Geccho’s restaurant review: Gig-goer's regular in the gastronomically resurgent Bridlington
As Bridlington continues its gastronomic resurgence, Dave Lee took a trip to another local restaurant that has been gathering attention in recent times, particularly among the gig-goers – Geccho’s.
I don’t know who books the gigs at Brid Spa, but I’ve long been impressed by the terrific job they do. They always seem to get bands that are, realistically, too big to be playing the venue. As long as I can remember, bands that should be filling larger places in Hull or York seem to favour the Spa instead. Whoever’s job it is to entice them to Brid is on the ball.
My first ever gig was at the Spa. Madness, 1981. The place was rocking. I was 12 years old and watched the entire show from the safety of the balcony as the skinheads down the front looked a bit intimidating. Suggs & Co played Brid the night before they recorded their huge hit single, ‘It Must Be Love’. A fact I amazed my kids with as we watched the same band play that song 45 years later at Halifax Piece Hall recently. I have never felt so old.
Anyway, the Spa always appears to have a decent mix of gigs on, and, should you have attended one over the past couple of years, you may well have noticed – or even dined in – Geccho’s. It sits dead opposite the venue’s doors and appears to have a vintage Rolls-Royce (with personalised number plates) permanently parked on the pavement next to it.
Prime place for a bit of pre-gig snap, you’d think, and that’s precisely what I’d heard from a couple of people recently. So, I’m away to Brid to see if this large, slightly tired-looking Turkish restaurant is as good as I’ve been led to believe.
The menu is certainly encouraging. To an extent, anyway. There are a troubling number of non-Turkish dishes on offer – I’m not sure that BBQ wings or chicken Milanese leap to mind when you consider Turkish cuisine – but there are also several intriguing and authentic-sounding options to balance out the idiosyncrasies.
To be fair, Geccho’s calls itself a Mediterranean restaurant, not a Turkish one, but I’m still not sure that this moniker entirely squares with their offerings of beef curry and sweet and sour prawns.
In an attempt to get the measure of the place, we start with a mixed cold meze. A selection from the starters duly appears, and everything is, without exception, excellent. Amongst the anticipated hummus, vine leaves, cacik and so on is ali nazik, which was not a name I’d previously encountered. A quick under-the-table Google (you don’t want people knowing you’re a culinary heathen) reveals that it’s a lamb stew and aubergine dip. Finding no meat, we assume this is the veggie version and tuck in without further research. The avocado dip, though, was easily the best of the batch. Big chunks and plenty of taste.
We were eating in the afternoon, and it was at this point we noticed that we were the only diners in the entire place. No-one joined us the whole 90 or so minutes of our visit. These days it’s great to see restaurants offering all-day opening, 11 hours a day, seven days a week, but it does make you wonder how they manage to finance it when they are seemingly empty all day.
The mains were a lamb sarma beyti and an iskender. As they arrived, it became immediately apparent that Billy Connolly’s old observation on Mexican food – 'Whatever you order, the same thing turns up. It’s just folded differently’ – could equally be applied to some of the dishes at Geccho’s. Both plates featured the same elements presented with minimal alterations.
The sarma beyti had lamb mince spread on a layer of lavash bread, rolled and cut into ringlets which were placed in a semi-circle in a puddle of tomato sauce. The iskender was the same mix of ingredients presented in a jumbled heap. Perhaps we should have noticed the similarities when we ordered, but, even then, I would never have expected both options to have been identical except for the arrangement.
Not that either dish wasn’t good. All the dishes at Geccho’s are generous and tasty, and there are always plenty of accompanying breads and dips and salads. And everything seemed to come covered in pomegranate seeds. Whoever in the kitchen has the job of pomegranate prep must work tirelessly around the clock to keep all the dishes generously supplied.
In terms of value for money, there can be no complaints. We had a lot of food and a couple of pints each for our almost £120, and all of it was very decent quality.
Traditional desserts followed. A tantalising portion of baklava – which must rank high on the irresistible puds chart – and a traditional Turkish cold rice pudding called ‘sütlaç’ that I could have eaten three times over.
Geccho’s isn’t amazing, but it is an above-average Turkish (sorry, Mediterranean) restaurant with big portions, attentive staff and a location that makes it the perfect spot to meet before going to a Spa gig. A few years ago, I’d never found anywhere worth reviewing in Brid, and I’ve now written about half-a-dozen eateries in the town in the past 18 months or so.
The place is clearly undergoing a gastronomic resurgence. This is the most prosaic restaurant I’ve visited but is still solid compared to many of a similar hue.
As we left Geccho’s, two things happened. Firstly, news reached my phone of the passing of the great David Hockney.
I met him once in York, and we had a memorable and meaningful chat about perspective, so I took a slow drive past his former Brid home and gave it a salute in his memory.
And, secondly, I noticed that the Rolls-Royce sat outside Geccho’s was still there but now featured a bonnet freshly and thoroughly peppered with seagull guano.
A bigger splash of another sort entirely.
Ratings:
Welcome – 4/5
Food – 3/5
Atmosphere – 3/5
Prices – 4/5
Open: Mon to Sun, 12-11
16-18 South Marine Drive, Bridlington, YO15 3BZ
Tel: 01262 375162
www.gecchos.co.uk