'A bit of something for everyone': Ewe, Bolton, reviewed

I’ve worked at Confidentials for ages. I’ve never written an article or review and now I have to. I’m seen as the North Greater Manchester Correspondent here, so when I was tasked with reviewing my first restaurant I thought I’d go all Pet Shop Boys and go west, well North West, to Ewe in Bolton.

Ewe is on a main road opposite an industrial park, but you can tell that people flock here (sorry). I walked in to a busy manager answering a call for a 50th birthday party and someone having a post-graduation family meal. I got the sense instantly that people come here for occasions big and small.

I wasn’t getting trad pub lunch vibes from this place, just a lot of not-so-subtle nods to the name with various sheepish things here and there. The website describes the food as Modern British, but when I go to a restaurant like this I wanna see those pub classics, pub pub classics (Dear Editor, this is a Charli XCX reference, I’m not having an aneurysm). 

The menu is overwhelming, split into eight subsections and sides; sharing, salad bowls, small plates, large plates, pasta, pizzetta, vegan, grill and snacks. And breathe. Everything and everyone is catered for. The first choice I made was the soup of the day (£6.50). I always feel like a good measure of most menus is the food that changes daily (or you assume changes daily). I enquired about the soup of the day thinking of the classics, but was surprised at the reply of miso and aubergine. Yes, that please.

Sometimes you can commit yourself to deciding a starter and forget you’re there for a main event, the support band taking my mind off the headline act. I quickly, somewhat panicked, spotted a dish they have emblazoned with their name - ‘Ewe’s Shepherds Pie’ (£17) - and enquired if I’d be needing any sides with that. The pleasant American waiter said that people often forget how deep the pie is and with the soup starter he would refrain from more. I do like it when someone says ‘That should be enough’ rather than twirling their moustache and watching you pile up orders only to waste it.

As soon as I sent the waiter on his way someone returned with my miso-laced soup, my hot piping miso-laced soup. Few people know that in this job I rarely eat anything with any heat (proper heat not Hot Ones heat). 

The soup was more than just warm though, it had a depth of flavour that made the marriage of aubergine and miso a successful one (still together after years, two kids, and probably a dog). The texture of aubergine is one that often steers me away from ordering it, but blitzed into a soup with miso taking the edge off this was a very nice surprise, especially after mentally committing to Soup of the Day no matter what it was. This sits in the same camp as a good mushroom soup, that umami grittiness covers your tongue in a lovely way.

Then onto my Shepherd's pie, a dish you can tell they are not only proud of, but have elevated to a level where locals might send it back thinking it doesn’t look the part. The potato on top of the pie wasn’t a perfect seal, but crucially it didn’t fully reveal the beauty underneath. 

The potato was light, fluffy and full of air but also breadcrumbed so it felt like a packing peanut in the mouth. The gravy was rich and the flavour was carried by hunking pieces of lamb shredded like Hugh Jackman in Deadpool. They knew you'd enjoy it. The beetroot glaze on top was kind of lost but I don’t eat a shepherd's pie for the beetroot and neither should you.

After realising I’d kind of ordered two liquidy foods so far, I thought I’d go for the hat trick. The ‘Ewe plant pot’ (£7.50); a passion fruit panna cotta, edible soil, mango and flowers. This was the tart that was needed after a gravy-rich pie, sort of like the ‘and finally’ at the end of the news. I could do without the edible flowers but I understand how plant pots work and that they are needed for the grand illusion on display. It's a plant pot, it needs plants.

Overall I think Ewe is exactly what you need in a restaurant; a bit of everything (and thanks to the menu, even more) in a tidy package, meaning you can go time and time again and not get bored of choosing the same things. I can see why people flock here (again, sorry). 

Ewe, 370 Chorley Rd, Westhoughton, Bolton BL5 3NB