Dinner At The Recently Opened Dead Canary In Bakewell
Published On Wednesday 5 Mar 2025 by Sticky Beak
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His Nibs and I were recently invited along to The Dead Canary in Bakewell to sample their evening menu. Now, the first reaction to the name, if you’re like me, is “eh?”. The Man Bird and I could only assume that there was some connection to the Canaries that miners used to take down the mines as an early gas detection method. Turns out we were bang on the money; Louise’s granda was a miner in Wales and was the ‘Canary Man’ and many a time his little birds did their job, saving plenty of souls down in the darkness. Being from mining stock ourselves, both His Nibs and I are grateful to the role played by Canaries, and we thought that the lighting of the Canary Cage in the restaurant’s window each evening as a mark of respect and remembrance is a particularly nice touch.
Sometimes a venue just seems to embrace you and give you a real cwtch/hug, and The Dead Canary is one of them. Walking through the door, you get a verbal hug in the form of a marvellously warm greeting – on this occasion from a lovely young lady named Rebecca, who showed us to our table. Spread over three floors, The Dead Canary is a proper chameleon; the ground floor is the Canary Room, with seating for approximately 18 folks; transforming from cosy daytime eaterie into a bijoux space that is perfect for date nights. What I especially like is the fact that they don’t turn tables around; if you book a table, it’s yours for the entirety of the evening. The second floor, The Falcon Rooms, is modelled on Louise’s Nan’s parlour and is decorated in gold with mirrors everywhere; this acts as a private dining room or as the place for larger groups to dine. On the upper floor is The Jungle Cocktail Lounge, a sublimely bonkers space in Fuchsia Pink and Lime Green that is the place to go for pre- and post- prandial drinkies…or for Tapas-&-Tipples dates with your girl-gang.
A super-polite young man came over with a jug of iced water and asked if we would like a glass; I know I always wang on about it, but being offered table water just sets the tone and shows that a venue has a bit of class about it. Going forward, local businesses will be used where possible for alcoholic beverages but, on this evening, we took our own (Louise was awaiting her liquor licence) and it was poured out for us; we were also offered a decanter as it was a red.
We placed our food order and then sat back, drinking in our surroundings, whilst we waited for our morsels. Everything is cooked/prepared fresh-to-order so there may be a wait but, seeing as you have the table for the whole evening, there’s no rush is there? I should point out, too, that the menu will change monthly to ensure that peak flavour, in-season fresh food is used.
Beautiful Olive-toned walls were adorned with prints of animals and birds in gold frames, and immediately to my side was a canvas of a Highland Coo – I looooooove Coos!! When we’d first walked in, I’d spotted the magnificent glass chandeliers and started to hyper-ventilate in excitement; you all know I’m a bit light obsessed. Each table was set with a pristine, white cloth, gleaming glassware and textural cutlery, and I loved the touch-lamps that allowed you to create your own micro ambience at your space. Swish!
To kick things off, His Nibs ordered the Pork Belly Bites, and I had the Shrimp and Avocado Salad, both £9. No surprise, that the presentation was just superb; crockery is chosen to showcase each dish to perfection: I had an ombre’d plate for my salad, The Man, a hollowed out ‘pebble’ dish/platter.
The Pork Belly Bites were ridiculously good, two-bite minxes that were served with their little crackling caps on, and how joyous was the crisped skin?? Pleasingly crunchy on its top side with a softer under-belly that was sticky enough to chew and savour, with a robustly meaty taste that contrasted with the silky Pork meat. A bed of mixed, dressed Leaves gave colour to the dish as well as sensory interest in terms of texture and temperature.
Visually, my Shrimp and Avocado salad got the award for prettiest dish, the rose-pink seafood and pastel green fruit/vegetable (it’s a fruit, but I’ll let you argue about that!) looked catwalk-worthy. Beautifully plump prawns melted in my mouth and the plentiful slices of Avocado slid like silk over my tongue. I added an injection of citrussy sharpness with a hefty squeeze of fresh Lemon, and the mix of sweet and bitter salad leaves also waded in. Utterly delicious.
A check-back was done to ascertain our satisfaction and, when we’d finished and the plates were being cleared away, we were asked if we would like Chef [George] to begin preparing our mains – another gold-star customer care touch. For mains we ‘d chosen the Beef Cheeks cooked in sweet, Malaga wine (£23.95, His Nibs’ choice) and the Seafood ‘Classic’ Tower (£39.99 pp, which I had assumed would be for a single person, given that the other towers stated minimum of 2 people – I learnt the error of my assumption PDQ!!).
