“A beautiful butterfly” – Restaurant Metamorphica, Haslingden reviewed

Remarkably, six years ago I reviewed a new restaurant called Where The Light Gets In for s. Since then it has been credited with kick-starting Stockport’s vibrant food and drink scene. OK, the Light was dazzling to me then, but the first impression was scary. I took a step in the dark up what felt like a fire escape to penetrate the bare brick interior of the former warehouse. Like in a German expressionist film.

Metamorphica’s sheep comes from Sabden in the Pendle Witch Country and is pinkishly enchanting in its own right

Echoes? Fast forward to a cold January Thursday in 2023 and darkness on the edge of Haslingden, where the railway doesn’t run, the through traffic is on the A56 bypass and Lower Deardengate is the only busy restaurant where we’re parked. is Siena with its old school Italian crowd pleasers – cacciatore, caprese and calzone.

I just can’t get directions, even though I originally visited Metamorphica last May in its “caterpillar” stage before opening. This revision has lasted nine months during pregnancy. I was foolishly afraid in the harsh climate that chef Steven Halligan’s solo project might prove dead. Now, to fully appreciate the butterfly in full bloom, I have to find it again. The steep ginnels look strangely familiar… and yet, the native asks us to scratch his hat and recommends a katsu on the road in Suru.

Suddenly from the window behind us I see the familiar insect logo, dimly lit and Eureka! Nothing else can scream this is a £78/head, 12-course tasting menu item. I ring the bell, we’re let in, and the next four delightful hours put the lie to all those “taster and chef’s tables are dead” predictions. Eye-to-eye intimacy with the chef? Can be tricky, but potentially revealing. The latter here.

Back in the story, it’s all about courage. On the brink of a pandemic, Halligan, a 2021 National Chef of the Year semi-finalist, takes on a former pub, the Roebuck, half converted into an Indian grill that never opened, and creates a fine restaurant. No backers, just him and his dad Tim doing all the fitting. Keep Lobo out the door with a (superior) Mexican takeaway.

From launch, Metamorphica limits itself to a maximum of 12 covers, four of which are at the counter in the open kitchen. It’s like being asked to watch a Swiss watchmaker fine-tune small but perfect parts. It’s still a two man band. Tim helps with the service, his son prepares in the back and cooks in the front every night of the week. Do they share the laundry? I forget to ask. I just feel their family warmth. How have their Herculean efforts paid off?

The original site I first came across is now quite sophisticated. Maybe a little shiny designer kitchen, but very ship-shaped when we sit on stools at the chef’s table. It’s quiet there, so Captain Smidge the chihuahua gets his own stool after valuing the wood burner in the somewhat spartan dining room, which is lined with iconic restaurant cookbooks. One is Eleven Madison Park. It was a meal at Daniel Humm’s three-star New York restaurant that helped crystallize the 28-year-old’s ambition to be a chef/patron himself.

Such gastronomic temples are full of kitchen brigades and servers. That’s not an option on Haslingden’s shoestring, so our food parade is an exercise in refined simplicity. With a glass of Tom Oliver’s “Five Friends Still” (the impressive cider list is only made better by the whiskies), I nibble on some really good pecans coated in salt and vinegar, first poached in sugar syrup and then deep-fried.

“The dish I stole from Claude Bos at Hibiscus,” Halligan confides as she plates the first of two small cheese dishes. Brioche donuts dusted with hydrochloric acid and sugar burst with stilton. A great finger food that is enhanced by a sweet salty bread and butter pudding, where the croissant dough soaked in cream combines beautifully with mushrooms and ripe Camembert. As you might expect, she also cultivates the house’s butter and bakes her own bread (not 100 percent sourdough, but more springy).

Knives and forks arrive with mackerel, turnip and apple salad. The fish is quickly salted in gin and citrus, the skin seared for crispness. I recognize chervil and fennel in the pickle juice, maybe water lily, but apparently there’s gherkin in there too. The meal starts.

I soon discover that the Granny Smith next to him on the counter is a recurring theme in Halligan’s repertoire. Later on this menu it reappears in sorbet form as a palate cleanser. Pears, pecans and honey are other staples that reveal an unabashed sweet tooth.

Next, a dish that feels like the creative heart of the menu. A batch of brill from Cornwall’s Wild Harbor would be a delight unadorned, but a drizzle of honey gives it what our chef calls a “lovely, caramelised char”. This harmonizes with an exciting sweet/sour buttery sauce made from broccoli, florets and puree, fresh orange, celery, shallots, leeks and fine herbs.

However, pork tenderloin suffers from its own thinness. The pass, resting a couple of meters away from us, seems to have enough fat on the piece meant for us and another couple on the culinary journey to share, but it definitely comes out on the biting side. It is easily forgiven thanks to its soothing “mole”. A spicy cousin of the Yucatan original, it’s a puree of roasted tomatoes, roasted pumpkin, lemon and more, sprinkled with pumpkin seeds.

Add waist. Metamorphica’s lamb hails from Sabden in the Pendle Witch Country and is pinkly enchanting in its own right, sharing a star letter with minty grilled courgettes and courgette puree. Not really seasonal, but a joy after the recent root planting.

The first of the dessert trio is the best advertisement for the chef’s counterweight, as we watch our man delicately toast a turmeric root-infused Italian meringue with a bitter orange sorbet and underneath a dacquoise mushroom dipped in pecan and orange syrup. Spoon it onto the mottled surface and it’s a total wow.

“Pear, Black Grape & Walnut” is a sweet-salty contrast. Maple syrup verjus is new to me, but it provides a sauce for chunks of Roja pear, sliced ​​grapes and almond honey toasted walnuts. Below is toasted almond yogurt and pear sorbet, topped with grated frozen Lancashire cheese. Strange but a farmer.

Roasted marshmallow flavored with the kitchen’s own lemon and orange essence serves as a sweetly packaged Petit four. I follow it decadently with a complimentary Edradour Highland single malt from the well-stocked whiskey shelves. For £98 you can enjoy a six-glass whiskey journey. A flight of six matched wines costs £48 or upgrade to a £78 premium wine offer.

All of this is a testament to Metamorphica’s ambition. Halligan has been racking up awards since he started working in kitchens at the age of 16. His CV includes Room, Mr Coopers and later freelance work at the aforementioned Where The Light Gets In restaurant, but this seems to be the ultimate destination for an independent-minded talent.

A colleague suggested that the restaurant’s name might be a little presumptuous. Well, who needs another “grill” or “brasserie”? Ovid’s series of poems Metamorphoses occasionally comes to mind. I’m happy to accept that it may have its basis in Metamorphica, a classic magic trick associated with Houdini that has been updated by musician Criss Angel. Perhaps Steven is metaphorically breaking out of the box that confined him. Perhaps referring to metamorphic rocks caused by compression? Or mirror the metamorphosis stages from which the butterfly emerges. Whatever, the chef won’t tell.

Metamorphica Restaurant, 1 Charles Lane, Haslingden, Rossendale, BB4 5EA. 01706 614617.

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