Craft & Cleaver in normal times is a barbecue, beer & cocktails kinda vibe. You only have to peek at their Instagram to see sumptuous charred meats, mouth-watering sides, vibrant cocktails and loads of craft beer taps. Not going to lie, it looks like a proper party.
Their meats are all traceable and high welfare as they work closely with their suppliers from farm to fork. They then give this meat the TLC it deserves with a wood fired smokery on site and a pit BBQ. So when these guys started to do a weekly meal kit, we wanted in!
Covid lockdowns have presented problems (understatement of the year) to the hospitality industry, but the downtime has also awarded the guys at Craft & Cleaver some time to experiment. Their menu -as amazing as it is- has remained with their house specials for a long time and in normal times, they are too busy to focus too much on innovation. Lockdown and restaurant restrictions have meant that they can spend some time to have fun in the kitchen, play around, innovate and experiment, and we lucky devils get to reap the benefits of this! The kits change weekly; they always feature 2 types of BBQ meat, some sides, and a decadent pudpud.
Ordering is simple (if a bit analogue) and done by text message and then an iZettle link (all details on their Instagram). The box is then packed up ready for you to collect Fridays between 5-6pm. The menu we got last week was Pulled Pork, Sticky Wings, Burrata Mac & Cheese, Pineapple, Rocket & Chilli Salad, Triple Cooked Chips with Blue Cheese Sauce, and Brownie with Clotted Cream. All of this was £40!
Upon getting the kit home, the dishes were all really well packaged and the reheating instructions were super easy to follow. Everything went into the oven at 180C for various times and turned out perfectly. (I have to say though, I was abhorred at the thought of cooking burrata for the mac & cheese!)
It's always a worry for me when there is meat to reheat. So often it can end up dry. But I needn't have worried. These guys are officially meat pros and the chicken wings (drumettes and wingettes slathered in sticky, sweet, smokey sauce) and the slow-cooked pulled pork both reheated perfectly. The pork was tender, moist and so unctuously flavoursome. I wish there was some cornbread or arepas or something to stuff it into, as it felt a bit odd to just eat the shredded meat on its own, bit that's a very minor niggle. The meat was -for want of a better word- perfection!
The sides were pretty good too. They were well considered and well portioned.
The only side we were slightly underwhelmed by was the mac and cheese. Don't get me wrong, the flavours great but the penne went very soft and soggy upon reheating and the texture of the sauce was quite thick. We also felt that the burrata wasn't necessary as that creamy, milky lusciousness you get from burrata was lost after cooking in the oven.
There was a fresh salad of rocket which would have been great and very welcome just as rocket with olive oil, but the pineapple and chilli was so simple as an addition, and added a great twist for something a bit different.
The triple-cooked chips need an ode written to them! They were chunky and well-seasoned but the real winner there was the blue cheese sauce they came with. Oh. My. God. It was creamy and tangy in all the the right ways. All too often blue cheese sauce is too salty and rancid with an overwhelmingly "blue cheese flavour" but this was so creamy and well balanced that even J who hates blue cheese admitted that it was perfection.
If you have room after all of that, there's every chocolate lovers dream...double chocolate brownie with clotted cream. We cooked this according to the reheating instructions and ended up with a tremendously squidgy, oozy, almost volcanic brownie. (Maybe 1 minute in the microwave would have done it instead!) It was so deliciously decadent, rich and moist. Definitely a welcome sweet pudding after all that meat!
Owner Adam says that doing these weekly boxes means they can keep their staff busy, employed and experimenting in the kitchen. It also means that every week they can create exciting meals and truly "nail every element of them". If that's their aim, we can confidently say they have met their brief. Not only was this meal filling, generous and great value, but every element was spot on and gave us an impetus to ensure Craft & Cleaver is on our list to visit as soon as the doors are open again-this time with a flipping whopping cocktail!
Service:
Easy ordering, covid safe, and super friendly. Owner Adam says that he gets many customers coming back week after week and we can see why, we truly feel like we're part of the Craft & Cleaver family already. Get that beer ready for us Adam.... We'll be back soon!
Quality:
Great quality meat from taxable, ethical sources scores super highly for me. Each dish was so simple but executed to perfection too.
Price and value:
It was stonking value, great quality and exciting in its concept! For £40 you get a great value meal and really feel like you've had a treat.
Overall:
EXCELLENT- We're chuffed to have tried Craft & Cleaver. The guys there truly put so much passion into their food that is great quality and such an abundance of excellent BBQ food. We can't wait to go back for more.
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