Harvey Nichols invited Taste of Manchester to taste the small plate menu at their Second Floor Bar and Brasserie. Here's how it went...
THIS year for the first time Harvey Nichols will be cooking the Manchester Food and Drink Awards Gala Awards Dinner. It’s in the Cathedral, on their doorstep, though Matthew Horsfield and his team from the Second Floor Bar and Brasserie will work out of the Cathedral’s own kitchens. Naively I’d imagined cloche carriers running the gauntlet of the Sinclairs and Crown & Anchor punter overspill.
It’s an atmospheric venue just like the Great Hall in Manchester Town Hall where eight years ago Harvey Nichols' exec chef Alison Seagrave won Chef of the Year at the same annual ceremony. Not long after she departed to run Macaroon, her own patisserie business, and no one else overseeing the kitchen since has quite equalled her high profile.
That may be about to shift with the evolutionary change being brought to the food offering by Horsfield, who worked under Seagrave and, as Head Chef Brasserie, has overseen the merger of the Restaurant and Brasserie with a serious physical refurb in the offing that goes beyond shiny new chrome chairs and the abandonment of table cloths.
The fine dining focus has shifted elsewhere in the city, to Manchester House and The French, so it makes sense to go more casual, adopting the sharing small plate ethos. Of course, that will be the norm across the numerous chains set to populate the Corn Exchange, visible from the 2nd Floor’s panoramic windows. So what sets the new menu here apart?
Well, Horsfield’s playfulness combined with an attention to detail – and, of course, the quality of raw materials, evidenced by an extensive tasting of the small plates (alternatively there are still roasts, grills from the Josper and Harvey Nichols Classics on the menu for diehards). Here s a link to the Menu.
We shared 13 dishes which, at an average of £7 a plate, comes out quite pricey, but half that number plus a a trio of puddings, at a fiver each, would hit the spot for most of us. Tapas by any other name and 'globally-influenced', so without the self-confident national focus of somewhere like Iberica. But there are some lovely dishes and lots more in the pipeline as the store gives the chef his head. This may be a blueprint for the entire range of Harvey Nichols restaurants. So no pressure there then, Matthew.
'Globally influenced', there are some divine hoi sin duck buns and a Levantine treatment for lamb chops with labneh, baba ganoush and yoghurt, and even the crab toasties were enlivened with ginger, chilli and garlic. The kitchen is proud of its superb sourdough bread, so the veggie alternative was a blander bruschetta with avocado, broad beans and runny quail’s eggs.
There’s apparently a ceviche in the development stage; for the moment fish lovers should look no further than the tuna carpaccio with the citric punch of a ponzu dressing and radish pepperiness. Haddock goujons with crushed peas and tartare sauce paled in comparison. In-house hot-smoked salmon was much better, partnered well by another sharp North African sauce, chermoula. There is a theme developing here.
Quite off piste, though, was a superfood plate which combined among other things smoked tofu, grains, pomegranate, heritage tomatoes and very pretty flowers (that’s why it has made my main picture).
Horsfield is a flat iron steak enthusiast and a piercing chimichurri sauce certainly lifts a cut I’m less enamoured of. Not a patch on the pink intensity of the lamb (above). That is a beautiful dish.
A glorious strawberry and rhubarb cheesecake (£5) was pick of the desserts, where tiramisu in a mini-kilner jar didn’t live up to expectations. Mind you, a matching of raspberries and basil ice cream far exceeded them.
You can’t really go wrong sticking with Harvey Nichols’ own house wines (the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is a beautifully balanced example that restores one’s faith in the Kiwi staple), but it is worth exploring the affordable reaches of the entire list. There are some fascinating tastes beyond what you might expect.
The same is true of the new menu, most of which works a treat. There’s a big place in our heart for formal service and lavish mains, but was Harvey Nichols with its sleek, modern lines and inviting meeting place bar ever quite the place for that gig? The new direction seems to suit it better. Just, Matthew, don’t rest on your laurels. Keep refreshing the small plate menu. More superfood plate boldness! Small is beautiful but, as with standard tapas, can soon become over-familiar.
Harvey Nichols Second Floor Bar and Brasserie, 1 New Cathedral Street, Manchester M1 1AD. 0161 828 8898. http://www.harveynichols.com/restaurant/manchester-dining/
