Restaurant Review: Cross Scythes, Totley

On a stormy April evening (we struggled through several elements, including hailstones the size of mint imperials) we were thrilled to find a warm pub – cosy even, despite its size. The welcome’s genuinely warm too: friendly young lasses solicitous for our welfare: “did you get caught in that weather? Never mind, you’re here now, relax” and later, as three Lycra-clad lads on an ill-considered bike ride shiver and drip in the entrance, they administer beer and cheer.

My mate Anne lives just over the border in Derbyshire and remembers the Scythes as a bit of a grim bling palace with “Las Vegas carpets loud enough to keep you awake” and too many orange walls. Not the place to go if you’re prone to migraines or require medication every time your bad taste gland throbs. It couldn’t feel more different now.

It would be easy to cast it as yet another gussied up pub with a Farrow & Ball makeover, but this feels more personal. Some serious thought’s gone into both the décor and the space; on this occasion no one went to the “shabby chic gastropub interior” warehouse for a job lot. They’ve got the lighting right too. “What’s she on about?” I hear you mutter. But when it’s wrong, boy is it wrong and it can ruin your supper.

There are several places to sit and eat; intimate, candlelit corners a deux, a cosy back room, a big, crowd-friendly area and even a private dining room, great for small celebrations. The décor is understated; there’s a smartly striped carpet, 1940s anaglypta has been subtly painted over and nothing matches, furniture-wise. I like that. There are what looks like old school and church chairs alongside comfy leather tubs and some vintage 50s beauties.

But you’re not required to eat. This is a pub after all. There’s a proper bar that you can just sit at with the paper and a pint; beer includes Abbeydale Brewery Moonshine Pale Ale, Blue Monkey Original from Nottingham and Oakwell Dark Mild, the best of Barnsley. Oh go on then, maybe just a sandwich. Battered goujons – fish fingers to you and me – and tartare on a homemade sub will do nicely.

A comfortingly short menu (never eat anywhere where there’s more on the menu than chairs) features pub classics with several eye-catching additions: fish and chips and chicken, ham and mushroom pie are here, but so is rarebit (on homemade bread with a soft poached egg) and duck leg ragout with butterbeans, cherry tomato and rocket.

I was drawn to ‘“Bits of Pig” – sliced pork loin, pork pie, black pudding salad and ham with home made relish – but landed on pressed ham hock with home made piccalilli. I can’t resist a pile of piccalilli and I wasn’t disappointed: it was properly punchy with a little kick of something fragrant. The terrine was delicious: full of sweet chunky meat and not straight out of the fridge as is too often the case.

Anne’s drawn to the smoked haddock and leek brandade with curried mayonnaise and poached egg, a dish I rarely see on a pub menu, gastro or otherwise. It’s a mound of creamy champ flecked through with smoky fish, the egg oozing nicely over it all. It’s a success, the flavours working together, nothing overpowering anything else. My lamb rump is tender, pink, and nicely fanned out over new potatoes, tapenade, pine nuts and port jus. It’s a simply constructed, perfect plate of the sort of pub grub that should give this one a good name. Vegetarians have been thought about (hooray!) with the likes of courgette, pepper and feta salad, lentil, root veg casserole and mushroom and leek veloute. Puddings sound good.

Everything’s home made; choose from a list that includes white chocolate and rhubarb panacotta with rhubarb compote, cherry and pistachio tart and almond and apricot sponge pudding.

Tempting, but we don’t indulge. The sleet’s coming down thick and fast and we’ve a high road to take. But I’ve no reason to doubt they match everything else on the menu. The Scythes is residential: breakfast is served from 8.30 and is open to hungry passers-by: drop in for smoked salmon and scrambled eggs washed down with a pot of freshly ground coffee. If I lived nearer I’d certainly be a regular. Though with my proclivities probably not at that time of day. Meal for two (shared starter, two main courses, large glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a Fentiman’s Ginger Beer) £38.90.

Baslow Road, Totley, Sheffield S17 4AE 0114 236 0204 www.cross-scythes.com. Open 08.30 to 11.30 all week.