The Purple Bear

The Purple Bear Smokehouse and Cocktail Bar, off Northumberland St., Newcastle
http://thepurplebear.co.uk/

 

Note: I think it’s fair to say that this venue has a degree of nostalgia for us. The Purple Bear used to be the Northumberland Arms and we spent many a Wednesday night playing cards and drinking special offer alcohol there. So there may be a little retrospection in the reviews!

The Cook’s Review (April 2017)

Descending down the familiar stairs into the Purple Bear was a bit of blast from the past for us, as we had spent far too long here when it was the Northumberland Arms. The refurbishment job has been done well and it definitely hits the ‘quirky modern’ theme. My first stop was a visit to the toilets – previously a life-or-death struggle with effluent, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were clean, modern (oh so modern with the beer-keg urinals) and didn’t smell of unmentionables. The quirky theme was continued in the bar and food area, with big screens showing manga Transformers and Snagglepuss cartoons. OK, that’s new… not bad, just different!

The offer at the Purple Bear was cocktails and smokehouse. Whilst they undoubtedly did the cocktail thing (although without Mr Quality, we’re not a cocktail-friendly bunch of eaters) the smokehouse label was a little more dubious. Burgers were supplemented by specials which included various combinations of pulled pork and smoked turkey and chicken. No ribs, no brisket, no sausage … just pork and smoked bird. Disappointing – but at least we didn’t have decision paralysis.

I went for the pulled pork sandwich, with bacon fries and a chocolate milkshake, and a rocky road sundae to follow. Total cost? Just shy of £20. I also got to try some of the truffle and Parmesan fries as I am a dustbin. The pulled pork sandwich was indeed, a pulled pork sandwich. Nothing that made me do cartwheels of delight but nothing intrinsically bad. The sandwich came in a nice brioche-style bun and had some pickled veg in it which could have been far sharper to contrast the pork. The small pot of beans was excellent and flavourful, the coleslaw was … coleslaw and the fries were indeed, fries. It was all very much ‘what it says on the tin’ food so far. The bacon fries were nice, with a tangy sauce that could be a little overpowering if you had too much – the Parmesan fries with the truffle oil were lovely! The milkshake – about 3/4 of a pint, in a pint bottle – was decent and saw me through the entire meal. The pudding was actually quite good. Decent ice cream, chocolate sauce, a generous number of rocky road bits and squirty cream. Nice for a dessert to actually be what it says on the menu! (Yes, I’m looking at you, Rub…)

The real downsides of the Purple Bear were twofold. First, the selection of food doesn’t scream ‘smokehouse’ to me – it felt a bit like a hipster burger pub that had decided to jump on the bandwagon of the latest food trend. The second was the woeful array of sauces – literally tomato, HP and mayo. No BBQ, no hot sauce. Nothing. That’s criminal as, in my opinion, you need some sauce to cut through the pulled pork. Its a definite mark of a decent proper meat place that they have managed to crack this simple requirement.

So what’s the upside? Enter our server. She was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Apparently she had just started and was learning the ropes – to the point where she actually returned our tip thinking we had overpaid! If you read this, please NEVER CHANGE. What a breath of fresh air to have someone so at ease and honest and willing to help. I watched her working the room and just being pleasant and comfortable with everyone Brilliant.

So, in summary, I feel its a little unfair to rank the Purple Bear alongside places like Reds and Longhorns. Its just not the same beast. From a food point of view, this is perfectly passable lunchtime grub and I would happily return if I was out shopping and wanted an alternative eatery. There was nothing spectacular about the food, but there was nothing terrible either. The game changer for me was the service. Spot on. Now go and buy some sauces!

(Oh and I nearly forgot! The black metal cutlery was a cool touch. That bamboozled me for a moment…)

The Aussie’s Review (April 2017)

The Purple Bear had less of a nostalgia affair for me as I’m not of the card gaming fraternity. However the venue looked good, especially the screens showing cartoons and the music was a 70/80s rock which I particularly liked. Not too loud though, so conversations could be heard. (Yep, some of us are getting old!)

The food was good and I tried the pulled pork nachos to see a broader spectrum of the menu. The pulled pork was tasty but needed some extra BBQ sauce to liven it up and the salsa had good flavours (on the milder side of a salsa) and the bowl of squirty cheese was interesting accompaniment. I added the mac cheese side which I probably wouldn’t order again.

The milkshake served in a milk bottle was a nice touch but the shake contained ice crystals so lacked the smoothness of a good shake.

The toilets, which were mentioned several times, looked cool but are effectively toilets!! What they really need is wifi down there.

Advertised as a BBQ smokehouse it didn’t really deliver on this but the service was enthusiastic and sweet and would make a great drop in place for lunch.

 

The Cook’s Lunch Review (August 2017, Restaurant Week)

I returned to the Purple Bear duing NE1 Newcastle Restaurant Week to try out the set menu for the event and see whether, as I expected, the venue would be a great lunchtime eatery. The Bear was pretty empty on Friday lunchtime, which was a shame as this visit was great.

Once again, the server was excellent – affable and pleasant and always willing to help. I chose to have the three courses for £15 option, picking my traditional nachos, the short beef rib and the brownie dessert. So … what did I get?

The nachos were in a smaller serving than I remember from the evening visit, but were topped with jalepenos and a runny cheese sauce. The sauce (and the peppers) were liberally applied and it was pretty good actually. Sort of like the nachos that you get at the cinema? Loads of sauces as well, to the point of me scooping it up from the bowl at the end. I liked that, a lot.

The brownie was served with some chocolate sauce and a nice coffee ice-cream that was just coffee enough to compliment the brownie, but not so coffee as to trigger my hatred of coffee! The brownie was also just-warm, which made for the pleasing hot-cold contrast without resulting in a pool of melted ice-cream. Nice touch.

What about the short rib? It was … exceptional. A very generous serving of moist, meaty, melting beef rib. Served off the bone, it was a pleasure to eat each mouthful. If that wasn’t enough it was served with unctuous mashed potato, beautiful crisy roast potatoes, a firm carrot, brocolli with some bite left in it and miracle-of-miracles … cabbage that was done right! Just cooked, still with crunch, absolutely lovely. To top all of that off, there was a pot of deep and savoury beef jus to dip everything into as you were eating. Bloody lovely.

I was a very pleased eater as it was all really good. Definitely a step-up from the last visit and I was thrilled to be informed by the server (Seriously, Purple Bear? What do you give the serving staff to make them so … perky!?) that the short rib is the mainstay of the Purple Bear Sunday Lunch with the portion size being even bigger. Oh what a crying shame that would be!

All in all, a very satisfying lunch. Well done Purple Bear, well done!