THE hottest day of the year and the hottest new restaurant in town. TOM can report that the air-con at Grafene is as impressive as its sleek looks. The £1m Modern British restaurant transforming the long-closed Brasserie Blanc site off Chapel Walks doesn’t officially open until Friday, July 22 yet there is a more finished feel to it than many of the fresh projects that spring up.
Our soft launch lunch revealed a food menu still being fine-tuned by head chef Damien Cunliffe (ex-Volta). A stand-out dish of brill fillet, cauliflower risotto, crab bisque, samphire, scorched grapes and sea herbs (above) showed kitchen ambitions that transcend the all-day dining remit of this 190-seat ‘informal’ cocktail and champagne bar and restaurant.
Damien’s currently being ‘overseen’ by exec chef Darren Goodwin from The Orangery restaurant at Losehill House hotel in the Peak District – original project of Grafene owners Paul and Kathryn Roden.
They are certainly throwing talent at Grafene. We’ve already covered the front of house roster of appointments, but the kitchen team looks equally impressive – sous chefs Phil Smith, from the Alderley Edge Hotel restaurant and Sean Forshaw, head chef of Ramsbottom’s Hearth of the Ram with Cristina Molinari (ex-Ritz Paris and Buddha Bar London) as pastry chef.
The menu offers a choice of small plates, a market-based a la carte menu plus a seven-course taster menu. We like the idea of perching at the bar, sipping their signature champagne, Pommery (from a genuinely interesting wine list) with a few venison sausage rolls, pickled mackerel in a chilled sorrel soup or a heritage tomato salad (below).
Full review to come when the team have settled in. Meanwhile, some pictures of this very attractive addition to the city’s eating and drinking scene, which features an open pastry kitchen, a champagne/cocktail bar, two private dining rooms and an outdoor terrace,
The name? Yes, it is a homage to Graphene, the 2D wonder material founded at the University of Manchester in 2004. No, the plates aren’t made of it.
Grafene, 55 King Street, Manchester, M2 4LQ. 0161 696 9700. Open 8am-11pm, Fri 8am-1am, Sat 9am-1am, Sun 10am-11pm.
