YOU grip a giant bee to get into this city centre newcomer. The customised door handle is meant to symbolise the work ethic that fuelled the Industrial Revolution Manchester.
In truth, it’s the only obvious nod to 1761, supposed date it all kicked off despite this clarion call on the website: “1761 Restaurant pays homage to Manchester’s great past. Drawing inspiration from the Industrial Revolution and that warm Mancunian spirit which it so notably represents… Guests can enjoy our modern take on classic British dishes in luxurious old style glamour.”
Just what the Chartists and the Peterloo Massacre were all about, the cynic in us ponders as we sample a liquid homage to Manchester. Their This Is The Place cocktail comes with a mini-parchment printed with Tony Walsh’s ‘captures the mood’ doggerel.
Alas, this postprandial snifter is a poor relation to the signature cocktails in Lily’s Bar, named after the legendary doyenne of the Bollinger Champagne dynasty. Here the aspirations to glamour are firmly rooted. The now notorious 118,000 litre fish tank is still to be filled, obtrusive square pillarsmake for awkward nooks and crannies and there are enough Chesterfields to make a World of Leather Winter Sale, but hey, those settees are for sinking into, the soundtrack’s all classic crooning and the ‘telling a story’ tipples are terrific.
Read Lily’s drinks list to appreciate the extensive historical that’s gone into the cocktail mix. Better still just enjoy the contrasting likes of the exotically aromatic Shalimar (meaning 'temple of love' in Sanskrit and blending Sipsmith VJOP, London Cup, bergamot, pink grapefruit, lemon, jasmine and a hint of violet, £10) and A Pocket Full of Rye (an £11 take on ‘what’s your poison?’ featuringWoodford Rye, Campari, Espirit de Figues and black walnut bitters).
The meal to follow upstairs was solid and fairly priced but somewhat of an anti-climax. Plus point of the dining room was the curved sweep of floor to ceiling windows, allowing us, from the warmth of the restaurant, to watch the sleet savaging Christmas Market escapees, still clutching their Bratwurst rolls.
This main room, dominated again by awkward pillars and an unlovely false ceiling with chandeliers, has the feel of some Fifties baronial hotel in the Trossachs. Quite odd considering the money lavished on revamping what was Avalanche.
The mains are conservative and hearty – corned beef hash, lamb shank and the like. A medium-rare ribeye steak with an excellent peppercorn sauce (£22) is fine but not up there with Alston Bar & Beef or Hawksmoor. The almond-accompanied broccoli was soggy. My £10.50 haddock (or was it cod) and chips benefited from a tempura-like Three Rivers Gin batter and they got the beef dripping chips right. Mushy peas, aka Manchester caviar, was the standard stodge.
Sticking with a few starters might prove more fun. We shared three. Stand-out was a salt cod scotch egg (£6.50), the yolk nicely runny, the aioli sharp and the samphire a nice marine touch (I hope it was as locally sourced as the rest of the ingredients are flagged up to be).
Smoked duck breast with a honey and goat’s cheese mousse and chestnuts (£7.50) worked well, too, but a tangle of mushrooms on toast with truffle oil evident suffered from its base of hard, filling-threatening toasted bread. Sourdough? We’re not quite sure.
Pudding came in the shape of a vast wodge of sticky toffee pudding (£6) with not quite enough delicate honeycomb ice cream to cope. The mulled quince (£6.50) sounded nicer than it tasted. Not the quince slices fault, delicious given the pear in red wine treatment; it was just the granola and mascarpone added little.
The 1761 wine list is quite limited, but it was good to see an English red there, which we duly ordered at £30 a bottle. The Chapel Down Red Union Red is a low in tannin light-tasting blend of Pinot Noir and Rondo with supple damsony fruit. It coped well with a menu that offers no powerful flavours or spicing. Maybe, that’s the problem. It’s a kitchen that can do accomplished, I’m sure, but it needs a greater sense of adventure to succeed in a city teeming with competition at this level.
1761 and Lily’s, 2 Booth Street, Manchester, M2 4AT. 0161 714 0414.
