Manchester is known for being the second home of several London-born restaurants. Earlier in the year, it was reported that steak restaurant Flat Iron was opening its first site outside of the capital on Deansgate, and now a planning application has been submitted for Blacklock to open on the lower ground floor of Peter Street’s Freetrade Exchange.
The meat-heavy restaurant takes inspiration from traditional chophouses that date back to the late 1600s. It specialises in various cuts of meat that are attached to the bone for deeper flavour and uses vintage Blacklock cast irons to weigh down and cook the cuts to a blushing pink.
You’ll find starters such as pig’s head on toast on the menu, alongside lunch specials like the steak sarnie, a take on the classic ‘Steak-On-White’ first served at Louis’ Lunch in New Haven in 1895, and the Blacklock burger – a double cheeseburger Blacklocked with onions caramelised in a healthy glug of vermouth.
But where Blacklock impresses the most is in its dry aged steaks and door stop thick chops. You can choose between beef, lamb or pork, or a sharer that comes with pre-chop bites followed by a heady mix of beef, pork and lamb skinny chops piled high on charcoal-grilled flatbreads with a choice of sides.
The restaurant also pulls out all of the stops on a Sunday. Diners can enjoy whole joints that are roasted over open coals and English oak the traditional way. Choose from either 55-day aged beef, 28-day aged lamb leg or 21-day aged pork loin, all served with a Yorkshire pudding, duck fat-roast potatoes, a selection of seasonal vegetables and doused in an unsparing amount of Blacklock Gravy.
The restaurant currently has five sites in London; Soho, Canary Wharf, City, Shoreditch and Covent Garden. The Manchester restaurant will be Blacklock’s very first venue outside of the capital and will sit only a few steps away from Flat Iron – which is taking over the former Black’s store on Deansgate – when it opens.
A consultation is due to take place for Blacklock Manchester on Wednesday 20 September.