Restaurant review: Coin, Hebden Bridge

Chuck a brick and you’ll hit a cafe, pub or bistro. Being the maverick place it is, all tastes are catered for: Thai, Greek, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish and a very good chippy. But in all the years I’ve lived there, there’s never been anywhere to bother these pages with.

One of the sweetest moments in a food writer’s life is when we hear on the wind about an opening. We have self-appointed scouts who keep their ears to the ground but in the case of Coin I had a heads up from Aimee Turford from the Moorcock at Norland – yes, the out-of-this-world Moorcock and I don’t mean just geographically. Turns out the couple who have opened the place worked there.

Chloe Greenwood and Oliver Lawson were ready to start their own business and saw the potential of the empty Lloyds Bank in Hebden. It’s a handsome old corner building and after a lot of hard graft completely unrecognisable inside – beautiful brick walls have been exposed, a grey slate floor has been laid and the full-length windows are now a fabulous feature. I never noticed them when I was standing at the counter in its previous life.

The idea – certainly in its infancy – is drinks with “snacks” but not just olives and nuts, although there are both; Perello gordal Reina olives, the size of the tip of your thumb and index finger together, and smoked Catalan almonds, which are grand with a glass of Carlomagno Rosso Appassimento Primitivo from Puglia. I would have had the Lindisfarne oysters too (£19 for 6) but the “Aperitivo” looked so damn good I somehow managed to order most of it.

The second I pop a savoury choux “chip” in my mouth it’s clear that time spent in the kitchen at the Moorcock wasn’t wasted. They’re nowt to look at but they’re soft, oozy beauties with a shower of Old Winchester and an ocean of flavour. Potato fondue (impossible to say without invoking Peter Kay’s “garlic bread?”) is the consistency of double cream and with a tangle of crisp onion on top, you scoop it up with wafer thin sourdough. Spuds on toast! It’s a first for me.

Moreish chestnut mushroom croquettes are crunchy, feather-light and given a wake-up smack of punchy salsa verde. A pretty dish of marinated carrot and cauliflower, pumpkin seed tahini, apple, mint and ginger is a delightfully fresh cleanser and impresses even my chum who “doesn’t eat cauliflower”. Star dish is an umami bomb of crispy pork katsu – dark and un-photographable but with immense depth that has our eyes rolling back in their sockets.

There’s a very good cheese plate (£10) with, amongst others some Comté, a fabulous goat’s cheese, Lingot des Causses from Lachapelle Auzac, and a piece of Pextenement Devil’s Rock Blue from just up the road in Eastwood. The meat platter (£13.95) is all-Italian and features coppa, finocchiona, mortadella and Prosciutto di San Daniele with a blob of whipped nduja for good measure.

Lawson cut his teeth at El Gato Negro in Ripponden, like so many gifted chefs before him. The Simon Shaw effect ripples like skimmed pebbles in a lake. If there isn’t a statue raised to him at some point in the future, I’ll want to know why.

Lawson put a bit of time in at the garlanded Mana in Manchester too, as a junior sommelier, and it’s clear he absorbed a good deal there – the drinks list is impressive. The natural wines range from across Europe, and even I, with my scant knowledge recognise they’re not chosen at random. There are eight draught beers/lagers and a really interesting dozen bottled, mostly from Belgium. Vocation’s Life & Death cask will please the beer monsters.

There’s one pudding, Tarte de Santiago – a soft, nutty almond slice with honey and clotted cream. With a glass of Sauternes, it’s dreamy.

Expect a very warm welcome – we’re greeted like old friends by Chloe, a graduate of the Aimee Turford School of Charm, and a mention too for Jess, the sweet house dog who sidles up, tail wagging, and takes you to your table. Almost. Helping out in the kitchen is another Moorcock refugee, Josh Al-kazhraji, who also did a stint as chef de partie in Mary-Ellen McTague’s the Creameries in Chorlton. What a team.

It’s a terrific menu, a perfect start to their business. It’s got the Moorcock stamped through it like seaside rock – but it’s not a pale imitation, it’s the real deal. It’s fun, stylish and cool, and the cooking is assured and generous. As my cauli-dodging chum, says: “Hebden’s been waiting a long time for a place like this.”

Coin, Albert Street, Hebden Bridge HX7 8AH, 01422 847707, www.coinhebden.co.uk. Open: Wednesday and Thursday, 4-11pm; Friday and Saturday, 12-11pm; Sunday, 12-9pm.