Neil Sowerby who finds a spin-off as enticing as the original... but in a different way.
You always fear for a small outfit that it might get overstretched. Take Aumbry â a fast track serial award winner. Twice winning Manchester Restaurant of the Year in the MFDF awards plus Best Chef in its three years of existence has all felt like a natural progression.
Husband and wife team Laurence Tottingham and Mary-Ellen McTague, with a young family to look after too, have been generous with their time â be it showcasing their innovative cuisine at festivals and in collaborations or just supporting community events around their Prestwich base.
And Iâm sure it didnât stress Mary-Ellen either to feature in The Observer Food Monthlyâs Christmas Issue as a famous food lover, revealing her must have for the coming year is a set of quince bushes. Still, globetrotting celebrity is a way off, one feels.
But the presence of Laurence consulting â and on the night we were there â cooking at the newly opened Beagle (pictured) in Chorlton had me worried. Especially in the build-up to Christmas when Aumbry has gone back to serving most lunchtimes. The tightest team can snap.
As it happened The Beagle supper followed hot on the heels of an eight-course Christmas tasting lunch at Aumbry cooked by Mary-Ellen. It was exemplary, aside maybe for A Three Bird Roast. With stuffing, bread sauce and gravy that just felt dull and not worth the effort of boning and playing Russian dolls with the fowl.
Festive Flavours
As consolation, the alternative main on their Festive Five Course, Wild Scottish Roe Deer, slow-cooked loin, braised haunch, with parsley root and sprout tops was magnificent â as, in no particular order, were truffled celeriac soup, the Aumbry signature dish of black pudding Scotch egg with home-made ketchup, home smoked mackerel and a trio (served in succession) of sherry trifle, made with moscatel, Christmas puddIing And Mrs Beetons Mincemeat Pie.
All three puds, though, were eclipsed by the juicy treacle tart â served with a shot of Belgian wit beer â produced by Laurence at The Beagle. The beer matching is understandable at a bar thatâs an offshoot of Port Street Beer House.
Owner Jonathan Heyes first enlisted Laurence to cook a special one-off dinner at the Independent Manchester Beer Convention in October and he has had carte blanche (as well as biere blanche) to create a bar menu thatâs certainly the most distinctive ever seen in gourmet-starved Chorlton.
In previous incarnations The Beagle was Charango, Ostara and finally Scotts Hill. It never felt comfortable to hang around until now with its low-slung hipster feel (oh and I particularly like the birdlife prints).
Quantum of Stockport brew the house beer and there are fantastic guests and bottles from the likes of Kernel, Thornbridge and Red Willow, while Hanging Ditch provide above average house wines with their own La Brujas blends.
But the food more than holds its own. Starters range from £4 to £8, mains from £11.50 to £19. That last price gets you Colonial Goose, which is actually a chump of Cumbrian lamb braised in red wine and stuffed with apricot, honey and oats. I had hay-smoked Wester Ross Salmon with sprout tops and pink fir apple potatoes, ad delicate match for the resinous hoppiness of a Kernel IPA.
Oatcakes, pearl barley kedgerees, a variation on the old Scots left-over fry-up, the stovey, here with a duck egg, form a coherent classy take on beer-friendly bar grub. I hope the kitchen can keep up the standards when the originator is back at home base â or conquering the world elsewhere!
Aumbry has extended its opening hours during December, opening for lunch from 12-2pm Tues-Sund and dinner Tues-Sat from 6.30-9.30pm.
The festive five course menu is available from Dec 1-24 for lunch Tues-Sun and on Tues evenings, at £35 a head, the seven courser menu for the same period, both at lunchtime and evenings at £45 per head. A selection of wines to accompany each course is available at an additional £30 per head.
Aumbry, 2 Church Lane, Prestwich, M25 1AJ www.aumbryrestaurant.co.uk. The Beagle, 456-458 Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton, M21 0BQ www.beaglesabout.com