Dear students of Durham, put down that Mr Choi take away menu. If you are looking for a restaurant to bring your parents to for a special occasion, Bistro 21 is the perfect place to go. The restaurant is owned by chef and owner Terry Laybourne and is conveniently located about 10 minutes from the city center by car. Bistro 21 is pretty, but unpretentious. It perfectly encaptures that rustic posh feeling of a good restaurant found up in the North of England.
The restaurant itself resides in a spacious and gorgeous old country home, as we had a large group (10) of people, we were given a lovely private room. I started off with a very strong yet simple dish; pan-seared scallops with pork belly and chili. The Thai herbs like coriander and lemongrass provided a light acidity which complemented the strong savoury punches of pork belly and scallop. Although I’m not sure pork belly and scallop make the best pairing, I still enjoyed this dish.
For the main I ordered the slow cooked belly of pork with carrots, beets and charred cabbage, black pudding and creamy mash. Another strong dish, great fresh vegetables served with tender pork and crispy crackling. Served with ACTUAL robust mash potatoes and not potato butter.
For my dessert I ordered a coconut panna cotta with mango and passion fruit jelly. It was delicious! But I forgot to take a photo 😦
Bistro 21 isn’t going to win any Michelin stars soon, but that’s fine by me. Service is fast and friendly, the menu is simple to read, you’ll have heard of every ingredient used and you’ll have tasted similar dishes, but when they are done so well and in such a lovely setting, who’s complaining?
P.s. I must apologise for the quality of photos (and lack thereof), it’s been awhile! I’ll be trying to do more posts in Singapore from now.
shuggybites 
yay you’re writing again!