Hope & Anchor, Sheffield

A recent opening in the West One Plaza, combining craft beer and East Coast cooking. I'll try anything once, but as I wasn't planning on eating, that just left the beer. Their definition of craft beer (and there are many) doesn't extend to real ale, so I scanned the slightly confusing list of keg and bottled beers, priced variously in pints, halves, thirds and two-thirds, in hope of finding one I might enjoy. I settled for the Portland Stout, but this proved to be a cold, bland approximation of Guinness, with similar strength but even less taste. The new owners have done their best to make the interior of this rather bland modern building into something with a bit of style and character, though having never been in an East Coast kitchen I can't say how close they might have come to their model. An article in the local paper when this place opened said that it "will specialise in 'Jewish deli-type' food, with a tank of live lobsters as the focal point". Whether this will take off in Sheffield remains to be seen. Date of visit: 25th September 2014