Confidential picks five of our favourite dishes so far
Artisan, Spinningfield’s vast, casual dining space and bar housed in a 12,000 square foot, semi-industrial space on the first floor of The Avenue North, has just launched their new menu. Don’t worry; only 50% of the dishes are brand new, so they probably still have your favourites on there. They’ve given it a seasonal refresher and they’ve added some fantastic new starters, mains, salads and nibbles.
Chicken liver and foie gras parfait
Summer starters include this deceptively light chicken liver and foie gras parfait. It’s served in a cute little Kilner jar sprinkled with an assortment of seeds. We were happy to see the all-day favourite and reliable veggie hangover cure, poached egg and crushed avocado on granary toast. For sharing, go for the drinks-friendly deli board; with pulled ham hock, prosciutto, pastrami, warm flatbread, Camembert, Stilton and pickles.
Tuna Niҫoise
Artisan’s salads are substantial, especially the tuna Niҫoise; two perfectly seasoned rounds of fresh tuna – seared on the outside and raw in the middle - atop salad leaves, hardboiled egg, rings of red onion, tomato wedges, mixed olives and French beans.
Pizza Carbonara
Of course it’s pizza that Artisan is best known for, thanks to their billowing, slow-proved dough and generous toppings that are slightly different from more run of the mill ones. Choosing just one isn’t easy with options such as duck and hoi sin sauce with spring onion and cucumber, or goat’s cheese and balsamic roasted beetroot with avocado, rocket, mozzarella and tomato. On this visit (because we will be back) we went for pizza carbonara topped with shredded ham hock, Grana Padano cheese, crispy bacon and a perfectly cooked egg for dipping the crusts into.
Mussels Mariniere
This classic dish, together with its reliable partner, the French fry, has been given an Artisan rework. We enjoyed more pizza dough on this special version of mussels mariniere with chips. Unusually, they’ve baked the shellfish under a dough crust to seal in all the flavours. The idea is to rip bits off and dunk them in the delicious juices at the bottom of the pan.
Salt and pepper St. Louis belly pork rib
This is a no-nonsense choice for the discerning carnivore. It’s a square of slow-cooked and incredibly tender pork, perfectly matched with crunchy and fresh Asian slaw and a fruity homemade kimchi ketchup which has just enough background sourness to cut through the rich belly pork.
