Foody Lucy

For various reasons (I will probably get into later) I am currently staying with my sister and her partner for a week. The two of them live in Saffron Walden, a small market town in Essex – very different from the bustling world of London I am used to. Despite these differences, I’ve always been struck by how foodie the small town is: a beautiful market every Saturday, a local winery, multiple independent coffee shops and bakeries… and it seems since my last visit it has become more so with the opening of a new restaurant, Chater’s.

I first heard about Chater’s through my parents singing the praises of one dish in particular, cubes of pecorino covered in local honey and ground coffee, and my memory of this was jogged soon after arriving in SW, as the two excitedly mentioned how much they loved the venue, and how ‘London’ it was. A few days later I paid Chater’s a visit, hoping to reserve a table for lunch (it was a Sunday – they don’t do lunches on Sunday) and I saw exactly what they meant: the decor felt straight out of a quirky cafe from East London, the small deli/grocery section was full of fancy tinned fish, Perello olives and the all time classic – Torres crisps. It definitely made me feel that I had stepped out of the quaint, medieval market town into Hackney Wick or Shoreditch, but overall the atmosphere was very warm and appealing.

I made a booking for an evening meal a few nights later for me and my sister (her partner being otherwise engaged) and perused the menu religiously in attempt to pin down exactly what I wanted to order. Despite this, we still took close to twenty minutes on the day to make our decision – helped on by a Chater’s Martini each – a crisp and refreshing martini, a mix of gin, vodka, and ‘coastal vermouth’.

Self-described as ‘an independent neighbourhood haunt with a focus on specialty coffee, aperitivo, fresh pasta and natural wine’ Chater’s definitely put the emphasis on their small plates, offering a selection of 10+ of these tapas-style dishes, with only two or three pasta plates to choose from at a time. As a result the two of us went in hard with the small plates, sharing a total of four (or five, including the coffee pecorino) between the two of us: the Sourdough with ‘cultured butter’, Chickpeas Persillade, Crown Prince Squash with Ricotta and Pistachio, and a Caramelised Onion in a Taleggio Sauce. Whilst we may have got carried away, I can promise you it was worth it.

The chickpeas and sourdough came out first, we were presented with an array of breads (focaccia, a white sourdough and a brown sourdough) and two types of homemade butter: cultured butter (butter with added kefir ferment) and burnt butter (the most heavenly thing I have ever tasted, I cannot even describe this other than by asking you to try it yourself). This was a great start – though unfortunately the first bit of bread I tried was the focaccia and for some reason it was incredibly tough and hard to bite through – but the rest of the breads (and the butters!!) were delicious. The chickpea salad was also really tasty – the tiny capers and smoked paprika it was covered in made it – but the small plates which stood out were undoubtedly the squash and the onion. Both of these dishes had the similarity of having a slightly sweet, caramelised element (roasted squash or onion) and a creamy, cheesy, delicious sauce to dip them in. The squash melted in your mouth, the taleggio was like dipping a caramelised onion in a fondue: I genuinely cannot decide which of the two I preferred.

The last of the melted cheese and butters mopped up by the bread, our empty plates were whisked away and replaced soon after by the pasta dishes we had chosen: a vegetarian Puttanesca for Sophie and a Mussel Aglio e Olio for me. The portion sizes were decent – appearing far larger than they should have after the banquet of a starter – and the pasta was clearly freshly made. Both sauces we had chosen were delicious, if on the salty side, the pasta on my plate dripping in garlicky, chilli-y oil with an occasional burst of fishiness from the mussels. Sophie’s was a smooth tomato sauce with olives and capers – so well cooked it was almost caramelised and my attempt to steal an olive from her plate was thwarted as it disintegrated under my fork.

At this point I feel I should throw in some information on the wines we were drinking as our Martinis had since run dry. Neither of us were sure what to have so we decided to order two particularly interesting-looking glasses and decide, on the spot, which we preferred. I naturally had to order an orange wine (in a place like this, how could I not?) and Sophie liked the look of the Renegade Chardonnay from London – however soon after the wines appeared we realised we each had a preference for the other’s glass, and promptly swapped over. This was Sophie’s first time trying an orange wine – Slobodne Deviner from Slovakia – and she seemed intrigued and pleasantly surprised by its prominent floral aromas and slightly fruity flavours. My chardonnay was stunning – slightly oaky giving a creamy, buttery flavour, perfectly complementing without overpowering the dishes.

At the end of this delicious meal came the all-important question: dessert. I decided on the fly that we would be ordering and sharing one – we opted for the tiramisu and oh my god was this the right choice. It wasn’t a large portion, so between the two of us came to a few bites each, but that was all that was needed: the decadent, slightly liquid cream sat atop some orange-flavoured sponge fingers – texture-wise resembling semolina – and whilst I would class this tiramisu as ‘strong’ it wasn’t overpoweringly boozy. I have always been a sucker for tiramisu and I can easily say this was up there in my top three tiramisus I’ve eaten.

All this delicious food paired with the relaxed vibes and incredibly friendly staff makes Chater’s a definite ‘must visit’ restaurant. Whether you’re there for a quick drink and a nibble or two, or go all out on a meal like we did, it is absolutely worth the trip.