Tag Archive for: news

  egn_cvsrt_presentation We had a visit from Pete, Karen & Meg the rescue dog from Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team earlier this month. Simon was delighted to present a cheque for £500 based on the generous donations from our customers since we launched our campaign this summer. That, plus the donations from the collection box has taken this year’s contributions to over £700! Thanks everyone for supporting such a worthy local cause.
However we’re not finished yet: can you help us hit £1000 by the end of the year? Dig deep please and make a donation when you dine with us. Look out for Simon on New Year’s Eve; he’ll be shaking the collection box and persuading guests to give generously. It’s CVSRT’s busiest season so let’s do everything we can to help!

Bib Gourmand logo We’re absolutely delighted and honoured to have been awarded a prestigious Michelin Guide 2015 Bib Gourmand for the second year running: one of only four across the whole of Yorkshire!

It’s testament to the dedication, precision and focus of the whole team here at El Gato Negro, and it’s an honour to have this recognition. We strive to deliver excellent food and wines at great prices, and this award recognises this. Whether it’s our great value dining deals, the regular menu, or our gourmet events, we always try to make great food and drink as inclusive and accessible as possible while maintaining high standards.

Thanks to all our customers for their support, and to our staff for making this happen once again.

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The restaurant will be closed to the public this weekend, to facilitate our commitment to a series of private functions. We will be closed Friday 5th – Sunday 7th, and will be reopening as usual on Wednesday 10th. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause, and thanks for your understanding.

Closed door at El Gato Negro

Closed door at El Gato Negro

 

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The news you’ve been waiting for… our doors reopen at 6pm this evening, after a short and refreshing summer break in Manchester, Barcelona and beyond. The restaurant is open as usual this evening, then again on Saturday from 6pm, then we will be open through from Tuesday 6pm. It’s good to be back!

The team is ready and we’re launching with a brand-new food menu. Although we’re hoping summer’s not completely over yet, this menu sets us up perfectly to embrace the shorter days ahead, with a range of exciting new dishes. You can browse the whole menu here… as well as the desserts menu we launched last month.

We are also very excited to be launching our brand-new wine menu, which we have been trailing and testing for some time in anticipation of unveiling it. We have significantly increased the number of wines (almost all of which are Spanish), and it’s jam-packed with incredible (and sometimes exclusive) wines. As Simon says…

We’re proud to offer you a superlative selection of Iberian wines, focusing wherever possible on smaller artisanal producers and the very best examples of varietals. I hope you take pleasure in discovering some lesser-known gems which we’ve worked hard to track down.

We’ll shortly be adding a dedicated new wines page to the website; in the meantime you can view/download a PDF of the full new wine list here.

And, as we’ve hinted before we have a series of new tasting events coming up in the autumn and early winter. There’s one per month and they’re going to be rather special… so keep your eyes peeled as we’ll be announcing them next week to newsletter subscribers and our followers on social media and here on the website!

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El Gato Negro Sur le Tour cat The Tour de France is almost upon us, and our headline offer is a real winner, with tickets on sale now. El Gato Negro is located just metres away from a dramatic stretch of Stage 2, as the peloton descends into Ripponden from Blackstone Edge. It’s the perfect base for a delightful gourmet day with breakfast and lunch included, so you can enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience in comfort!

This private daytime ticket is a superlative deal so you can enjoy the thrills and spills of the race in style. Just £70 per head for a guaranteed place from 9am-5pm. The price includes all of these features, making it exceptional value:

  • Private, unrestricted access to the restaurant (and our comfort facilities) between 9am-5pm. Stay inside or pop out to enjoy all the action.

  • A guaranteed table from 9am-5pm, with table service and complementary bar snacks

  • Our epic Spanish-style breakfast (see below for full details)

  • A great, late tapas lunch, after the excitement of the race passing through the village is over

  • Probably the best selection of wines and sherries in Ripponden, along with beers, coffees and soft drinks to suit every taste.

  • Live race coverage on our big screen, or the chance to step outside and enjoy it for real

Almost certainly the biggest and best breakfast in Ripponden

It’s going to be a long, thrilling day, so from 9am-11am we’re serving an epic gourmet breakfast to set you up in style. It’s our characteristically Spanish-style riff on a proper full Yorkshire breakfast. Here’s what it includes egn_june_tablelayout

  • Brindisa dry cured smoked panceta 

  • Pimentón Dulce chorizo Catalan

  • Spanish morcilla (black pudding)

  • griddled Portobello mushroom

  • a choice of either fried or scrambled eggs

  • our very own home-made alubia baked beans

  • home-made patatas haché (think hash browns, but better)

  • artisan miche sourdough toast

  • your choice of tea or coffee

Perfect for a leisurely and luxurious start to the day!

Bar and facilities

As the excitement mounts our bar will be open, with table service from our dedicated team. We’ll have our favourite champagnes, cavas, wines and sherries on hand… plus we’ll be showcasing some wonderful new Spanish wines from our forthcoming wine list too. They’ll be complementary snacks throughout the day too, to bridge the gap between breakfast and lunch. And don’t forget the relief of having access to our facilities; even if you nip outside to experience the excitement on the streets, you’ll still be able to enjoy our clean restroom facilities without fighting the crowds.

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A selection of wonderful tapas dishes by El Gato Negro (dishes shown may vary from those on the day)

A post-race lunch to savour

After the race passes through the village (approx 2.45-3pm) Simon and the team will be serving a selection of set menu with seven superb tapas classics and a bottle of wine to be shared between two.

