TASTE of Manchester editor Neil Sowerby is one of seven food critics feeling the heat of the kitchens for this year’s Too Many Critics dinner – at Dishoom on Monday, March 18.
At last year’s event at 20 Stories more than £23,000 was raised for Action Against Hunger, all monies going to help save the lives of malnourished children in 50 countries worldwide.
The formula remains the same – critics’ dishes cooked on the night being judged by some of the north’s best chefs. This year they’ll be preparing their own versions of dishes from across the Sub-continent under the watchful eye of chefs at the acclaimed Indian restaurant newcomer in Manchester Hall.
None of our magnificent will be attempting to tweak Dishoom’s signature breakfast dish , the Bacon Naan Roll. How you can improve on perfection?
Just like Hawksmoor, which also arrived from London four years ago in similar seamless fashion, Dishoom have just announced their own cookbook. To be published on September 5, it’s available to pre-order now on http://amzn.to/2F7q889 .
We’ve been teasing the co-authors, founders Shamil and Kavi Thakrar and head chef Naved Nasir that it’s bad timing for any critics to squeeze their chosen recipe into its pages (Neil is cooking a Keralan Fish Moilee)! Alas, a very solid looking advance copy is already pictured on Twitter @Dishhoom.
The blurb sums up the Bombay-inspired ethos that drives the Thakrars and their very individual restaurants (Manchester pictured above): “Through the course of these pages, you will go on a gentle walking tour of South Bombay, peppered with much eating and drinking. Gradually, you'll discover the simple joy of early chai and omelette at Kyani and Co., of dawdling in Horniman Circle on a lazy morning, of eating your fill on Mohammed Ali Road, of strolling on the sands at Chowpatty at sunset or taking the air at Nariman Point at night.
“Once you find your places of refuge, Bombay will become human and then – without you noticing exactly when – it will complete the seduction and become delightful.”
Monday’s AAH fund-raising dinner, held in association with Northern Restaurant & Bar 19, https://www.northernrestaurantandbar.co.ukpromises to be delightful, too. Assembling once again will be the five brave Manchester foodie folk pictured below (Emily Heward of the Manchester Evening News; Matt White, Manchester Fodder; TOM’s Neil Sowerby; Louise Rhind-Tutt, I Love Manchester; and Ruth Allan, Manchester Wire),
They will be joined in the Dishoom kitchens by Simon Binns (LADbible) and Bill Knott (Financial Times, Restaurant Magazine). Their task? To construct their own version of an Indian dish to set before some of the hospitality industry’s finest. And what a setting in the Grade II listed former Freemasons Hall on Bridge Street.
Dishoom’s reputation in both London and Edinburgh has been built on the quality of their lovingly curated menu of Bombay comfort food and award-winning drinks e but also the attention to detail in their beautiful fit-outs.
This year, guests will be welcomed with a Champagne Taittinger reception, before the critics are put through their paces to create delicious fare curated by Naved Nasir.
Guests will also have the opportunity to bid on a host of exclusive experiences and items in our Live and Silent Auctions.
Too Many Critics, Monday March 18, 6pm-11.30pm. Dishoom, 32 Bridge Street, Manchester, M3 3BT. Sold out. Keep up to date with the event live via @ACF_UK. Their Twitter feed is currently featuring a cheeky video of our critics getting to grips with Indian baking.
Here’s our five-star review of Dishoom Manchester.