Levanter Fine Foods: restaurant review | Jay Rayner

In pursuit of a perfect steak, Jay heads to Ramsbottom where he finds fabulous Spanish cooking at amazing prices

10 Square Street, Ramsbottom, Lancashire (No bookings) Meal for two, including drinks and service: £70

Back in 2009 I made a pilgrimage to a restaurant in the Basque hills outside San Sebastian called Etxebarri. At that point it was ignored by most of the guides and yet it had become something of a cult for the way the single-minded chef, Bittor Arguinzoniz, insisted on cooking everything over wood – even the cream for the ice cream. It has taken until now, with the opening of the likes of Kitty Fisher’s and John Doe in London, for the doctrine of wood smoke to waft over to the capital and beyond.