NOSTALGIA ain’t what it used to be as we look back on 2018 to discover how scrooglike we’ve been in handing out five star reviews. Just the five.
In 2018 they hit the dozen mark and recipients still going strong include the likes of Mana, Dishoom, Bundobust and the Moorcock at Norland. On the flipside you’ve no chance of going back to Rabbit In The Moon, Umezushi, Grafene and Manchester House – despite our top accolade they’ve all shut since for various reasons.
Our review tally for this departing year is awash with four star scores but only five establishments went one further – Tast Catala, the Bull & Bear and James Martin in the city centre with the White Hart at Lydgate and the White Swan at Fence definitely out of town trips. Follow our review links to see what all the fuss was about:
WHITE SWAN AT FENCE Our fave of the five was this family-run village pub outside Burnley, which has proudly hung on to its Michelin star despite not looking the part. Prodigious chef Tom Parker’s food undoubtedly does. In February we paid £55 for the five course tasting menu. It’s gone up a tenner since but it still remarkable value compared with fellow star-holder Northcote 12 miles away, where Parker trained. Stand-out dish on the day was a tranche of turbot with morel mushrooms, thin coins of kohlrabi and a frothy hazelnut noisette sauce
The White Swan, 300 Wheatley Lane Road, Fence, Burnley BB12 9QA. 01282 611773.
THE BULL & BEAR More ‘pub’ food, exalted to a different level, but in a very different setting – Manchester’s opulent Stock Exchange (above), now transformed into swanky boutique hotel. Tom Kerridge has three Michelin stars of his own at two of his establishments in Marlow, Bucks and the same mantra applies here: ‘Refined British classic comfort food’. That doesn’t rule out playful interpretations of those classics and some serious culinary invention. Witness our favourite dish, the rotisserie quail, stuffed with black pudding and served with a Keralan-influenced moilee coconut sauce. The wine list competes with the best in town (but the White Swan has the beer edge – the complete Timothy Taylor range!)
The Bull & Bear, 4 Norfolk St, Manchester M2 1DW.
WHITE HART AT LYDGATE There’s usually Taylor’s Landlord on handpump in the cosy brasserie bar of this hilltop hostelry above Oldham that over the 25 years of Charles Brierley’s stewardship has morphed into a posh wedding venue with rooms and a restaurant that has benefited from the presence of chef Mike Shaw for over a decade. This Greenfield lad started his career at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons under Raymond Blanc, taking in Gordon Ramsay-founded Aubergine in London, Hambleton Hall, Gilpin Lodge in the Lakes and a spell with Marco Pierre White as well as working in Cannes for the maverick Richard Neat, first Englishman to win a star in France. The Hart’s seasonally changing menu is less haughty than that cv suggest but Shaw conjures up some unerring flavours even in a dish as simple as Morecambe Bay shrimp, crumpet, brown crab butter and sorrel (£9).
White Hart, 51 Stockport Road, Lydgate, Saddleworth, OL4 4JJ. 01457 872566.
TAST CATALA Not a hint of pub about this sleek UK outpost of Catalan superchef Paco Perez, who holds five Michelin stars across his empire. The top floor, 14 covers and its own kitchen, hosts epic Enxenata tasting menus (£135 for the 15-course Tres de Quinze), showcasing Paco’s greatest hits. After its belated launch we gave that fascinating experience five stars. We were keen though to check out the more day to day menu, so paid a return visit in October and were equally blown away by playful small ‘tastet’ dishes such as Duck’in Donuts (£3.90) – those foie gras and white chocolate pastiches sprinkled with raspberry dust, and that sandwich where tou del tillers cheese is spun into a prawn cracker-like foam crisp housing creamy cheese and truffle ((£4.50). The larger dishes to follow clinched the second five-star score.
Tast Catala, 20-22 King St, Manchester M2 6AG. 0161 806 0547.
JAMES MARTIN MANCHESTER We’ve all warmed to the wow factor brought to BBC2's 2019 Masterchef: The Professionals by Exose, chef de partie at this celeb-branded restaurant inside the 235 Casino. The 22-year-old who made the final three has surely benefited from working under Martin’s long-time head chef there. Doug Crampton deserves to be celebrated in his own right for his serious contemporary cooking. Smoking, pickling, fermenting, sourcing, seasonality, foraged materials – a lot of boxes are ticked and the end product is consistently fine. We loved the deftness of his rabbit ballotine, infused with in-house black pudding.
James Martin, Manchester 235, Great Northern, 2 Watson Street, Manchester M3 4LP. 0161 820 3072.