WE at TOM love looking down on the rest of the world, preferably with a drink in our hand. Cloud 23 at the Hilton got us into the habit; the only drawback you are behind ...
Reviews
Review: Tattu
COMFORTABLE in its own skin now, that’s Tattu. A year on from launching as the only body art-inspired restaurant I can recall it is offering culinary substance as well as style on the evidence of ...
Review: The Rose Garden
EVEN the best tended Rose Gardens need a little pruning and replanting. Especially when across the road, rival Volta is blooming with an MFDA Chef of the Year award and other gongs garlanding it recently. ...
Review: La Bandera
SO what if David Silva and Juan Mata weren’t sharing a seafood platter in one of the bright yellow booths? It was late lunchtime after all. Perhaps they were still training hard for that great ...
Review: El Gato Negro Tapas
THE last time I arrived for a meal at El Gato Negro my trousers were caked almost to the knees in farmyard mire (that’s the polite word). I was with two companions, hopelessly lost and ...
Review: Indian Tiffin Room at First Street
‘I’d recommend the Pessarattu’ is not a phrase I’ve ever written before. I regard myself well versed in the byways of South Indian cuisine. Dammit, I even own my own idly steamer to recreate (very ...
Review: Tavern at King Street Townhouse
THE new King Street Townhouse is described by the creative duo who fashioned it, Eclectic Hotels’ Eamonn and Sally O’Loughlin, as “a small adaptation of a grand hotel”. We are shown around its small but ...
Review: Set menu at Damson, Heaton Moor
STEVE Pilling builds his empires quietly. After his departure from Manchester’s legendary Chop Houses he created Damson in Heaton Moor, then went double Damson with a glossier version in MediaCity, where he then created a ...
Review: Zouk
HOW time flies. It was 15 years ago I had last eaten brains. Pig brains on hominy grits in a Florida diner called Skyway Jack’s. It was an act of breakfast bravado after a heavy ...
Review: Vapiano in the Corn Exchange
ALL-INCLUSIVE holiday buffets, all you can eat buffets, the rolling buffets that are Yo Sushi conveyor belts – carousels for little baggages of congealing grub. Ah, self-service, now brought to a logical conclusion at new ...