27 Oct Tuesday…with Brocco on the Park, Sheffield

When I saw a long and busy weekend ahead of me in Sheffield, I knew it would be a real treat at the end of the Friday, after a long drive from Brighton and preparing for the ‘Vase to Table’ workshop, to stay in an hotel…but to stay in such a beautiful small hotel as Brocco on the Park was more than a treat…it is a complete oasis, and not only that, the food and the service in their restaurant is amazing.

I discovered Brocco on the Park back in July ( care of searching on Instagram and finding their account here ) after a nightmare 8 and a half hour drive from Brighton, and so I knew it would be the best place to stay in Sheffield during the workshop weekend…

One of the things I love about it is the interior design which the owner Tiina Carr ( who’s half Finnish ), has taken so much care over getting right; even the small details have been considered, right down to the beautiful graphics painted onto the wallpaper There are only 8 rooms and each one has been named after a different bird…( even your keys have a bird fob! )

There is also some really good art dotted around the hotel…we were really taken by Jonathan Wilkinsons work which you can see here

I also love that in each room they leave you a book…nothing too intimidating, just things you can dip into with a sense of relaxation…

…and you don’t just get tea and coffee in your room, you get homemade cake too!

Basically Brocco makes you feel so comfortable in your bedroom, you have to tear yourself away to visit the restaurant downstairs…

…and to be honest the restaurant was one of my favourite parts of the whole stay.

I love eating out, I always have ever since I was a child…it’s what I used to ask for for my birthday present!

…I suppose as I’ve got older I’ve become a real stickler for good service as well as food; it’s the combination of the two which makes a meal so pleasurable… or not. I’ve had meals which have tasted amazing but the table service has been so snooty that I’d never go back…

But at Brocco, even if the food had been just mediocre, I have definitely gone back anyway as the standard of service was so outstanding, but the food was completely amazing as well. The hotel says that if something can be homemade, handpicked or personalised that’s what they’ll choose ( you can see some of their menus here ).

I ordered the mackerel, then the steak for my main course, and was surprised but completely won over, when our waiter, Joe, presented me with a wooden box full of beautiful, bone handled steak knives which I was asked to choose from…I loved the theatricality of this personal touch; the meal wasn’t just about eating, it was about engaging with it too…

I’m not a big pudding fan, but rather unfashionably I do love an Irish coffee; my Dad always used to have a ‘floater’ when we went out as kids and I thought it looked really sophisticated, so I decided to ask if Joe could make one,  under strong protest from my other half not to ask, saying that no-one does ‘floaters’ these days…

…and he was right; Joe thought I wanted a Bailey’s in my coffee, ( which I went for in the end ), but he seemed really interested in this hot, whisky coffee I’d conjured up from the 1980’s ( a time before his time! )

The next evening it turned out that another brilliant waiter, Stuart, not only knew how to make them but was an absolute expert…he was going to show Joe how to do it properly…and Stuart’s Irish coffee was one of the best I’ve had in years!! Now that’s what I call ‘personalised’ service…I could have stayed in the restaurant for hours drinking Irish coffees before I went to bed…

Luckily, breakfast was just as good as dinner…

and I could quite happily have stayed for a week having my own version of a retreat…rather than sitting in the car all day driving home and eating far too much popcorn!

The hotel is now gearing up for Christmas and New Year ; I certainly noticed a change in temperature from Autumn to Winter when I was up there, so they’ve got lots of seasonal stuff happening, ( including a table decoration workshop by their resident florist Alison Doxy with a 2 course meal included! ).

They’re also doing Festive Afternoon Teas, which is my idea of Heaven, and of course I completely agree when they say ‘ there’s no better gift than sharing tea and cake’…I just wish I lived closer, but to be honest that’s not going to keep me away from this wonderful little hotel…I’m planning a birthday getaway already!

You can find out lots more little details about the hotel and their upcoming events via their website, Twitter and Facebook page, and you can also see the Steller Story version of my trip here