As with the first course, presentation was spot-on, even down to the outer drizzle of wine that turned The Mans’ main into a triple-ringed delight. A [frankly] huge Beef Cheek sat regally in the centre of a bed of garlic-kissed Mash that was smoother than a proverbial millpond, and then the darkly red Malaga Wine sauce was carefully poured around the periphery of the dish like a halo around the moon. In this state, it was, apparently, sufficient, but Chef decided to treat His Nibs to a skillet of roasted Beans, Carrot and Parsnip which were all gorgeously sweet and gently crunchy, still. Malaga wine is a sweet, fortified red wine and, in this dish, it added a marvellous depth to the overall flavour, pairing amazingly well with the rich Beef Cheek. Bravo, [Chef] George!
Served on a double-tiered stand, my Seafood Tower was utterly show-stopping! If you like a ‘wow factor’ to your food, this treasure has got it by the bucket-load! This offering was [seafood]Manna from Heaven, Ambrosia of the [seafood]Gods; I could go on and on with the superlatives and it still wouldn’t do justice here. The larger, lower bowl housed a medley of in-shell Clams and Mussels, King Prawns, Scallops with their Coral/Roe attached, and verdant fronds of Samphire, all within a creamy sea of a Chilli and Garlic laced cream and wine sauce. A separate bowl held slices of white bread and these got used at the end of my meal to mop up all the wondrous sauce – no way was any of this beauty going begging. Needless to say, all the seafood was cooked to perfection and a range of tastes from subtly fragrant to rich, earthy and salty flooded my mouth. Already, I was swooning rapturously…and there was till the top tier to savour!
Now, I had expected a single bowl each of the Salmon Mousse and Dressed Crab, but what I actually got was a pair of each. Clearly, Louise had decided that a glutton like me could handle such a feast – thankfully, she had omitted the oysters that normally come on the classic tower; I really couldn’t have eaten another thing by the time I’d worked my way through the seafood odyssey before me – though be damned if anything this tremendous was getting left!
His Nibs, ever the gent, took pity on my plight and ate most of one portion of the Salmon Mousse; mind you, it was bloody sublime, the silky Salmon cubes popping against the punchier Dill and Caper-studded Crème. Chef had mixed the dark and white meats of the Crab and twirled in some fresh, finely chopped herbs, resulting in an enthralling, multi-layered dish. Honestly, this is some of the nicest seafood in the area and will be all the more welcome by diners in the wake of nearby, Matlock Bath venue The Seafood Cave and Grill’s closure on 2nd March 2025.
As well as this Classic Seafood Tower, there are the Deluxe and Extravaganza variations, priced at £49.99 and £99pp respectively, both of which include amuse bouches and desserts; the extravaganza also includes Cheese and Biscuits, Coffee and After-dinner Mints. Having had the classic, I would be certainly in the market for trying either of these minxes.
Never have I been more grateful to have time on my side, than I was on this particular evening! After a decent recovery period, His Nibs and I were tempted by dessert: Tiramisu for me, Lemon Panna Cotta for The Man. My Tiramisu was presented in a curved glass that allowed you to appreciate the nuances of this iconic Italian sweet treat, and before long my mouth was full of a creamy, coffee and chocolatey fusion that delighted my palate. There was a nice amount of it to conclude my meal with, but not enough to render me [food coma] incapacitated, and this was the case with His Nibs’ Panna Cotta portion.
The bright, Citrus notes of this cooked Cream (literally the translation of ‘Panna Cotta’) wakened up The Mans’ palate and cleansed it beautifully. As a decorative touch, finely grated Lemon zest covered the surface and the fruits’ intense oils burst onto his tongue like Magic Mike and his troupe in full flight! Another dessert to relish, and His Nibs most definitely did that, scraping every last bit from the dish.
Obviously, Hot Wings are given to Louise and her marvellous team: Adam, Richard, Beki (Rebecca), George, Fred, and Alex. Bakewell’s gastro scene has just been elevated significantly, thanks to the arrival of The Dead Canary. Throughout our visit, nothing had been too much trouble – the service was super-attentive but not intrusive. Singer Sarah Bright had been serenading us on this ‘Valentine’s Weekend’ evening, and Louise has events planned throughout 2025, including Beer-pairing suppers, a Spanish night complete with Flamenco dancer, and Bottomless Tapas on Sundays from April 2025. Keep your eyes peeled for details! Lunches are also served at The Dead Canary; ideal if you fancy a mooch in the town now that the weather is picking up. To book a table visit www.deadcanarybakewell.co.uk or phone 01629258050.
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