THERE’S a certain frisson in watching a restaurant take shape. The glitch is father to the glitz. One minute a hard-hat-on-please, never-going-to-be-ready-in-time shell, the next a glass of bubbly being proffered as you take in the gleaming newcomer at its overdue launch.
Seafood specialists Randall & Aubin’s showpiece glitz will undoubtedly be its giant mirror ball, replicating the one that’s been a constant since the original Soho R&A was created 21 years ago by chef/patron Ed Baines out of an old French butcher and traiteur shop of that name (below).
Only – and we did mention glitches – it won’t be the one pictured here. That turned out to be too big for the space at 1.1 metres in dimater and in danger of being tupped by the very tall, so it had to go.
As I write, they are preparing to ship it back to storage in Kensington, after having to dismantle a window at the new Bridge Street site to get it out. Its replacement will be a more modest .75 metres and will be in place for the opening on May 23.
At 125 covers in a long room boasting a standalone bar, open kitchen and a fish counter it’s more than twice the size of the mothership in Brewer Street, Soho. A straight conversion of the former Rankin Style furniture showroom, it hasn’t inherited the mass of period fittings found down there, but operations manager James Storey tells us he’s been busy collecting some amazing stuff to kit it out, while the plan is not create a replica.
So what do they bring to Manchester? “Seafood obviously, using the same suppliers up in Peterhead, Scotland, so Manchester will be getting it even fresher,” says James.
It will feature heavily on a menu smaller than London’s, which had become “unwieldy” plus for Manchester they will also launch a set lunch and Sunday roasts from their new state-of-the-art rotisserie.
“We see no reason to change our meat suppliers, Aubrey Allen (of Leamington, named `Britain’s Best Butcher’s Shop 2016). We will be using local cheeses, veg from Noone and Son and stocking beer from Alphabet and gin from Three Rivers, though our bar is steering away from the general gin craze in favour of specialist martinis.
“We’ve done our research and are not being complacent about coming up. After all it has taken us 21 years to create a second Randall & Aubin. We are not some big brand and the move just feels right in such an exciting city.”
]More than a year’s worth of regular reccies north have obviously paid off for James, who has fallen in love with the city, just as we hope to fall in love with a decent seafood restaurant in the centre at last.
Randall & Aubin, 64 Bridge St, Manchester M3. 0161 711 1007.