Reviewing Fellpack in Keswick felt risky. Following my recent aerial bombardment of words over a fancy Ullswater restaurant, some readers seemed let down. Surely, they gasped, I’d keep schtum due to my local loyalties? The hectoring service, which signalled a chef clearly wanting to clock off, the tired menu and shoosh of table-disinfectant past my lughole: couldn’t I turn a blind eye? No.
The first rule of being a restaurant critic, as opposed to someone who stands on a dining chair like an errant toddler and snaps Instagram content, is that a critic should offer, if need be, criticism. And things closest to our hearts often get special drubbings because we know the subject backwards. Terrible British tourist destination dining, where guests are treated like a necessary evil and the shutters are down by 4pm, is my pet hate. The Lakes are by no means the worst culprit. I’ve pitched up in Cornwall on several occasions to find the southwestern tip of Britain shut. The Suffolk Coast: you can suck one, too.
But Fellpack, in the north Lakes, which opened in June 2017, feels gloriously fresh. Almost as if they’re happy to have you. Janglingly unjaded, in fact. I’ve added this to my “lovely Lakes” list, alongside The Chalet in Portinscale and The Lingholm Kitchen close to the foot of Catbells. Fellpack is a bright-spirited, welcoming bistro run by a jubilant bunch of youthful, mountain-fixated friends. Not many restaurateurs will serve slow-cooked Texan beef with a feisty jalapeño glaze while gently cajoling you to tackle the 379 metre “beginners’ mountain” Walla Crag so they can add you to their Walla Dash“notable times” board. But, leading by example, Fellpack’s website shows Chris Gill and the gang scaling peaks, perspiring in singlets and clinging to snowy rocks. It’s feasibly all this fresh air and forays into the Bob Graham Round (42 peaks in 24 hours) that makes Fellpack’s ambience so chipper; they will even send you off climbing with a packed lunch of fresh baguettes of Cumberland ham or a vegan smash wrap (a spot-hitting blend of avocado, black olive tapenade, sun-blush tomato and fresh leaves).
Here is a menu that skips cheerily between hearty, northern, fell-running fuel – chilli beef, pork belly – and Londoner-appeasing, quinoa-munching dippiness without breaking a sweat. “Classic fellpots” of pretty local pottery arrive filled with smoky cheddar mac’n’cheese, crisp edamame beans and red chard. If you’re taking grandad, and he’s not down with “oven-baked camembert” or lentil chilli, there’s a mixed local charcuterie platter with cornichons, chutney and warm bread. I took my family on a Saturday night – three adults, one child – and the evening went swimmingly. The “Fellpack gin and ginger beers” are enormous and a bottle of tempranillo is £19.50. They have Hawkshead’s Lakeland lager and Keswick Brewery’s Thirst Run.
We shared a gooey camembert and some puddles of rich tahini and feisty chipotle hummus with warm flatbreads. A cumin-and-paprika-enlivened fellpot of lentil and mixed bean chilli with jalapeño and chives was no drab vegetarian affair. That slow-cooked Texan beef appeared with more mac’n’cheese, a rough stew of spiced mixed pulses and some charred corn. An acceptably wobbly chunk of pork belly came atop a deftly seasoned, Spanish-influenced butter bean and chorizo braise with saffron-wafted fregula pasta. Fellpack is not afraid of heat, spice, bold combinations and allowing a quiet majority of its menu to be veg-centric. I love that. In trying to please everyone, you can often please no one at all.
There’s an affogato for pudding made from Red Bank coffee, from Coniston. They do a perfect, wet-but-crunchy homemade chocolate brownie with a perky berry compote and vanilla ice-cream. I did not try the nutty chocolate sundae with gooey chocolate pieces, but going forwards, this, to me, feels a more realistic dream than ever reaching the top of Helvellyn.
If you’re going to the Lakes this summer, book now. Some of us are built for scrabbling through the scree up Scafell Pike and Great Gable, playing havoc with our cuticles and tormenting mountain rescue. Others, such as myself, are built for sitting lazily in a nearby bistro with a bottle of Thirst Run over several courses of lunch. I know which one of us is winning.
• Fellpack 19 Lake Road, Keswick, Cumbria, 01768 771177. Open Thurs-Mon, 10am-10pm (4pm Mon & Sun). About £25 a head, plus drinks and service.
Source:https://www.theguardian.com
