Fredericks, Todmorden: 'I ate at the new Yorkshire restaurant that's not Italian - but does divine Italian food'
The owner of Fredericks in Todmorden, Will Howarth, insists his newly-opened restaurant is not an Italian but Amanda Wragg found that the Italian dishes that she ordered were simply divine.
Will Howarth always wanted to own a ‘cool bar’ in his home town but instead found himself running a design business, supplying bespoke bathrooms to high-end clients in Cheshire and Yorkshire.
Last time I looked, time spent in a bathroom showroom didn’t necessarily prepare you for a job in hospitality.
His working life started at the plumbers and builders merchants in Todmorden that his parents have owned since the 1980s – still in business today - and the teenage Will put his time in lugging bags of cement and wrangling lengths of plastic pipe – but he knew from the start ‘it wasn’t for me’.
Off he went to college, and a diploma in design fired his determination to pursue a career away from home.
With a college friend he established a design studio, Holt in Rawtenstall, all the while keeping an eye out for his dream bar.
So when his old chum Natalie Barrass decided to sell Site, the fab pizza place in Tod she’s run successfully for the last ten years (you might have read about it on these pages; I’ve been a fan, returning again and again) his mind was instantly made up, and before you could say marble wet room he found himself with not just a bar, but a restaurant on his hands.
The bones of the place were pretty good: Nat and her partner Ollie had renovated the old building from the ground to the eaves, doing much of the work themselves including excavating the basement, and establishing an attractive, intimate outdoor space at the back away from traffic noise.
They planted trees which today cover the yard completely – on a warm summer night, with cool tunes and a Negroni you could be a long way from Tod – Italy springs to mind.
With his design background, Howarth had some clear ideas about how he wanted the place to look – and he settled on a sophisticated, minimal vibe with a subdued palette, lovely big tables.
It’s stylish, comfortable and altogether a great refresh on the original interior.
Despite the gloomy predictions foretelling the death of restaurants, Tod didn’t get the memo and the place is jumping on a Wednesday night.
Fredericks has been open only a week or two and there is only a slight frisson of chaos – I wonder if they imagined being so busy so soon? But it doesn’t detract from what turns out to be a lovely evening.
The offer is pizza, pasta and small plates (‘we’re NOT an Italian’, says Will, firmly.)
The menu is under development, it’s early days, and in the kitchen is Daniel Rostron, a graduate of Accrington and Rossendale College - where someone called Nigel Haworth learnt his trade.
I’ve eaten Rostron’s food at The White Lion at Cray, so I know he’s got chops.
There’s a handful of starters, including garlic pizzeta with chilli whipped butter and rosemary focaccia. Moving on to small plates, woodfired mackerel looks good, if size-wise a little mean, but tastes fine – and the pickled berries are a good addition.
Beef carpaccio is better, with pickled pears and parmesan mayo – next time though, it’s better served on a cold plate? I’m nit-picking.
Star of the show is a sweet pea panna cotta with white crab, bacon jam and a cracking parmesan crisp for scooping: lasted seconds.
Suppli (fried saffron risotto, ragu) will be getting my attention, not least for the fabulous beef shin ragu lasagne that turns up next.
It’s simplicity itself: a classic lasagne, straight up, no frills. Just made with meat that’s been cooking for a fortnight – well maybe not quite that long, but it’s had enough time in the kitchen to have oceans of flavour – it’s sticky, thick and sensational.
All it’s got is a shower of parmesan on top, and that’s all it needs.
Star of the show is crab linguine. Again, it’s simple, without adornment, and absolutely text book.
Mr Rostron knows his Italian cuisine – you won’t eat any better in Rome; silky pasta, a stunning crab sauce clinging to it, marscapone, chilli and pangratto bringing it all together.
It’s all well and good Will insisting Frederick’s isn’t an Italian, but all the best dishes are, so why not?
The desserts that follow couldn’t be more Italian; Sicilian orange and olive oil cake, plump and soft with just a sprinkle of icing sugar and orange zest has us sighing with pleasure and waging a slightly undignified spoon fight.
Likewise Limoncello meringue panna cotta -words that were always meant to follow one another – it’s a stunner in every department: looks, texture, taste; gorgeous.
The pizza chef is Luke Ryan, ex-Rudy’s in Manchester, where only the best get to throw dough.
His Margherita is shown the nuclear-hot oven for less than a minute, and is perfect. I know I say it endlessly; there’s nothing on earth like a proper pizza – you’ll not shift me from it.
There are seven to choose from here, including the ‘white one’ with Portobello and oyster mushrooms, truffle oil and gruyere – born in the USA, it’s just tomato-free.
Purists won’t countenance it, but it doesn’t vex me when you take into account the hell that is pineapple.
Who did that? Not the Neapolitans, for certain. I’ve looked it up: the Canadians. They should be ashamed of themselves.
It’s early days at Frederick’s. There are plans for a cocktail lounge, the cool bar Will always wanted.
Finding a good chef is the first hurdle and he’s done that, and he’s super-aware that efficient, friendly service is hugely important; he’s training staff himself.
It’s got all the makings of a great addition to the Tod scene. It turns out that selling bathrooms does prepare you for a job in hospitality after all.
Dinner for two with bottle of wine £110.
Welcome 5/5
Food 4/5
Atmosphere 5/5
Prices 5/5
Frederick’s 43 Rochdale Rd, Todmorden OL14 6LD www.frederickstodmorden.co.uk