From burgers to DIY cocktails: how have Sheffield businesses adapted?

We’re lucky to have a vibrant choice of independent restaurants, street food vendors and craft beer bars in Sheffield. You only have to walk down Abbeydale Road or through Kelham Island and take your pick of bars, coffee shops and eateries. But how have these places survived the pandemic?

Whilst we pray that our favourite restaurants and bars will reopen in the next few months, we ought to give thanks to the ones that have delivered top-notch nosh during the pandemic.

Using local services like CityGrab and Mealbase or direct from their door to ours. We’ve gourmet restaurants that have adapted to keep catering for us, providing DIY cocktails along with other boozy treats, and high-end street food we can enjoy at home.

Now more than ever, we must take our hats off to local independent traders and keep supporting them. We checked in with a few to hear how they were getting on…

Unit

First off, we had a chat with the lads from Unit, a Halal gourmet burger restaurant tucked away in the heart of Broomhall, just inside the ring road.

Your reviews are enough to make our mouths water. Tell us more about what you’ve been up to.

Currently, we’re open for delivery and collection only. We’re also working on creating some cool home delivery ideas to bring aspects of the restaurant experience to delivered food. Mainly our focus has been on consistently delivering the food people have been craving.

We closed completely before the first lockdown to make sure our team was safe. We then reopened for delivery and collection only from June 2020. Overall it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.

How have things changed down at Unit HQ due to the pandemic?

At first it was really hard to adapt to the constant changes in rules, changing safety policy and risk assessments, as well as trying to get hold of the limited amount of PPE around at the time. We believe we have adapted well, even if it was not as quick as we would’ve liked.

We developed our own ordering app and website, as well as teaming up with local delivery service providers to provide contactless ordering and delivery.

We struggled at the start to find the right kind of sustainable packaging that keeps food hot. But we’ve managed to invest in packaging and equipment to help with cooking and the transport of our food to make sure it travels well.

What we really want to know is, what’s your signature dish?

If we had to pick it would have to be THE DESTROYER - two juicy beef patties served with a heap of brisket, fried mushrooms, onions, crowned with cheesy nachos, beef mince and spring onions.

It’s a brilliant idea to include the DIY section on your website. Tell us more.

Yep, we all started cooking more at home and thought people might want to cook our food at home as a treat. But we also wanted to add a bit more of an experience to it. We’ve linked it to a date night Netflix recommendations and music playlists. We’re also working on vegan and veggie options for these boxes.

The Parrot Club

Next we caught up with John Wickham, co-owner of The Parrot Club in Kelham Island and creator of Sairen, a new Sheffield-made rum.

We’ve heard that you’ve just finished producing a new Sheffield rum. Tell us more.

Sairen Rum is a range of three aged, clear and premium Caribbean rums which we flavour using some of our favourite spices and fruits. It’s crystal clear to make your drinks beautiful and designed to be extremely versatile, easily topped with your favourite mixer or in your ultimate cocktail. It’s certainly here as a challenger to your G&T.

We also heard it's available for delivery. How can people make an order?

We’re selling direct from our website as well as via the Sheffield-based Spirit Store, who’ve been incredible for helping local brands during lockdown.

We have three different flavours, all in beautifully presented 700ml bottles. The first is Exotic, which is an incredible selection of Caribbean fruits including passionfruit, mango, jackfruit, sweetsop and guava. Spices has chocolatey tonka bean, pink peppercorn and clove, with rich Madagascan vanilla. Dark Stone, my favourite, is a beautifully natural mix of wild cherry, cherry blossom, cherry stone and plum.

What’s your recommendation for a perfect serve or a signature cocktail?

Sairen Dark Stone with cola has to be up there as a winner, but the Paradise - my own twist on a Pornstar Martini with Sairen Exotic - is truly special. Also, Exotic, passionfruit, elderflower and apricot brandy topped with champagne! We have loads more full recipes and suggestions on our website to get you started.

Two Thirds Beer Co

Sticking to the drinks theme, we chatted with Ben, co-owner of Two Thirds Beer Co on Abbeydale Road.

You’ve been delivering draught beer and a huge range of cans and bottles to our doors. How’s it been for you?

I think we speak for everybody when we say this lockdown has been much more draining than the last one, mentally and physically! It’s tough spending seven days a week on your hands and knees, boxing up orders.

Driving around Sheffield delivering beer is much tougher than welcoming punters into the bar, pouring delicious beers from the taps and straight into a glass. We’re very tired, but we shouldn’t complain really, should we!

You’ve spent more time operating as a beer delivery service than a bar. Are you excited to re-open?

We absolutely cannot wait to reopen. In a weird way, we’ve never actually been busier, but we miss seeing everybody so much and we’re certainly looking forward to the bar actually being a bar again, rather than a warehouse.

We heard you’ve teamed up with Get Wurst too?

Yes, a bit of an exclusive for you there. We’ve taken on some additional space and have been busy building a kitchen over the past few months. Get Wurst will be serving up their banging bratwursts and authentic German currywursts when we reopen.

We’ve been putting the plans in place since late last summer and we’re super excited to finally launch. It’s the ideal beer food and, as people know, we’re huge fans of everything German, so they’re the absolute perfect fit.

Which delivery services are you using?

The best place to order is via our own website. The full range is on there and we offer free same day delivery on all orders within five miles of Abbeydale Road, and next day delivery on orders over five miles away. You can also find us on CityGrab, Deliveroo and Uber Eats too.

What are your favourite local beers on offer?

There’s some incredible breweries consistently producing some incredible beers in our fantastic city. Our current favourites this year are Straight Outta Crosspool from Crosspool Ale Makers, a cracking old school West Coast IPA with a lovely bitterness, and DYAD #4 from Triple Point, a big, juicy and smooth New England IPA.

Lucky Fox & Terrace Goods

Finally, we spoke to Rich, owner of Lucky Fox, as well as new business venture, Terrace Goods.

Terrace Goods looks very exciting. We’re talking top-notch street food and cocktails to go, right?

We are! We're talking pizzas, Sheffield's first Nashville hot chicken, a deli, amazing cocktails from one of the top bartenders in the UK, craft beers and great desserts. Everything you could want under one roof, alongside some amazing music and a sunny terrace spot.

We’re excited to hear you’re bringing us more of what we love. How are you delivering these delights to our doorsteps?

We're launching our new click and collect website soon that gives you tracking times and pick up notifications. In the meantime, if you want to check us out you can find us on Facebook. We’re also launching a ‘cocktails to go’ service via CityGrab.

Adapting your business must have been hard, but it doesn’t seem to have stopped you from innovating. Talk us through the DIY cocktails.

The best part about a young independent hospitality group is that we can move quickly and the team all have great ideas.

The ‘cocktails to go’ are done by our own Ryan, who is one of the world-class top 100 bartenders this year. They’ve been batched by him and come served from the bottle either chilled or with soda and/or prosecco. You get ice, garnish and a few extra surprises in your delivery too.

Can you share your signature dish and favourite cocktail?

If I'm heading to Terrace Goods, my go-to order is a Nashville hot chicken sando, a slice of the original pizza and one of our Aperol slushies. I’d probably finish with an espresso martini and a slice of cheesecake.