MIKE Jennings is hiring sous chefs in a hurry. Snapped up to front the kitchens at the refurbished Neighbourhood after his own venture, Grenache in Walkden, closed, this is a whole new beginning for one of the north west’s best chefs.
They are keeping the kitchen at the Spinningfields bar/kitchen but are starting from scratch with the rest, spending £1m, and it has to be ready by Friday, June 3. There’s a menu to match still to be formulated, too. A chunk of the current team is being despatched to Liverpool for the autumn launch of the brand there. So no pressure then, Mike?
“I’m relaxed,’’ he tells me. “I’m proud of so much we achieved with Grenache, but in the end it was never meant to be. It was difficult from the start to run the place with what we inherited. You saw the standard of the kitchens we had to work with and we could never find sufficient investment.
“Perhaps we need to get over all this fine dining fixation. Neighbourhood’s a different proposition and I’ve really bought into what James Hitchen is aiming to do and I’ve got to deliver it. We want to get a real New York-inspired quality to the food with chefs with a proper taste profile contributing. I don’t want robots.”
Mike worked before, at Southern Eleven, with Hitchen, owner and founder of New-York inspired East Coast Concepts, which also runs the hugely popular Victor’s at Hale, offering, like Neighbourhood all-day brasserie dining.
The closure of Neighbourhood following the Bank Holiday stunned those of the “if ain’t broke don’t fix it’ persuasion. Ever since it opened only a short while back in 2013 it has been at the forefront of Manchester’s bar/restaurant boom. To the inexperienced eye it didn’t look ‘tired’.
The appointment of Stretford-raised Jennings should give the food offering a shot in the arm. He has cooked in some top kitchens – for Gary Rhodes, Nigel Haworth and, most influentially, Shaun Rankin on Jersey. In a short period running Grenache, it was Michelin recommended, won two AA rosettes Good Food Guide and AA recommended and won a and a Good Food Guide ‘Best Restaurant’ award.
Hitchen is pleased to have got his new head chef: “This is a fantastic appointment for us. It’s also great timing as Mike will come in and work in a totally new-look venue.
“Neighbourhood has been integral to the explosion of the restaurant and bar scene in Manchester since opening in 2013, but things needed to change to reflect evolution of not just Spinningfields, but our customers, too.
“We believe our new and exciting menu will reflect what customers want as we focus on providing something for everybody.”
James, 33, who trained to be a BBQ pit boss in Nashville, said: “Mike was going to be our original head chef at Neighbourhood but another opportunity came up for him back in 2013. Right now is the perfect time for him to join and lead the Neighbourhood kitchens. It also comes at an exciting time as we are on track to employ more than 200 people when the new Neighbourhood opens in Liverpool in October.”
But will a chef of Jennings’s calibre make Neighbourhood a more serious food-led operation.? Watch this space. Things are happening pretty fast.