Eating out at lovely places is one of my main enjoyments. Finding new restaurants, trying different dishes and indulging in plenty of tasty food...what's not to like?!
Gochu in Poulton is one of my favourite places to go after unexpectedly discovering it a couple of years ago and instantly falling in love.
Gochu is set across three floors and features dark and stylish decor across each section, lending a cool modern-yet-cosy vibe to the various dining spaces throughout the building.
The ground floor houses a sleek bar area and a handful of tables that are perfect for sharing drinks, food and laughs with friends. Upstairs on the first floor is the main restaurant. An open-plan kitchen coupled with a compact selection of tables allow this floor to feel intimate and snug, which is perhaps my favourite thing about the place. On the final floor is a cocktail bar that offers a more vibrant setting. The ceilings are higher, the atmosphere is livelier, and a retractable roof transforms the space into an outdoor terrace, weather allowing. Couches, greenery and cocktails allow a beautiful al fresco dining experience during those roofless evenings.
Crispy duck gyozas | Sashimi grade tuna tartare sushi | Okonomiyaki with pork belly
My most recent visit to Gochu was on New Year's Eve. My friend Jess and I wanted to do something that didn't involve staying up late and/or getting drunk in Blackpool, so quickly settled on the plan of going out for food. I suggested Gochu after Jess mentioned sushi, then in the weeks preceding NYE I of course decided to torture myself by perusing the menu on a daily basis.
Despite such careful consideration (and endlessly analysing the menu) we still could not settle on what we wanted to narrow our choices down to, so we decided to go the picky plate route. With the exceptions of Jess's okonomiyaki and my fried chicken everything we ordered we shared so we got to taste a variety of delicious food. Usually I wouldn't indulge quite so much, though I can't deny it was great to sample an assortment from the menu.
Pork belly bao buns | Scorched salmon uramaki sushi
The flavour combinations were mostly fantastic, and the presentation of each dish was wonderful. Picking a favourite has proven to be a struggle but I'm going to go with the salmon sushi; each morsel was perfect, packed with flavour, and the hint of crispy salmon skin on top was a thing of wonder.
When dining out I wouldn't usually order dessert, but seeing as the attitude of the evening was indulgence I got one, and that was great as well. It was a perfectly baked sticky toffee pudding, topped with melt-in the mouth banana chunks and chewy honeycomb, sat in a pool of a decadent Japanese whiskey anglaise. Am I now a pudding convert? Probably not. But this one was a lovely way to finish the meal.
Sticky toffee pudding
We did get some other dishes that I didn't get pictures of - edamame beans in a truffle ponzu, fried chicken in a sticky Gochujang sauce, crispy squid with KEWPIE mayonnaise, and salt and pepper loaded fries - because Gochu bring plates to the table as they're prepared and frankly I was too keen to dig in!
The only total miss for me was the loaded fries. They were beautifully crispy but the fries were quite tasteless and had a noticeable lack of salt. In stark contrast to flavourless fries, the loaded pile on top was overly sweet, resulting in an unexpectedly unpleasant taste. Also coming in a bit too sweet were the bao buns. The buns and the pork were cooked perfectly but combined with the hoisin any underlying salty, savoury notes were lost leaving an unbalanced, sweet flavouring.
Blip dishes aside I was utterly happy with the visit, loved the majority of the food we had, and am already looking forward to whenever I might be able to go back. Not every single item will always be to every person's taste, so I'll simply avoid those choices in future.
Being mindful of the delicious food, combined with a good atmosphere, lovely surroundings and a wonderful team of staff, I cannot recommend Gochu highly enough.
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