There are no shortage of places to eat out in the Northern Quarter. All with their own unique style, branding and that little bit of Northern-Quarter-Quirkiness.
When we decided to celebrate my sisters pre-birthday meal out at a place of her choice she knew exactly where to go and was happy that she could finally force us all into a place she had been craving for weeks.
Don’t ask me why, but whenever I visit an eatery where there’s a counter of fresh, fun-looking cakes, I always assume that this is the one thing they must be good at. So, it was safe to say I have always assumed this of Home Sweet Home and thought of them purely as somewhere to go for a sweet snack and afternoon brew.
Was I excited for the food? not particularly. when I had asked friends about it they had mentioned the word ‘Mexican.’ I could only see the word ‘American’ on skimming their website so my brain instantly branded the menu ‘confused’ when I was faced with this contradiction.
We propped up a booth and studied the food choices, settling once again on a range of fish and vegetarian options, my sister assuring me the whole time that I would not be disappointed – a phrase I am not keen on as it more often than not, leads to just that.
But alas, her taste buds are from the same gene-pool as mine, so she was of course right on the money. I devoured my fish burger in no time at all, the whole time thinking how could they make something that sounds pretty boring turn out to taste so good. It was nice to not have the usual elite option of ‘beer battered’ fish and instead this one is buttermilk fried, even the pickle was made to match (nice touch).
We also had the fish tacos (I know we really need to find something that doesn’t come from the ocean next time we’re out), which were served up beautifully. Most places these days like to offer tacos as a DIY meal so it was nice to have them all prepped and ready to eat for once.
Oh and the nachos! I mean I’m usually pretty happy with a bag of Doritos and some supermarket dip but this platter of chips and sauce (love the chipotle sour cream) means I’ll probably never enjoy a cinema snack again.
One thing that was missing, the one dish my sister had chosen the restaurant for and was craving, no longer graced the menu. Apparently the vegetarian chilli here was to die for (one to consider bringing back perhaps??)
Needless to say, I was feeling pretty sheepish about my doubts. Looking over the menu there was a pretty good balance of meals for all to enjoy, they even have a great link online for an allergen advice manual. Their website outlines how they work on making ‘comfort food’ and yes I was definitely eating my words, as the Mexican elements were the likes of tacos and nachos, which are technically classed as American cuisine. You see, I do admit to being wrong occasionally… not always. Just occasionally.
This was the perfect pre-escape room fuelling session, and if we hadn’t had to leave for our booking, we could’ve quite easily stayed on for milkshakes and desserts.
Home Sweet Home is a staple in the NQ food scene and after today, I can totally see why. No nonsense, good quality, freshly made food to be enjoyed in a laidback, comfortable ambience.
Just like home! Scratch that: ‘home’ is usually a mass of chaos and hit-and-miss cooking attempts with a crazy cat driving us up the wall.
What I meant to say was… just like the home I dream of.
