TAKE ME TO EDEN…..Eden Newcastle
Perhaps I’ve been living under a rock recently, or that I’ve just been walking around with my eyes shut. But I seem to have missed the period of time when Tiger Tiger near The Gate shut down and super swanky, Instagram friendly Eden Newcastle popped up. Nevertheless, Tiger Tiger wasn’t somewhere I’d frequented since my early 20s so suffice to say its demise passed me by.
If you’ve ever been to Banyan at Monument then you’ll be familiar with the décor; lots of greenery, low level mood lighting, an obligatory flower feature wall and neon signs are all in place to make sure you get the most stylish shots for the ‘gram. Luckily though, it’s not just style over substance. Me and fellow pizza and cocktail aficionado Emma visited last Friday night to sample some of their cocktails and, quite frankly, amazing pizzas courtesy of Eden as a gifted visit.
When we arrived, it was happy hour (every day from 5pm – 9pm) which meant all cocktails were half price. At £8 a pop (full price) they’re not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive either. At £4 each they’re a total bargain and really, really yummy. Emma had a standard Margarita (perfect amount of tequila – lots!) and I had White Peach Daiquiri (Captain Morgan White Rum, lime & peach). Both of which were made with the correct level of care and attention – as any good cocktail should be.
There’s a laid back bar area at the front for anyone enjoyingdrinks and a quieter restaurant area at the back which, despite only being 6pm, was nicely busy already – always a good sign. We already knew we wanted the pizza and the menu was small and perfectly formed.
I went for the Italian Stallion (Fresh tomato sauce, beef meatballs, sliced red onion, black olives and mozzarella) and Emma the Philly Cheese (Hollandaise sauce with slices of crispy potato topped with shaved flat iron steak, crispy shallots and melted mozzarella) however swapped out the hollandaise for a classic tomato base.
Whenever I’m reviewing anywhere, I always think a swap out is a good test of the quality of the establishment. After all, if everything Is cooked fresh and made to order then a swap out shouldn’t be an issue. And it wasn’t in this case. The fact that the pizza oven takes centre stage in the middle of the restaurant is a great sign too, and the quality and authenticity of both our meals shone through. We both agreed that they were some of the nicest pizzas we’ve had in a while, and we ate a lot of pizza!
The specialty pizzas that we had are £13 each, but by god do you get your money’s worth, in fact we couldn’t finish ours (unheard of for me) but staff were great and wrapped the remainder up for us so we could devour the rest when we got the munchies later on.
Cocktail number two didn’t disappoint either; the Strawberry Bellini for me and The Morning After for Em (Whitley Neill Blood Orange gin, Cointreau, fresh lemon juice, blood orange, orange marmalade) were it not so early we could have sat there all night just working our way down the menu!
It’s also worth mentioning that Eden are well equipped for private parties with 3 cosy snug areas out the back if you want something a little more bespoke and intimate. There was a group in there when we visited and it sounded like they were having a whale of a time!
All in all Eden Newcastle has definitely picked up where Tiger Tiger left off and if they continue with their excellent drinks offers and exceptional pizzas then I’m sure will have a long and happy residency at The Gate.
Thanks for reading,
InNewcastle
This was a guest post by HONESTLY HELEN on behalf of InNewcastle.co.uk
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