The Taste is great at green-conscious PJ
Published Date: 23 December 2009
IN the week following the Copenhagen climate change summit and just before the inevitable flagrant over-indulgence over Christmas, it seemed the time to try and find a way of eating responsibly.Can there be such a thing as an ethically-sound takeaway?
Somewhere that does make a big thing about its carbon footprint is PJ Taste whose mission statement is "to provide creative, fresh and mouth-watering food from locally sourced ingredients."
Thus they use quality meat from Coppice House Farm in the Rivelin Valley and Whirlow Hall Farm, fish sourced from Mann's of Hillsborough, and most of their bread from Fosters in Barnsley.
They also take trouble over their recycling which includes sending waste oil to UK Bio Fuels who supply them with bio diesel to run their vans.
Whether this makes them unique or not, the kind of fare resulting from this policy is certainly special.
The on-street blackboard announces Rivelin Valley bacon butties, Peak District buffalo burgers, rump steak ciabatta and venison burgers. There's a vegetarian option of bean burger.
This is their top-of-the-range selection but there are less fanciful options.
You can get a lunch-time deal of a sandwich, packet of Yorkshire crisps and bottle of water or Fair Trade carton of juice from £2.95 to £3.95, depending on the sandwich.
These vary from the basic ham and mustard or egg mayonaisse at £1.95 to something a bit more elaborate such as falafel, salsa and mozarella panini at £3.25.
We thought we should sample their speciality wares, however, and ordered a bean burger and a buffalo burger to be washed down with a couple of their range of Luscombe organic drinks (a fruit juice and a ginger beer) before realising they come from Devon, so hardly local, but never mind. PJ Taste make their own brand of drinks, Citrus Hits.
The bean burger was quality stuff, very different from the kind of frozen product in a breadcrumb shell that is often served up under that name as a vegetarian option in restaurants. It was soft and succulent and full of beans in any way you care to interpret that.
It and the buffalo burger came in paninis with a rocket and tomato salad. My companion belatedly announced an aversion to fresh tomatoes which prompted a thorough purging of any trace of red fruit from the plate - before then proceeding to spread ketchup liberally over the burger. No accounting for taste.
Anyway she declared: "The water buffalo meat was soft, tender and had a taste much richer and more distinctive than beef. The elderflower and apple juice drink was a delicious, refreshing treat."
Which goes for the lashings of ginger beer too.
- Venue: PJ Taste, 249 Glossop Road, Sheffield
- Contact: 0114 2755971, e-mail ask@pjtaste.co.uk
- Opening hours: Monday-Friday, 7.30am-4pm.
- Parking: No.
- Delivery: Free for orders over £10 in the city centre
- Range of Menu: Much more than your average sandwich shop
- Service: Helpful and friendly
- What we had: One buffalo burger (£3.45), one bean burger (£3.35), Luscumbe elderflower and apple juice (£1.95), Luscombe ginger beer (£1.95).
Verdict: A class act.