Pan
Peach Street
Wokingham RG40 1XJ
0118 978 8893
panrestaurant.co.uk
I recently had the opportunity to visit the newest restaurant in Wokingham, Pan.
Its where the old Teak House used to be on Peach Street, offering tapas style dining with contemporary Asian cuisine, bold and blended flavours.
The restaurant is owned by Charlie Blacker a chef with many years of experience the last seven cooking for the über rich and famous that took him all over the world.
On a chilly Wednesday evening my husband Mark and I went to sample the menu and experience an evening in Pan.
Pan’s aim and desire is to use seasonal, nationally grown ingredients to prepare dishes, keep things fresh by regularly changing the menu (monthly) beers and wine every couple of weeks.
The attention to detail made this dining experience for me – that’s not to take anything away from the amazing dishes that we ate but it’s rare to dine out and feel like as much thought has been placed on the experience as the food.
We arrived and were greeted by Alex, front of house, charming, knowledgeable and just attentive enough to feel looked after without being over bearing.
I am not drinking and so asked for some lemon water, while Mark wanted a beer. Alex recommended a Japanese one, Kirin ichiban.
It was at this point that I realised we were in for a real treat and a night with lots of attention to detail.
My water was served with a small pot of freshly squeezed lemon juice to add to it: presentation and that extra little touch for something which is so often just neglected.
Not really knowing what to order from the menu I asked Alex to bring us a selection of things he would recommend pointing out that I had never eaten octopus before but wanted to give it a go.
The menu is created with a couple of meat dishes, a couple of fish and vegetarian or vegan they can accommodate for any dietary requirements if you let them know in advance.
Starters and side dishes range from £3-£5.50 with mains from £5.50-£7.50, puddings from £6.
The dining experience began with some ramen, Mark had Shiitake ramen soy egg (£3.50) and I had the Dashi ramen cured Salmon (£3.50).
Such intense flavours, the dish so simple, offers a comforting, light, easily digestible treat to tantalise the taste buds.
Then came the main course: Grill it yer Sen Octopus lemon, coriander gem hearts (£7.30).
We cooked the octopus on the table using the hibachi (hot charcoal).
This was followed by Monkfish kushiyaki satay kimchi (£7.20), Pork plum kushiyaki (£7) and Habachi grilled sweet potato miso rarebit (£5.50).
All of these dishes were incredible but the stand out for me and Mark was the Habachi grilled sweet potato and the Monkfish, both completely blew us away.
When Mark saw the dishes coming out he did say to me, “I think I’m going to end up eating again when we get home”.
The plates didn’t seem that big and that’s a good thing – we often end up overeating when we go out, but once the meal was finished Mark did say to me that he felt Pan had served perfect portion sizes.
I would have liked to have tried everything on the menu but that’s the great thing about Pan you can and it won’t break the bank or your trousers.
I didn’t need a dessert after eating everything thing else but felt it was my duty to try one, intending on just a spoonful to taste each of the two on offer, a chocolate brownie fudge with custard and a spiced ginger sponge, cinnamon butter cream and lemon curd (both £6).
One spoonful wasn’t enough: the chocolate brownie – often sickly sweet in other restaurants – was complemented by the custard and made it impossible to not finish. It won my heart.
I will definitely be back to Pan and I think it’s genius to keep the menu changing every month, gives me an excuse to have to go back sooner.
I have already recommended it to lots of people.
Get down there and try for yourself, you really won’t be disappointed.
Well done, Charlie.
CLAIRE NASH
