Scholars Restaurant Blackburn College Blackburn 2nd February 2022

Scholars Restaurant is located at Blackburn college, where the catering students, under the tutelage of  mentor and Head Chef Dave cook a four course meal  and offer it to the public for £12.00.   Scholars also host evening events, afternoon tea which they advertise on their social media pages and offer vegan options for those too.

I was invited for lunch with Steven as guests, by restaurant manager Karen Lilley and I was very excited to be asked to sample the students vegan creations.

We started with tomato and basil soup, served with a tomato salsa bruschetta and fresh chives and it was perfect to begin the meal.   The soup was so tasty, with a creamy velvety texture and the bruschetta was a great accompaniment, we left clean plates.

Next was sauteed wild mushrooms, roast garlic, tarragon cream and pine nuts on toasted focaccia and this was a cracker of a dish and right up my street.   I could not find fault, it was cooked and seasoned to perfection, it really was vegan heaven on a plate.

I love risotto but in my experience most chefs have no idea how to cook it correctly, so how refreshing to eat it how it should be.   The rice had a lovely bite to it, without being under or overcooked, it had bags of flavour with plenty vegetables and the cauliflower added texture and flavour, another spot on dish.

Dessert was a far cry from some pathetic puddings I have been served in the past, it was beautiful on the eye.   The coconut panna cotta had a gorgeous consistency, with a layer of mango, lime and passionfruit gel on top, adorned with honeycomb, meringue, raspberries and edible flowers, it was wonderful.

We had a quick chat with Dave and you could tell why he inspired the students, with his exuberance and was nothing like some dinosaur chefs I have encountered, whose attitude was biased against veganism.   He was keen to offer creative and innovative plant based options and could not understand why some hospitality venues and chefs were so against it.   We also spoke with Karen, a vegan herself since last year, who was also keen to offer more vegan options and was doing a great job marketing their plant based menu.   She was also conscious their drinks menu did not label which wines were vegan and was working to address this issue with their supplier.

We had a chat with chefs Imogen and Gem, who created the mushroom dish and dessert respectively and their enthusiasm when telling us about their dishes was obvious.   Imogen said the mushroom dish was her favourite and Gem explained how it took several times to balance the amount of agar agar needed to set the panna cotta.   We feel vegan food going forward is in very safe hands, if young chefs of such calibre like Imogen and Gem are our chefs of the future, who are full of ideas and creativity.

Overall we had an amazing lunch and having dined at numerous Michelin Star and fine dining restaurants over the years, the dishes today could easily have graced their tables.   In fact many places we have dined could learn a thing or two from the Scholar team, as I have been given some absolutely appalling meals over the years.  

Would we go back to Scholars, try keeping us away, we are already anticipating what's on the menu next month.