Sheffield food champs, The Milestone

Guest blogger Gary Morton is a bit nuts about food as his blog, Exploits of a Food Nutter, might suggest. He’s given us the low down on a new food adventure for Sheffield gastro pub, The Milestone:

Right now The Milestone is one of the Steel City’s brightest culinary hotspots. Like an independent beacon amidst the flotilla of city centre chain restaurants, they’re going to take the brave step of opening their doors on the site of the old Wig and Pen (RIP) on Paradise Square.

If you’re looking for local grub, you can’t get much more home grown than this. Bring in veggies from your allotment and they’ll exchange them for beer tokens so that Head Chef, Simon Ayres can use your produce in the restaurant. They also have their own rare breed pigs, born and raised in Sheffield which are the inspiration for their new cookbook, First, catch your pig. Dishes such as stuffed pig’s trotters and ox tongue and sweet chilli fritters, show a waste not want attitude to cooking.

Speaking to the owners, Matt Bigland and Marc Sheldon, the new restaurant will dish up a city version of the Milestone’s recipe for locally-sourced food and good quality ingredients, with the addition of an oyster bar. The restaurant will kick off with a launch party early in the New Year, but they’ve got a whole range of food and wine festivals planned with the aim of getting the local community involved and excited about local food and suppliers. The team are also exploring a cookery school idea and are on the hunt for a suitable location.

Simon Ayres aka The Cage Fighter

The opening of Milestone 2 can only be a good thing for Sheffield, a city not renowned for places to eat out. The restaurant recently made it to the semi-final of Gordon Ramsay’s Best Restaurant. The hotly fought competition cooked up an unprecedented storm of interest in Sheffield’s food scene. Sheffield currently doesn’t compete with other cities such as a Manchester and Leeds, but that hasn’t stopped Ramsay’s ‘cage fighter’ and his team from rolling up their sleeves with determination to champion locally-produced food.

With the Milestone attracting nationwide interest and making it a point to showcase what can be bought from Sheffield suppliers, the opening of a second venture shows huge support for the local economy, especially in the current climate.  Here’s hoping they’ll be part of a new movement to inspire the palate’s of city diners by food produced in Sheffield.