Butler Whites, Hull: 'I ate at a 'new and improved' Hull restaurant - it was anything but'

It’s in the same building, with the same name, the same furniture and the same décor (admittedly with more odd stuff nailed to the walls) that has been around since 2016.

The ‘about us’ section of the new website states: “With new ownership comes a refreshed vision for Butler Whites. We’re working to recapture the magic that once made the restaurant stand out in Hull’s dining scene, bringing back the quality, care and vibrancy people remember, while moving confidently into a new era.’

It’s stirring stuff, but, I am sad to report, utter guff. If, that is, my recent dining experience is anything to go by.

The menu is less adventurous than before, offering mainly British (and some European) classics but without the twists that made the dishes sing in the past.

What has mainly changed is the pace of service. It used to be – at best – leisurely. Now it’s somewhere between dead slow and dead stop. We shall return to this issue anon.

Let’s start with starters, which arrived promptly enough. Ham hock and parsley terrine with piccalilli, cornichons and toasted sourdough was woefully under-seasoned. There was hardly a hint of parsley.

It was otherwise passable. Similarly, crispy duck croquettes, braised red cabbage, spiced apple and citrus aioli was okay. Nothing more.

The previous owners (it seems they moved on sometime last year, but I struggled to confirm exact dates) were very good at utilising morning trips to the local butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers to enable them to offer fresh specials invented that day.

Looking at an old review, I find mention of soft-shell crab bhajis and Persian chicken.

The most exotic or intriguing option I could find on the current menu was charred tandoori cauliflower with Kashmiri butter sauce and whipped yoghurt. So I ordered that.

We waited very nearly an hour for mains to appear. A thick slab of burnt cauli arrived, drowned in a bright pinky-orange sauce which tasted not of distant Himalayan spices but of way too much salt.

It was well enough cooked; otherwise, the burnt bits didn’t taste charred; they tasted cremated. Also, the plate must have been sitting for a while, as a skin had formed over the sauce.

It’s not like they were slowed down by making the other main. That was just ‘posh bangers and mash’ with crispy shallots and tender stem broccoli.

The kind of thing you knock up at home in no time. There was, incidentally, nothing posh about it.

The mash was maybe creamier than home-cooked, but the sausages were just sausages. Just average sausages.

I don’t blame the kitchen staff, who appeared short-handed and working beyond their capacity. Neither can we look to serving staff for the cause of the extreme tardiness.

They take orders and convey them to the table; how long they take to be prepared and placed in their hands is out of their control.

Blame, I think must be laid squarely with the new owners of Butler Whites. There doesn’t seem to be anyone in charge.

No reassuring presence welcoming punters or gliding between tables with smiles and eye contact. It feels as if everyone is surprised and unprepared for the place to be so busy.

But busy it isn’t. I estimated there are at least 80 seats in the whole restaurant, and less than a third were occupied.

Even if most customers were walk-ups, a restaurant of this size should have staffing capacity to deal easily with 20 diners.

The huge gap we endured between starters and mains was explained by the need to serve the ‘big table’ who ordered just ahead of us. That table contained six people. Not big in any sense of the word.

The ‘big table’ had left by the time we waited another 50 minutes between mains and pud. And the desserts (a decent cheesecake and a too-small bread and butter pudding) were pre-made.

So all timing excuses fall apart under the lightest scrutiny. The fact is that Butler Whites – at least on the night we visited – couldn’t cope with the relatively few guests they were catering for.

We weren’t the only ones struggling. An acquaintance at another table came across to tell us how their mains were so late they forwent desserts and coffee to avoid being late for a nearby comedy gig they were attending.

The couple at the table next-door-but-one to us also bolted their main and virtually sprinted out to avoid missing the same comedian.

We spent £127.27 on six dishes, with a couple of drinks. We were seated at around 5:30pm and left (according to the receipt) at 8:01pm.

Some may consider two-and-a-half hours a suitably leisurely time to eat a meal. It didn’t feel like that. It felt like an endurance test.

I wish I could credit the people behind the new Butler Whites, but the promised press release naming them and outlining the ethos of the restaurant never materialised, and so your guess is as good as mine as to who is actually responsible for the current state of the place.

Those with a sense of loyalty will undoubtedly continue to champion Butler Whites despite the downturn in the quality of the offering, food and service, and there may well be out-of-town visitors – coaxed inside by a tourist board determined to sell the Fruit Market as the dining, shopping and entertainment hotspot of Hull – that arrive thinking this is the best the city has to offer.

But anyone who has enjoyed eating at Butler Whites over the past decade will undoubtedly be hugely disappointed by this ‘improved’ version of the restaurant.

I can’t see me returning with anything like the regularity I used. If at all.

Welcome 3/5

Food 3/5

Atmosphere 2/5

Prices 3/5

Butler Whites, 2-3 Humber Street, Hull, HU1 1TG www.butler-whites.co.uk