This breezy downtown hotspot is so packed with the Newcastle A-list it's a wonder that anyone else gets a look in. There's a lot of networking going on over the big, fleshy scallops with gnocchi and spiced almonds, which are enthusiastically recommended from one table to another. At the kitchen pass, owner/chef Chris Thornton, the local boy made good, just keeps getting better. Every dish is a powerhouse of flavour and a study in textures, without going over the top. Ravioli of confit pork cheek riches it up nicely with a veloute of roasted garlic, and fried baby squid comes with foamy cauliflower cream, crisp wild rice and splodges of black squid ink. Mushroom-studded ballotine of chicken is cleverly paired with a pate-filled crisp chicken wing, and gently smoked quail breast teams with slow-cooked confit legs and a cute quail scotch egg. Compatibility is the word, right down to the treacly Yorkshire-inspired parkin cake with brown butter and caramel ice-cream. BYO Tuesday to Thursday and on Sunday.