. My Sundae took the prize for best looking, its complex layers and colours bewitching to behold. Amongst the pale, Lemon Posset-esque swirls were pieces of chewy Meringue and crumbly biscuit, and the top was a blow-torched swirl of soft Meringue whose golden brown edges beckoned to be plundered by the long-handled spoon. Where the Meringue was intensely sweet, the Lemon element was face-twitchingly sharp; both layers parried with the other, providing a very cleverly balanced dessert.
A golden skin/crust was evident on the [truly] baked Cheesecake, below which was the alabaster body and its mesmerizingly rich, creamy taste. Bright red Strawberries had been sliced so that they accentuated the Cheesecake’s pale hue, as well as bursting their flavour in the mouth. Spoonful followed spoonful as Mummy Bird diligently made her way through her chosen dessert until, at last, her spoon was put down, her task complete.
The Man Bird des love a Sticky Toffee Pudding and the one at Hinnies was pleasingly dense in texture, without being heavy or claggy. For once, the Salted Caramel was exactly that: caramelly sweetness assuaged by the tang of salt – utter perfection! Cool Ice Cream held the delicious roundedness of Vanilla, balancing the deeper Toffee element of this glorious pud.
From start to finish, our evening at Hinnies had, once again, being excellent. Hot Wings very happily awarded to this fab Geordie-proud venue and food. To book a table ring 0191 4470500 or visit the website www.hinnies.co.uk and hit the ‘book a table’ button. Hinnies is open Tues-Fri Noon-2pm then 5pm-late, Sat 9.30am-3pm then 5pm-late, Sun 9.30am-4pm.
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