YOU never considered cauliflower could be a thing of beauty? Think again. In the hands of Simon Wood it is a work of art on the plate. Witness the 2015 Masterchef winner’s take (avoiding cheese) on this often maligned veg. Called Simply Cauliflower, it features in his new book, At Home With Simon Wood: Fine Dining Made Simple, and expect a starring role for it in his new First Street restaurant, called simply Wood.
ToM is with him on the day work starts on the Jack Rosenthal Street site, sandwiched between Liquor Store and Gasworks but destined to be a very different beast. Today a bleak concrete shell, by midsummer an independent 125 cover fine dining restaurant of a kind rare in contemporary city centre Manchester. You have to believe.
We’ve seen the architect’s mock-ups of what it will all look like – dominated by the open theatre kitchen and its Josper oven, with a chef’s table alongside and a 16 seater private dining room upstairs. We already knew the inspiration for the decor comes from nature, but after sharing the visionary gleam in Simon’s eyes face to face we can hardly wait for the specially commissioned lighting that will cast a dappled woodland glow over Simply Cauliflower – or Tomahawk Steak, below, another dish in the development stage for the a la carte.
A menu announcement is imminent – for the moment we are feeding on scraps.
But what scraps. His signature cod dish from Masterchef definitely, plus citrus tutti frutti, another dish that has been with him on his rollercoaster ride from data manager with a food passion to professional chef, and the wild mushroom ravioli that has gone down a storm at The Boardroom, the monthly Oldham Athletic pop-up where he has honed his restaurant skills. “Feeding 450 people in 90 minutes is quite a learning curve,” he tells us as we settle down for coffee in nearby Home.
Quite different then from what you learned during post-Masterchef stints with Theo Randall at The Intercontinental, Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley and Simon Rimmer’s West Didsbury veggie beacon, Greens?
“Of course. There I discovered so much about what it’s like to cook in and run a top professional kitchen, but it wan’t my food. Marcus Wareing is obviously not going to let me put my dishes on his menu!”
Feet really planted on the ground then is obvious as we discuss the various menu options ahead. “We’ll be open from 10am, there’ll be a Lounge Menu, serving the likes of padron peppers, 18 hour pork belly, steak with rosemary and basil pesto and my equivalent of chips, deep-fried gnocchi. These will be Rooster red potatoes thrown into the Jopser oven as it i cooling down and staying overnight to be infused with smoke, then fried until they are crunchy little pillows.
“The a la carte is our next priority. There will be a tasting menu at some point, but I must confess I couldn’t cope with a 10 or so course meal every week. It’s very special occasion. We want folk to drop in for two or three courses for a fixed price after work and enjoy before going on somewhere.”
Likely enjoyable destinations being Home and the Bridgewater Hall, but ToM is looking forward to a different kind of performance – at Wood’s Chef’s Table, where you’ll get to watch at close hand Simon and his experienced head chef Mike Jennings parade their skills.
Hiring the ex-Grenache chef as well as general manager James Cunningham, both with formidable CVs, is proof of Simon’s ambition and confidence in the project after assiduous preparation.
“It’s my food that’s being cooked and I stand or fall by it. It’s a big step up for ‘that bloke who cooks off the telly’. I’m up there to be shot at. I know that, but I have every confidence.”
So does ToM. This boyish 40-year-old, son of a Bacup publican, single father of four, diehard Latics fan and and dedicated foodie (see his inspiration list below), possesses a rare personal magnetism and, just as important, driven work ethic. From little acorns…
Simon Wood’s food heroes
Chefs: Daniel Humm (Eleven Madison Park, NYC), Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay.
Cookbooks: Summer Cooking by Elizabeth David; Larousse Gastronomique; Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook.