SO a good friend, who's a Scot, decided to debate this Thursday's referendum in 47 King Street West (47KSW), the restaurant that sits in San Carlo's massive shadow.
Rob Francis, the chef, is doing some pin-sharp cooking here. But as with the Art Decor tosh that's now disappeared I still wonder if 47KSW really knows what it wants to be.
I say debate but perhaps that's not the best word as we both agree on what should happen. We think the Scots should say 'No' for every reason there is. All of them: heart, head, economy, identity, culture.
He's more frustrated than me because David Cameron ballsed up badly in his negotiations with Alex Salmond and disenfranchised him. Thus my friend is not allowed a vote because he isn't resident up there, he lives here and loves it, but nips back frequently. One Britain and all that. This lack of a vote makes him annoyed.
So to assuage our frustrations we took the Ramon Bilbao Rioja in 47KSW and drank it all. Thus in a finger pointing, head nodding way, we lost a Friday afternoon agreeing with each other. Strange how the Scottish referendum is increasing economic turnover in all sorts of ways.
The wine that ate the afternoon - was it three or four bottles?
It was a yes vote for the food.
There's a new mini-course menu at 47KSW, reflecting the present desire amongst customers to sample a range of flavours rather than succumb to the tyranny of the standard starter, main, dessert routine.
The restaurant's called this menu Le Petit Gourmet, which I think is supposed to hint at French influence. Whatever - as teenagers used to say before they moved on just leaving older folk like me to think it still represented their insouciance.
Le Petit Gourmand
Out of ten dishes, all priced £6, eight were really good, two were really poor. Not a bad return.
The smoked haddock and leek risotto with poached egg was compact, good-looking, mingling the fierce haddock with the other flavours to great effect. Go for that one.
Very good petit dejeuner
And definitely go for the battered sardines on brioche with homemade tomato sauce - main picture above.
I love sardines. Passionately.
I've been known to take a tin of sardines, one of those Spanish or French numbers with a beautifully decorated lid, retreat into a dark corner and scoff the whole contents with the intensity and darting, wary eyes of a cat that's found a fillet steak, and is worried a bigger mog might come along and steal it. I growl while eating sardines.
The batter on these babies was light, tempura-style as promised, and the juicy whole sardines, presumably not tinned, made me forget all about the State of the Union for several minutes.
Sauteed wild mushrooms were faves too - are mushrooms on restaurant menus all over the country really wild and how is that defined? Musky, madam, earthy.
Mushrooms - looking wild
The Le Petit Dejeuner with Bury black pudding, a good muffin, brown sauce jus (whatever that is) and a beauty of an egg was almost up there with the sardines. A cheeseboard had a standout Stilton.
There were two bum notes, failures from start to finish. The steak tartare with horseradish cream was best described as weird but even weirder was the duck rillettes with plum sauce. If these weren't vinegary in the extreme they were either too dry or too oily but they were never good. Work needed here. In fact ditch them and come up with alternatives.
Tartare no ta
The other elements of the meal made up for those failings. And the wine helped. The endless Friday afternoon wine. The vats of thought-provoking wine.
Service was good, attentive and one thing that's improved in 47KSW is the decor. It used to have fake Art Decor frippery when it thought itself a tea shop in the afternoon, and it was deeply dreary. The quality of the Art Decor bits and bobs was pound shop. Thank God they've gone. The simplicity of the triangular room is better now.
It's a shame the Le Petit Gourmet menu is only available at present between noon and 6pm. But this might change. It should. It would work well in the evening.
Rob Francis, the chef, is doing some pin-sharp cooking here. But as with the Art Decor tosh that's now disappeared I still wonder if 47KSW really knows what it wants to be. The website description promoting its menu of 'French and British cuisine' confuses me. Choose one and stick with it I say.
As with the Scottish referendum.
My advice would be to call it Modern British and stick with that (and when Scotland votes no we can start to think about a Modern Britain too). There's plenty of room for creativity and opportunity with such a menu description and, in any case, I'm not sure how much on the Le Petit Gourmet menu was very French.
You can follow Jonathan Schofield on Twitter @JonathSchofield or connect via Google+
ALL OUR SCORED FOOD REVIEWS ARE IMPARTIAL AND PAID FOR BY MANCHESTER CONFIDENTIAL. REVIEW VISITS ARE UNANNOUNCED AND COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT OF ANY COMMERICAL RELATIONSHIP.
Rating: 14/20
Food: 7/10 (sardines 8, risotto 8, mushrooms 7, le petit dejeuner 8, steak tartare 5, duck rillettes 5, cheese 7)
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 3/5
Rillette - no bet
47 King Street
