4 July 2012

Although it says ‘French’ on the label, Aubaine restaurant in Selfridges serves what I’d call ‘larder cooking’. The kind of cooking that uses what’s in the garden and the freshest pieces the fishmonger has in store.

It’s a bit like doing a maths sum where you show rather than hide your method. In a side dish of potato dauphinoise, for example, fresh, gooey double cream, torn herbs and mandolin - sliced potatoes are cooked just so, so that each layer retains a balance of crispness and stodge, each ingredient blossoms.

The simple menu is a match for the second floor conservatory whose airy atmosphere a far cry from the days when Patsy and Eddie would bounce around posh department stores in the sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous. This 100-cover space is somewhere anyone would feel comfortable. That’s one of its strengths.

We choose carpaccio of beef fillet and leaves, with truffle oil and parmesan shavings to start (woah - £14.50). It is expensive, even by Manchester standards, but I love it. Delicate, stylish, decadent, the flavour of the raw beef (imported from Aubaine’s national suppliers) a keynote. In this configuration, it’s overshadowed just a tad by the bulk of the leaves.

Caprese salad (£11.50) is an example of where Aubaine branches out. This isn’t tight-trousered Parisian haute cuisine, its slouchy Med to the core, brought to zingy life, with soft jelly made with the essence of tomatoes. Buffalo mozzeralla, crusty bread, extra virgin and just-torn basil. Familiar flavours. Green tomatoes add a bit of visual intrigue. I would have left the mozzeralla out longer before serving, but it looks (see above) a treat.

Rack of lamb

The roast rack of lamb (£19) almost nails it too. Roasted fennel oozes into the buttery meat, making something new. Tomatoes and intense, salty black olives (those wrinkly ones which ooze sunshine and salt-kissed skin) show imagination, passion even.

I don’t know how much say the Manchester restaurant has in the kitchen, as the menu’s the same as Aubaine’s other outlets, which are located across central London.

My only criticism is the coarseness of the fennel. It’s distractingly chunky, while the tomato concasse for the sea bass (£19.50) brings to mind cheap, jarred sauces – as does a side of Provencale vegetables (£4.50). As they teach in management school, sweetness does not equal authority.

Wines are great. The house sauvignon blanc makes an incisive debut at the start of the meal. Siobhan, the director of the food and drink festival reckons pink wine is a ‘bit tacky’ so restaurant manager, Chris Bloomfield, and I prove her wrong with the house rose. Cherry-tipped, it’s up for accompanying all three course.

The meal bows out with patisserie. They have a proper dessert ‘tray’, showcasing what’s what from a chilled selection. The chocolate éclair swops whipping cream for mousse inside a choux pastry case, topped with cocoa icing. I’m a sucker for macaroons right now and like the rest of the desserts and pastries, they’re crafted in house – these are the best in town.

Aubaine, Level 2, Selfridges, 1 Exchange Square, M1 1BD Tel: 0161 838 0571 www.aubaine.co.uk