SEA cucumber sounds better than sea slug; either’s an interpretation of Espardenyes, an expensive delicacy found off the Catalan coast – elsewhere, too, but not consumed with the same reverence. In the raw, perhaps given ...
Reviews
Review: Lily’s Indian Vegetarian Cuisine, Ashton-under-Lyne
A WET Wednesday evening in early February found TOM in one of Greater Manchester's far eastern outskirts. Ashton-under-Lyne had, earlier in the day, been a bustling town centre but at 6pm people are scarce; traffic ...
Review: Michelin-starred White Swan tasting menu
TURBOT two ways and a journey to the source explain what makes the tasting menu tick at the North West’s newest Michelin star restaurant. We make no apologies for straying outside Manchester to reflect on ...
Review: The Laureate, Crowne Plaza – Oxford Road
SEA buckthorn’s off. Chef’s apologising over a no-show for these hard-to-forage coastal berries. Their vivid flavour should have complemented the chocolate fondant with hazelnut and tonka bean ice cream (below), but there’d been a blip ...
Review: Folk & Soul, Northern Quarter
LIKE the old pub tease ‘free beer tomorrow’ ‘new chef, new menu’ is a mantra critics have to confront. Sometimes though you must review what’s on your plate, not promises, and say why it has ...
Review: Dishoom, Manchester Hall
FORGIVE us for thinking bad thoughts in this season of goodwill. When Dishoom announced their Manchester special it turned out to be a pie. A pie – that’s what Mancs like. OK, it could have ...
Review: Mana, Ancoats
SOMETIMES the level of intensity in a ‘serious’ kitchen astonishes. Imagine how that vibrant pool of broth beneath your tangle of charred onions (below) came about? Four days of regular stirring to reduce 400 litres ...
Review: Ivy Asia, Spinningfields
IT is some time in the early Noughties. We are staying at the Metropolitan Hotel in Mayfair. The Armani-clad staff are beyond snooty cool. We dine in its restaurant, Nobu, where Boris Becker notoriously had ...
Review: Elnecot Ancoats Winter Menu
FINE tuning a small plate offering is a tricky task. On a tapas menu you’d be astonished if albondigas, padron peppers, croquetas and tortillas were suddenly ditched. Salford’s new Spanish arrival Porta offers these and ...
Review: Allotment on Lloyd Street
JONATHAN Gold, the legendary Los Angeles Times food critic who died this year, never reviewed a restaurant on one visit alone. In City of Gold, the documentary that charted his groundbreaking championing of street food ...