By Neil Sowerby
ONE man’s Deli Po Boy is another man’s doorstop buttie. If a real stevedore turned up at this Dockyard with a healthy appetite after a heavy day’s unloading he might be hard-pressed to finish the monster sandwich staring up at me.
Then again Steve Pilling’s duo of pubs called Dockyard don’t do things by halves (except the ale, if you ask them). The formula seems to work. The original, at Media City, scooped Pub of the Year in the 2014 Manchester Food and Drink Awards and is usually rammed. The new one is cannily positioned on the Left Bank as it springs to life as a food and drink destination and, to my eye, feels less overpowering than Quays version, all clanging, post-industrial NY Meatpacking District (with better pies) vibe. This is a gentler space.
Not so the Po Boy (£8.95), which is a big boy, squeezing pastrami, mortadella, Swiss cheese, tomato, mustard slaw, mayo and pickle into a sort of super Subway roll that replicates the kind of bread they use in New Orleans. Congrats to the researchers and Robinson’s Bakery. The crunchy sweet potato fries (£3.95) I partnered my po boy with also felt Southern States, though the accompanying mayo was chillied up with the Korean condiment) gouchouchang (their spelling).
Amazingly I polished off sandwich and fries, just glad I hadn’t succumbed to the lure of the Marmite chipolatas with meat liquor (£4.95). They are among the snacks in a menu that leans heavily on burgers, wings, pies and BBQ ribs (my partner’s half rack of ribs was whopping)
So the Dockyard, kitted out with appropriate murals, metal hawsers and the like, is a pub but seen, through a voguish American lens. The beer selection, vastly improved from the early days at Salford Quays, strikes a good balance between cask ale and craft keg, strong on our local microbreweries, as it should be. I drank the subtly orangey Tweed #01 blonde ale but preferred the beautifully balanced hoppiness of keg Runaway IPA.
They also do flights of ale, which is very much of the moment. Just like The Dockyard.
The Dockyard Pub, B3/4, Left Bank, Irwell Square, Spinningfields, M3 3AN. 0161 3594549, http://dockyard.pub/spin/dockyardspin.html
