THE Manchester Food and Drink Festival (September 10-21) has announced full details of one of its flagship events – Chef Week in association with Simon Rogan.
For five days only, from 15-19 September, Rogan is bringing together from across his empire his talented brigade of chefs and their extraordinary food (Michelin stars and all) to Manchester, as he hosts a culinary extravaganza at The French at The Midland Hotel.
Each evening, a different chef from Simon’s acclaimed portfolio of restaurants will host a dinner showcasing their distinctive cooking styles. They have created some remarkable menus especially for the Festival using the wealth of British ingredients available from Rogan’s own farm in Cumbria and favoured specialist suppliers.
Simon himself, his head chef at the French Adam Reid (above), Tom Barnes (below0, head chef at the two Michelin-starred L’Enclume in Cartmel, Dan Cox exec chef at the one-star Fera at London’s Claridge’s Hotel and David Simms, managing director/chef at Simon Rogan Restaurants have each personally created nine courses of exquisite food for this special ‘week gastronomique’ – one of the Bitten Banquet of Events, curated by the gourmet magazine of that name.
The menus are all priced at £100 per person, with an accompanying wine flight available on request at £60 a head. £20 from each ticket will be donated to Hospitality Action.
Bookings can be made on 0161 932 4198, or via the website.
The Menus
Tuesday, September 15
Tom Barnes • Head Chef • L’Enclume
Chicken dumpling
Beef and oyster
Creamed duck gizzards, Tunworth, whey, onions and chestnuts
Raw scallop, apple, kohlrabi, hazelnut and horseradish
Roasted cauliflower, smoked eel, cured pork and sorrel
Butter poached turbot, violet artichoke, fermented mushroom, sea vegetables
Roasted Valley hare, caper jam, beetroot and blackberry
Crozier Blue cheese, pear cooked in beeswax, fruit bread
Birch sap mousse, pumpkin and almond
Wednesday, September 16
David Simms • Managing Director/Chef • Simon Rogan Restaurants
Mackerel, horseradish and dill
Chickpea wafer, garlic, cheese and flowers
Squash, Morecambe Bay shrimp, black pudding
Crab, runner bean vinaigrette, shallot
Carrots with ham fat and nasturtium
Five spice monkfish, parsnip, raspberry vinegar
Reg’s duck, beetroot, grilled onion, girolle, damson
Oatmeal stout ice cream, elderberry vinegar, rye and ginger bread
Aerated honeycomb mousse, poached quince, quince purée, cobnut biscuit and shiso
Thursday, September 17
Dan Cox • Executive Chef • Fera at Claridge’s
Stewed rabbit, lovage emulsion
Radish, turbot roe, nasturtium
Tomato, mackerel, kohlrabi and marigold
Flaky crab, cucumber, garden herbs, frozen cream
Grilled carrot, smoked jowl, nasturtium
Steamed cod, girolles, turnip and fennel
Cornish lamb and sweetbread, onion, artichoke and orpine
Camomile, celery, pineapple sage
Meadowsweet custard, apple, hazelnut and brown sugar
Friday, September 18
Simon Rogan
Oyster pebbles
Pork and eel, ham fat cream
Hot pot
Grilled salad, truffle custard, Isle of Mull cheese, sunflower seeds
Native lobster, cooked in its own juices, pickled beetroot, sea herbs, cuckoo flower
Charred hake fillet, steamed over pine, Jerusalem artichoke, abalone
55-day dry-aged pork, cooked 24 hours in Northern mead, vintage vegetables and nasturtium
Cumbrian slate, blackberry, apple, lemon verbena
Sweet brackens with rosehips, cobnut and sweet cheese
Saturday, September 19
Adam Reid • Head Chef • The French
Crispy pig skin, blood cake
Oyster pearl, apple and seaweed
Beenleigh Blue cream, pickled red cabbage, linseeds
Golden turnip dumplings, Westcombe cheddar, English truffle and onion
Smoked yolk and artichokes, kales, hazelnut and mustard
Pollock poached in coral butter, lobster, butternut and nasturtiums
Reg’s corn-fed duckling with wild cherries, chanterelles and parsnip
Macerated blackberries and raspberries, liquorice and fennel
Preserved gooseberries, pears poached in elderflower, fried bread with a cultured cream and elderberries