Sunglasses? Bought. Shorts? Packed. Burning despite an unending supply of suncream? Almost guaranteed. It could only mean the start of a heatwave bank holiday weekender.
I don’t know what I did to deserve these temperatures on my very own ‘big weekend’ - heading to both the Radio 1 festival in Sunderland and York Races in the space of 48 hours.
I certainly wasn’t going to question it - despite the fear of returning home looking like a Swizzles drumstick squashie with a bank account on life support.
But thankfully there was a calm before the storm last Thursday when my girlfriend Libby and I decided to head out for tea.
For the last decade, the village of Potto has been synonymous with Tomahawk, operating from 2017 until earlier this year, when it became Fuego Steak and Tapas.
I have never actually ventured down the winding roads to Potto, and arriving at the venue felt like you were about to dine at a true country pub.
There were still remnants of Tomahawk - notably a sign on the building - but when it came to the luxurious interior, why fix something that isn’t broken?
The venue, which has been slightly revamped, looks amazing, with exposed wooden beams, panelling, and cow-patterned dining chairs fusing the rural setting with modern decor.
We sat by the windows of the restaurant, which was surprisingly quiet for the Thursday before a bank holiday, and both our orders were taken quickly.
We decided to try an array of tapas dishes and a steak to share between us (it’s only right) plus a dessert for good measure.
We opted for the slider burgers (£11.95), a Galician pork burger with piquillo peppers and manchego cheese and a wagyu beef with chorizo jam and chipotle mayo, with deep fried calamari (£9.95), and serrano ham croquetas (£7.95).
This came alongside our 8oz medium rare flat iron steak (£27.95), which we had served with onion rings and patatas bravas as our sides of choice.
We loved that you could opt to either have the tapas as starters before steak or have everything fused together.
The standout of the meal has to be the serrano ham croquetas, which were extremely creamy inside and crispy on the outside and came with a delicious truffled mayo.
The patatas bravas was equally fantastic, largely due to the potatoes being in the style of thick pub-style chips, which were perfectly cooked.
Personally I would have preferred lashings of the brava sauce and garlic aioli, purely because it was so good.
The burgers were tasty, although they could have been a little warmer and, again, had some more sauce.
The platter also came with two fried pickles and, being the sort of person who orders a box of pickles at McDonald’s (I have photo evidence of this food crime), Libby was thrilled.
She said the pickles were tasty but would have actually preferred them without the batter, saying it was more on the soggy side than the crispy side.
The calamari was also nice and well portioned.
Then came the steak, a dish that self-proclaimed peppercorn aficionado Libby was especially excited for.
Now I’m not a massive steak fan, but the flat iron was exactly how I’d like it at medium rare.
However, for both Libby and I the tapas was the standout of the two and we weren’t entirely bowled over by the steak.
That said, the peppercorn sauce was delicious and there was plenty of it - even to dip the light and crispy onion rings into - but it would have been perfect if a little creamier.
Having a dangerously sweet tooth I thought we’d try the white chocolate cookie dough (£9.95) for dessert, and as expected, it was phenomenal.
Soft and gooey with crunchy pieces of honeycomb on top, it was the perfect way to finish off the meal, even if it did pose a risk of a food coma.
One of the standouts of our time at Fuego was the service, and our waitress Shannon looked after us brilliantly.
She regularly asked how the food was, kept on top of our drinks, and was polite and helpful with any questions we had.
Unprompted, she even replaced one of the plates on our table after bringing it out just because she wasn’t quite happy with how it looked.
The service really rounded off what was a lovely trip out.
So would I return to Fuego? I’d happily go back, but I think I’d stick with the tapas, and maybe give one of the wood fired pizzas a go on the terrace once they're up and running.
The meal was beautiful set-up for the weekend to come. The Big Weekend was a fantastic day out; scorching weather and the absolutely unmissable Olivia Dean made for the perfect day at the beautiful Herrington Country Park.
Read more:
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Beer pumps turned on at village pub as 'cosy' venue reopens after £415,000 facelift
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It's fair to say post-festival blues are now setting in.
Plus, thanks to Libby’s mum providing a trusty bottle of factor 30, which I used the entirety of, I came home with what some might call a very minimal tan. A huge success in my book.
Fuego Steak and Tapas
Cooper Lane, Potto, DL6 3HQ
https://www.fuegosteakandtapas.co.uk/
Open: Monday to Thursday (9am to 3pm and 4.30pm to 8.30pm), Fridays and Saturdays (9am to 9pm), and Sundays (9am to 8pm).
Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 7 Surroundings 8 Value for money 7 Service 10
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