Next Door Review

Sat in a 17th century building which previously housed a butcher's shop, Next Door in the small Cheshire market town of Frodsham is a restaurant that has gained a host of accolades since opening in 2017, including a Michelin Guide listing in early 2021 and most recently three AA rosettes (awarded in September 2023), no mean feat by any means. I was therefore feeling fairly optimistic about receiving some top quality food as my wife and I made a trip for lunch on a frosty January Friday, to celebrate my wife's birthday.

The restaurant is situated on the main street through Frodsham and there's plenty of parking nearby, both on the road (with some time restrictions) and a couple of reasonably priced pay and display car parks also, one of which we made use of. Externally the restaurant looks smart and inside that theme continues; it's a really nice space with lots of historic touches. Despite the cold outside, the welcome on arrival was very warm and we were shown to our table a short walk from the main entrance to peruse the menus.

We'd pre-selected the lunch tasting menu when booking, but there is a three course menu available also. In terms of the drinks list, there's a reasonable selection with all the main bases covered, including a couple of non-alcoholic cocktails (although my wife really didn't enjoy the 'Lemon Bon-Bon' she tried) and a solid and well thought out wine list also. I had a little Hendrick's and tonic before we began our meal which was fine, and I opted for the wine pairing also to go with my meal.

The food began with a selection of little snacks; these were tasty enough in the main including a decent oyster and an enjoyable carrot filled cone. This was followed by bread which was fairly faultless; we had a fresh-from-the-oven little poppy seed loaf each and two types of butter, including one flavoured with fermented tomato which was very enjoyable.

First of the main dishes was a slice of pressed swede terrine, served with some cured pork, truffle and a sort of mushroom ketchup. It was nicely presented but really underwhelming in terms of flavour; the swede layers were utterly bland with no seasoning at all, although the mushroom ketchup was a decent effort.

Next came some fish in the form of an Atlantic cod loin, served with raisin, cumin, turmeric and black garlic. Unfortunately, although the Indian flavour influence was clear, this dish was not executed well. The fish cooking was fine but massively over-salted; I don't mind salty fish at all, but this was way too heavy handed. The accompanying elements were mundane in general, but what really let this dish down was the horribly watery curry-inspired sauce which packed minimal flavour and lacked any kind of body. As a whole the dish just ate badly too, for me this needs a total rethink.

Would the final savoury course save the day? Sadly not, in fact it was actually the weakest course of the meal for me. It did start with a little bit of drama; the chef had called service a couple of times and had no response from the staff, so in the end he had to march into the dining room to drag our waiter from his outside fag to serve us. To be honest, I wish he'd not bothered as our salt aged duck, served with white onion, parsley and caviar, was a bit of a shocker. The duck cookery itself was really really poor (considering as well there were only two thin slices on the plate); I have no issue with my duck pink, but this was way under that (if you put your fork in and blood red juice comes out, that's not good). The duck was consequently very chewy and the fat had barely been rendered at all; it was the closest I've been to sending back a tasting menu dish in a very long time, but I just couldn't be bothered to make a fuss given what had been served so far. There was nothing else on the plate that came close to saving the dish; I wouldn't eat this dish again if you paid me.

As you might expect, we passed on the optional cheese course so it was on to the single dessert, a Manjari chocolate construction with milk ice cream and dates. The flavours of this were actually quite nice, and although the main moulded chocolate mousse layer was too solid and definitely not made that day, it was a perfectly edible dessert.

And with that, after collecting the bill with no fuss at all, a disappointing lunch came to an end. The service throughout (aside from one of two minor pacing issues and our waiter sneaking outside) was actually very good from the very amiable staff, and I really enjoyed the wine flight too which was generous in terms of measures and well delivered, with all bar one of the wines being poured at the table as I much prefer.

The massive issue here for me though is the food; it was just so far behind the level I was expecting that I'm struggling to get my head around it to be honest. I always appreciate (after hundreds of award winning restaurant visits) that every kitchen can have a bad day; I don't think the chef/owner was in the kitchen during our visit and I'm sure previous tasting menus they've run must have been better constructed. But the menu we were served showed a really worrying amount of complacency combined with some seriously basic cooking errors, and there's no hiding from that.

I can understand why locals will re-visit here as it's a pleasant venue with a really nice team, but although I genuinely wish everyone involved continued success going forwards, there's little chance of me visiting again without a major re-think about what's coming out of the kitchen.