We’ve upgraded the wines from our normal house too… you have a choice of either

  • Red – Candidato Barrica 3
  • White: Plot 22 Airen Blanco

We’ll be finishing the daytime service for 5pm, in time to ready the restaurant for the evening meal special.

Reserve your places for this fantastic day now by calling 01422 823070. See everything we’re offering for Le Tour here

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egn_cvsrt_training-045 El Gato Negro is proud to be supporting Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team – our local Mountain Rescue team – this summer by fundraising for this charity, which provides a vital life-saving emergency service to the people of Calderdale and beyond. They attend an average of 60+ callouts each year and is staffed entirely by 50 unpaid volunteers. It costs around £35,000 a year to keep the team operational, all of which is raised through donations – they receive no direct government funding.

We’ve had a collection box in the restaurant for the last couple of months, but on Thursday 3 June we’re launching an exciting new initiative to encourage our customers to make a optional contribution when they dine.

We are suggesting an optional donation of £1 per head from diners so that together we can raise some serious funding this summer for CVSRT. Thanks so much in advance for the generosity of our customers; we are sure they will embrace the chance to support this worthy cause by digging deep. We’re also looking to increase awareness of the work which the search and rescue team does.

Simon Shaw, chef/proprietor of El Gato Negro says…

“When I realised the real extent of the valuable work that CVSRT carry out and that it is completely voluntary, I felt that it was a truly worthwhile cause which deserved to be fully supported in whichever way we can. I hope that our customers will feel similarly and support us in this initiative. Many people think that the team only supports hillwalkers, mountain bikers and fell runners of which there are many in this area, however it also provides a valuable resource to all the emergency services as it is highly trained in all aspects of search and rescue in wild and remote places, often in difficult situations. The team is a key support for the Tour de France.”

Last week we had a visit from several volunteers for a photoshoot in the Ripponden afternoon sun; afterwards they held a workshop for our staff. Special thanks to Pete, Les, Karen, Tim and of course Meg the dog for their time with the team… we look forward to supporting you this summer and beyond!

El Gato Negro CVSRT collection box

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It’s Father’s day this Sunday, and we’re opening especially to make sure Dad and the rest of the family can enjoy something delicious and different to celebrate. Dad gets a free drink too… a choice of a glass of our popular rebujito, or an ice cold Estrella beer. Cheers!

We’ll be offering a wonderful selection of dishes; our specials blackboard will be featuring something extra special on Sunday… delicious rib of beef, served with fondant potatoes and green beans. Plus of course our regular menu, featuring a selection of superb seasonally-inspired dishes. We’ll be offering a hand-picked and perfectly honed selection of wines or sherries to accompany your meal… by the glass, or the bottle.

Open from 1pm-4pm for lunch on Sunday 15th for Father’s Day. We’d always recommend booking ahead, and are now taking reservations. Please call the restaurant directly on 01422 823070 to secure your places.

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asparagus, fried duck egg & almond picada

Chargrilled asparagus, fried duck egg & almond picada

We’re open throughout the Easter weekend, and look forward to welcoming you to enjoy our award-winning range of food and wines at El Gato Negro Tapas.

As usual we’ll be serving up a wonderful selection of dishes: our new spring menu has been going down a storm since we launched it, and it will be augmented with a series of stunning seasonal specials. As usual we’ll be offering a hand-picked and perfectly honed selection of wines and sherries to accompany your meal.

Our opening times over Easter are

Good Friday
Open for lunch, with bookings between 12:00 and 1.30pm
Normal evening opening times (from 6pm)

Saturday
Lunch service 12:00 – 2:00 pm,
Evening service 6:00 – 10:00 pm (last orders)

Easter Sunday
Open for lunch 1 – 4pm 

Monday
Closed

Tuesday
Closed

 We recommend booking ahead at this busy time. We’re now taking reservations: please call the restaurant directly on 01422 823070 to secure your places.

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Just as the clocks change and spring truly blossoms across the Pennines, we’ll be open on the last Sunday of this month – Mother’s Day on 30th March – and serving a very special four course menu for a truly memorable dining experience. The full menu is reproduced below.

Soup
Jerusalem Artichoke Velouté

Starter

A choice of either…
Seared hand-dived scallop with carrot and ginger puree
or
Sous vide pork shoulder presse, fried quail egg and morcilla

Main course

A choice of either…
Roast rib of aged beef, fondant potatoes, green beans, red wine jus
or
Fillet of line-caught Sea Bass, spring green vegetables, white bean and horseradish

Dessert

A choice of either…
Classic glazed lemon tart with fresh Raspberries
or
Valrhona chocolate caramel delice
or
A selection of regional Spanish cheeses

It’s priced at just £30 per head, and including a glass of rosé cava as an extra treat for mum. Last year this event sold out quickly so we’ve extended it to two sittings: 1–3pm and 4–6pm, to allow more diners to experience a wonderful Mothering Sunday. If you require a vegetarian alternative, please let our staff know at the time of booking.

Reservations are now being taken: please call the restaurant directly on 01422 823070. (Update) Only a few spaces remaining!

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We’re delighted to confirm the gourmet menu for our New Year’s Eve celebrations. Demand was unprecedented and even after expanding across both floors, the evening is now fully booked.

If you’d like to maintain a level of surprise and anticipation until the evening, look away now… but if not, please read on.

Read more