SURPRISE is one of my favourite five abstract nouns.
When it arrives a cartoonish little man with a happy face dances a jig in my subconscious, rings a small bell, and says, 'heh, heh'.
I like that little man.
Last week he had a whole team of bell-ringers with him. I was in the Banyan Tree and the food was a jolly clarion of flavours chiming mellifluously across my palate. Ding dong. The interior was a mish mash of mix and match which in the winter sun was as attractive as a patio with a sea view. Or in this case a very handsome St George's Church.
You get spiced up potato (aloo) and spinach (saag) inside a Spanish tortilla that is so light and right it could be used in The Library Theatre's current production of The Arabian Nights as a magic carpet.
The Banyan Tree has made a virtue of lying just outside the magic circle of the city centre. It is so firmly 'neighbourhood' it should have copyrighted the name. Of course it's a bit late for that in Manchester given the 'NYC eaterie' recently opened in Spinningfields, but people walking in were greeted by their first names and asked if they wanted the 'usual'. Posters advertised quiz nights and other events; the bar even has its own football team, Banyan Munich.
Interior
The trick is to be perfectly in tune with the locals. The Banyan Tree knows the exact qualities the residents around here require. It knows what makes them tick.
The Britannia Mills area of Hulme, strung either side of the Bridgewater Canal, is a proper urban village. Cut off from the city centre by the extension of the Mancunian Way the apartment dwellers rely on the amenity that the Banyan Tree provides.
View of St George's
The bar's patrons are what the city council wanted when they encouraged the growth of city centre living: this is an urbane urban crew often with decent or at least, interesting jobs, often self-employed, with good middle class sensibilities, and probably pretty well travelled.
The residents are so typical they could have a 'soap' written about them, called M15 - aside from the fact they've already had about 25 'soaps' written about them and their UK type, starting way back with Cold Feet.
The estate agents have responded to the demographic and have ditched the name 'Hulme' and now market the area as 'Castlefield'. Crass but logical, as is the way with estate agents.
Aloo saag tortilla
The Banyan Tree knows all this and artfully tickles the neighbourhoods' tastebuds with a clever combination of English, Asian and World cuisine. This could be a shocking muddle, but turns out to be a cartoonish little man with a happy face dancing a jig in the subconscious and ringng a small bell.
The food is just about the best in casual dining I've had all year.
Bloody hell I tell you, the simple and slightly crazed aloo saag tortilla (£4.50) was good. You get spiced up potato (aloo) and spinach (saag) inside a Spanish tortilla that is so light and right it could be used in The Library Theatre's current production of The Arabian Nights as a magic carpet.
The suet pudding (£9.75) with a chicken chilli filling came with superb chips and superb mushy peas. The suet could be called a cheat as it was vegetarian, but the glaze and consistency was so good, combined with a taste reminiscent of a really good bouillon, that all was forgiven. This worked with the chicken chilli like a dream and was brilliantly executed, and I mean brilliantly.
Suet in the sun
A scrambled egg bagel with smoked salmon from the breakfast menu (£5.95) was good but not up to the surprise and quality of the tortilla and suet pudding. That's not to say don't buy it, just that it wasn't so interesting. Still the excellent consistency of the scrambled egg showed the dish had been looked after in the kitchen.
Salmon and scrambled egg
An apple cumble and custard, with berries for colour (£4.95) rounded off the food. The crumble was textured, sweet, with good consistency and again delivered with delicacy, not too heavy and never difficult to clear.
Crumble and custard
A pint of ok Banyan Tree branded Holts lager and moderate glasses of El Tesoro provided the liquid.
For a neighbourhood bar, an urban village local, the Banyan Tree seems note perfect. The tortilla and suet will remain in my memory for a while when people talk about casual dining.
The place shows you don't have to have massive resources backing you up, you don't even need to be in a prime location, you just have to be good.
Fortunately for me the Banyan Tree is more or less on my route home so I'll be popping in again to try something else, see if any bells ring.
You can follow Jonathan Schofield on Twitter here @JonathSchofield
ALL SCORED CONFIDENTIAL REVIEWS ARE IMPARTIAL AND PAID FOR BY THE MAGAZINE.
The Banyan Tree, Ellesmere Street, Manchester, M15 4JY.
Rating: 14.5/20
Food: 7.5/10 (tortilla 8, smoked salmon 7, suet pudding 8, apple crumble 7) Please yellow box below as well.
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 4/5
Banyan Munich
The Banyan Tree
The Banyan Tree
