Just a hope skip and a jump away from the River Tyne, the recently opened Chart House boasts one of the more enviable locations for a bar & restaurant in Newcastle.
Older readers may remember the ‘vertical’ drinking haunt Flynn’s – which formerly occupied this site at the centre of the Quayside’s heyday. The grade II listed building has passed through many evolutions since but has really went up a notch recently with Chart House offering a swanky maritime dining experience with panoramic riverscape views as its backdrop.
The name itself refers to the building’s nautical heritage being the former dwelling place of Matthew S Dodds, the esteemed Victorian printer of books, maps and charts that sailors setting out to see would come to buy. Uniquely, the building is one of the only ones of its kind to survive the Great Fire of Newcastle in 1854.
A mere century and a half later, this old sea dog pitched up one Friday afternoon to review the experience.
Not unlike a ship, the Chart House is set over a number of different levels with a staircase between the stylish bar and pavement terrace area, open kitchen pass and ‘top deck’ dining room.
On hand to meet us was Dan, the restaurant’s very amiable front-of-house manager who looked after us superbly well all afternoon.
The dining area features numerous little touches to the area’s naval past with rails of copper and chrome and a collection of carefully curated seafaring sketches. Its bright and airy aspect is really conducive to conversation, so we got the drinks flowing with a brace of Asahi lagers which foreshadowed the menu’s Asian influence.
Gastronomically, the restaurant offers a “Maritime Spice Route” with creative cookery inspired by the Mediterranean, Arabian and South China Seas. Its menu is exciting and varied in scope and offers the chance to dine allout as a tapas style feast or in traditional starter/ main course fashion.
Kicking off. my Son Jack set sail for the seared tiger prawns, nicely potted in some posh crockery and served with crumbled feta, spiced tomato and ouzo salsa. I opted for the delicately battered salt and pepper chicken, singing with sweet red peppers and fresh chilli.
We followed similar chart maps for main course too. Jack chose the pan fried salmon with sliced roast potatoes, tender stem broccoli and caperberry sauce. I meanwhile enjoyed the red vegetable curry with supplementary chicken.
Desserts of Warm Honey and Almond Cake and Key Lime cheesecake couldn’t quite tempt us, but we did have couple of Irish coffees to guard against the early October chill.
The team at the Chart House deserve credit for this stunning refurbishment and have done this historic gem justice by creating a fully-fledged destination restaurant aswell as a bar.
Dare I say it? The perfect place to be blown pleasantly off course on a Friday and into the cosy clutches of the weekend.