SAD but eternally true, it has always been easier to find a better value lunch in the fine dining bastions of London than in Manchester’s middling destinations. It’s been a year or two since we’ve ...
Reviews
Our verdict on El Gato Negro’s surprising Sunday menu makeover
TIME was when every month seemed to bring a Spanish restaurant opening. You couldn’t move for small plates along Deansgate and its tributary streets. More recently that flood has reduced to a trickle. Porta’s a ...
Review: Porta Tapas, Salford
SPANISH cheese is not just Manchego, delightful though that can be with a bit of age on its golden curds. When Porta announced they were opening a third tapas outlet in Salford we prayed they’d ...
Review: White Hart Inn, Lydgate
STAYING faithful? Never straying? Ah. Chef’s careers can be one long career choice dating app, fickly switching from kitchen to kitchen, country to country even. Have knife set, will travel. Along the way, they pick ...
Sea cucumber? Sea urchin? Our verdict on Tast Catala's stunning new menus
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 ...
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 ...