Blackfriars Restaurant
Blackfriars
Newcastle
Tel: 0191 261 5945
 It's every diner's nightmare to find something lurking in their half-eaten meal that shouldn't be there. Thankfully, when this happened on our visit to Blackfriars, it wasn't anything too frightful like a fly or strands of the chef's hair, but a two-inch piece of plastic. My friend had been happily tucking into her main course of gnocchi with walnuts, when she realised she was chomping on plastic and, as you can imagine, it didn't exactly complement the dish. The waiter was very apologetic about the error and offered to give us two desserts free of charge, which put the smiles back on our faces - and he was unaware that I was reviewing the restaurant. Blackfriars is the oldest purpose-built restaurant in the UK, with origins dating back to 1239, and is housed over two floors. The medieval setting and the British grub using local and seasonal produce, has made it one of Newcastle's most popular places to dine out. We visited at lunchtime, when it offers two courses for £10.50 and three for £12.50. My friend and I were greeted warmly by a waiter and after only 10 minutes from entering the restaurant we were eating our starters, a goat's cheese tart and smoked salmon. Both were delicious. As were our main courses, minus the plastic of course. I opted for the Posh Fish and Chips, which was served with extremely tasty mushed - not mushy - peas. The only negative was that some of the chips were hard and overdone. My friend highly rated the gnocchi with walnuts. For our complimentary desserts I enjoyed chocolate brownie, served in a sundae glass with berries and cream. It was possibly one of the best desserts I have had. My friend was equally enthralled by the lemon loaf. I can see why people rave about Blackfriars. For a restaurant to be a real success, both the service and the food must be outstanding. This was the case here. We thoroughly enjoyed the food and the waiter took time to talk to us and was charismatic. I will definitely be making a return visit and won't hold the plastic incident against them. | 
