SIMON Shaw is the kind of chef you’d want on your side in the trenches. Nothing seems to fluster his steely resolve to squeeze the the very best out of his ingredients.
Watching him muster his pop-up team inside a marquee at the MFDF Hub in Albert Square is a masterclass in management but the proof of the pop-up is on the plate and, given the challenge of an unfamiliar, rudimentary kitchen, it’s a triumph.
The five courses (with matching wine flight) live up to the event title, A Spanish Feast With El Gato Negro’s Simon Shaw, one of the highlights so far of an action-packed 20th Anniversary Manchester Food and Drink Festival:
Monte Enebro goat’s cheese with mountain honey and dehydrated beetroot; sweetcorn veloute with spider crab and shellfish caramel; roasted hake, LED tomatoes, shallot and mini caper sauce; braised ox cheek with horseradish mash, baby onions, mushrooms and pancetta; Tarte Santiago with salted caramel Chantilly cream.
The ox cheek dish is the only current regular on El Gato Negro’s restaurant menu, but there’s a wealth of dishes, modern Spanish filtered through Shaw’s classical technique – a style that has enabled the King Street restaurant to retain the Michelin Bib Gourmand it won last year.
El Gato Negro Tapas, 52 King Street, Manchester M2 4LY. 0161 694 8585. To book ring 0161 694 or via the online booking system.
