It’s time to remember why you’ve always loved this place.
Almost anyone you speak to has a fond tale to tell about Trof. It’s no surprise: the three story restaurant, bar and party venue has stood on the corner of Thomas Street and Tib Street for over twenty years.
Though the building itself – a handsome red brick – dates back to 1881, when it was built as an office building and later, a jewellers.
Not an office anymore, but a headquarters of all sorts of after-hours fun, Trof was the place to eat and drink in the Northern Quarter before, well, the Northern Quarter was the place to eat and drink.
Opening back in 2003 it’s seen the neighbourhood go from up and coming, to the definitive place to hang out, to becoming possibly, in parts, a parody of itself.
With new openings like super cool listening bar renae, and now a refreshed Trof on the scene, we might just be witnessing a return to form for the occasionally maligned neighbourhood.
Never ones to rest on their laurels, owners Jamie Pickles and Matt Nellany thought it was time for a revamp.
Inspired, no doubt, by the success of their newest venture Stow – the fire-driven restaurant on Bridge Street – the hospitality duo have brought a little of that magic to back to their original site.
So, Trof has become ‘The Trof’, and with that grammatical sleight of hand, they’ve switched up their offering, with a menu to match. The ground floor is a pub, with the first floor becoming a dining room, and the upstairs a private hire space.
The menu is full of pub favourites, executed with the same level of flair and finesse that has made Stow a must-visit.
Arguably, some of the most exciting cooking is happening on the starters menu, where you can try a hogget mince on dripping toast drizzled with an anchovy and preserved lemon dressing.
It’s a deeply nostalgic combination of flavours which Pickles describes, quite aptly, as ‘essentially shepherd’s pie on toast’.
At the other end of the indulgence spectrum there’s a fresh and fragrant crab salad, presented on a bird’s nest of shredded apple, and an asparagus and poached egg dish served with a classical sauce gribiche, which brings a lightly spiced, egginess to proceedings. Vegans are catered for too, with a fungi-rich and very pretty pommes forestière dish, presented on the plate like a little woodland scene.
The main courses include an impossibly crispy chicken schnitzel with celeriac slaw, and a pork collar dish with cabbage, bacon and a burnt apple sauce – all the flavours of a Sunday dinner with the dial turned up.
There’s also a beef burger with pickles and red Leicester, and a majestic ox cheek pie and mash.
The sides are exactly what you’d want too: thick cut beef fat chips; zingy dressed leaves; vibrantly green greens.
And the desserts, no prizes for guessing, are all your classic sticky toffee puddings, bakewell tarts and the like. A proper celebration of the pub menu classics.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the bar area, they’re pouring craft favourites, as well as your ‘normal’ lagers.
There’s also a tempting little menu of bar snacks – handwritten of course – which continue the culinary threads of what’s going on upstairs: crab on toast, crispy potatoes, the platonic ideal of a scotch egg.
They’ll even do you a cheese toastie if you ask nicely enough.
The new menu and the new space already feel lived in, despite the recency of the refurb. It wasn’t a huge leap to get thing to where they are. Leaning into the existing exposed brickwork, wooden floors and leather banquettes, they’ve added vintage orb lighting, candles and and assortment of vintage chairs and stools. It’s very classy indeed.
“Whether it’s first dates, friends, family gatherings, everyone has a Trof story”, says Pickles. This new chapter seems to be a very exciting one.
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