Neil Sowerby It is on the record.The favourite dish of head chef Michael Campbell at the Doubletree Hilton on the current a la carte menu is the crab risotto, suffused with the spice legacy of his Jamaican background.
In a muted pastel dining room, a refuge from the festive madness elsewhere, we awaited its arrival with subdued excitement. The DH is like that.
It took a little longer than expected. Head chef Campbell, who stayed at the stove as The Mint Hotel Piccadilly came under the Hilton umbrella is also something of a perfectionist. The crab hadnât come up to scratch. Crayfish was stepping into the breach.
Whether we lost by the substitution Iâm not sure. The reduction felt crabby, the crayfish more neutral, but the disc of ginger jelly, the coconut foam and a hint of chilli all gave character. An accompanying chenin blanc, lacking in fruit on its own, sprung to life in combination.
A previous dish of (very creamy) parsnip soup was similarly soothing. Against a culinary landscape in the city screeching Big Flavour this was release. Even the Marlborough sauvignon with that was a demurely tropical tincture.
Michael, once upon a day, worked under the great Eyck Zimmer at The Lowry and it seemed to showed in our main, Pork Three Ways. Hanged, Drawn and Quartered â no just joking, that kind of nomenclature tickles me still.
Earthy, smoked flavours
We got pork loin, earthy smoked pork belly and delicious black pudding beignets that are called bonbons on the menu (pictured). With them pear puree and small tangles of savoy in another delicate dish. A light red burgundy from Francoise Chauvenet was equally modest but satsifying.
A chocolate ganache â dark and intense as were accompanying miniature raspberry delights â completed a meal that, if it never quite shouted hallelujah, was just the kind of antidote to seasonal excess and all those burgers, ribs and BBQ sauces that have been so hyped in 2012.
Perhaps the talent of Campbell is cramped by the demands of his new hotel masters but it shines through consistently, which is no bad thing.
One Piccadilly Place, 1 Auburn St., Manchester M1 3DG. Tel: 0161 2421000 doubletree3.hilton.com. Lunch/early dining 5.30pm-7pm two courses £12.95 or three £15.95. Dinner two courses £15.95 or three £19.95. Five course gourmet menu £30.