Hideaway at Ramsons, Ramsbottom

Phone number: 01706 82 5070

Lancashire Telegraph review by Sarah Poole from November 7, 2009.

IF you’re the type of diner who lingers over a menu, or likes to order the same thing more than once, you may be a little put off by the concept of Ramsbottom’s Hideaway.

But as the saying goes, you should try everything once.

Chef Lu Varely presents a traditional and rustic Italian ‘trattoria’-style menu in the basement of the award-winning Ramsons Restaurant in Market Place.

Boasting the same high quality ingredients as Ramsons, the ‘enoteca con cucina’ (wine bar with kitchen) below serves a different four-course set menu just once each night at 8pm prompt.

There is no extensive written menu, instead the chef will talk you through the supper, which changes daily and typically includes mixed antipasto, soup or homemade pasta, a slow cooked meat or fish dish and cheese or pudding.

As this is primarily a wine bar — serving more than 300 international tipples — the staff are keen to ensure your choice of wine complements the flavours of the dishes.

While you can enjoy the set menu for a very reasonable £17.50, wine isn’t cheap. But spend more then £35 per person on quality wine (excluding house wine) and your meal will be free. When I attended with a friend, our first course was a huge platter of cured meats from Milan, vegetables, salad and warm sourdough bread to share.

The second course was a hearty tomato and bean soup with parmesan shavings, bursting with flavour.

Once again, the chef talked us through the origin of the four different varities of tomatoes, which were flown over from Italy. Both starters were flavoursome and it was difficult not to eat the whole lot, but we wanted to save room for the next course of traditional ossobuco — a slow-cooked veal stew in a rich gravy with lemon and served with polenta.

This arrives in a big bowl to share and the informal way of eating is the perfect way to enjoy a meal.

However, the enthusiasm of the staff can seem slightly intrusive as the origin of every mouthful is described in fine detail. The meat was extremely tender and the polenta was creamy and complemented the ossobuco. The problem is, there wasn’t quite enough and we both would have liked to order the dish as a main course on our own.

When it comes to dessert, a choice is offered between cheese and water biscuits, (served with grapes grown in the finest Italian vineyards of course!) or pudding of the day.

All courses were washed down with a £50 bottle of Adarmando Tabarrini white wine, which was stunning and paid for the meal.

Reader Views

Add your comments or rate Hideaway at Ramsons below.