The team choose their favourite dishes from January
A new year, and with it new opportunities to taste what the city (and further afield) has to offer. Best Dishes is back, so here's the Manchester Confidential team with their favourite dishes from January 2025.
French onion soup, The Roebuck Inn, Mobberley (£7)
My regular craving to go to The Roebuck always hinges on the same starter; French onion soup (£7). This can be one of the most monumentally disappointing things to order from a restaurant, I find. Too watery, too gloopy, too much, not enough, cheap on the Gruyère, lacking in brandy or utterly pissed on the stuff - there’s plenty of ways to throw off the alchemy of this certified classic.
The Roebuck delivers it with unerring quality. The broth, magma-hot and sealed beneath a layer of Gruyère croutons, has the depth and web of complex notes that only hours steeping on the hob can provide. I think of the poor chef de partie who chops all those onions every morning in a welder’s mask. That hardy root veg can shoulder an awful lot of added flavours, and here it holds up a generous weight of brandy and stock. A beautiful concoction and something I think about maybe more than is healthy.
David Adamson @davidadamson123
Flat iron steak, Porta Tapas, West Didsbury (£11.50)
Once upon a time, long ago, in a galaxy far far away, I lived in Madrid. Tapas came free with every drink ordered at the bar. These came as tiny morsels, not dishes as such, but they were usually very good. But they could be odd too. I recall a collection of pigs' ear bits with hairs still attached. That was part of the fun: you never knew which one of the array of food under the glass cabinets on the bar was going to come your way.
This was grub that was just plain good but never plain. It was wholesome, robust, assured, strongly flavoured, elegant in its simplicity. Porta Tapas, West Didsbury, in 2025 not in the mists of time, offers the same, as do the Salford and Altrincham branches.
The flat iron steak, while maybe not a classic tapa, showed originality and flair. Served pink and chargrilled it came with a couple of triple score Scrabble words, quindilla tximitxurri. This is a form of chimichurri packed with herbs and heated with chilli. Both the sauce and the meat were just right for each other. 9/10 for this.
Jonathan Schofield @jonathschofield
Sticky Toffee Pudding, Spire Restaurant, Wavertree, Liverpool (£25 as part of a two-course lunch menu)
I concluded my meal at Spire in Wavertree with an absolute winner of a dish; a delightful sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream, served as a hearty square slab of pudding, absolutely drenched in butterscotch sauce with a perfectly round scoop of vanilla sat atop a generous sprinkle of crystallised sugar shards.
The butterscotch sauce was rich, but not even slightly sickly like some sticky toffee puds can be, and had seeped into every crevice of the cake's fluffy layers. Utterly fantastic. I can still taste it now writing this.
Affordable, great quality and oh so friendly, Spire Restaurant is a welcoming spot that deserves the same praise that locals give it to be noticed far and wide. If you're ever around Wavertree and feel your tummy rumble, pop your head in Spire like I did. You won't be disappointed.
Harley Young @harley__young
Whole monkfish tail, Stow, Bridge Street (£32/£42)
Ugly fish are fast becoming my forte. Not content with elevating a gruesome-looking whole gurnard as my Confidentials ‘Dish of 2024’ I’ve now reeled in another scary but equally delicious denizen of the deep.
Fortunately there’s no visual repeat here of what was plated off the grill at the Medlock Canteen - “Bulging eyes stare balefully up at you from its large, prehistoric head, gob gaping”. Whole monkfish are always off the menu. No chef would dream of serving one with its flat cranium still on. The fangs alone are nightmarish, justifying its ‘sea devil’ nickname.
Out of all this, at Stow, an angelic dish is spawned. Cooking with fire is their speciality and a monkfish fillet on the bone is perfect for this. Fiddly prep, mind. After the mottled skin and predatory spikes are stripped off you are left with a clinging grey membrane. Left on, it contracts in the cooking unattractively. As I walk in past the open kitchen one chef is snipping his weary way through a pile of the prepped fillets.
The monkfish is definitely a Stow signature dish, sold in two sizes. I was more than happy with the £32 cruiserweight. Dense flesh loosened on the bone before serving and scattered with rosy trout roe and dill, it arrives in a pond of classic lemony, beurre blanc. What a beauty.
Neil Sowerby @AntonEgoManc
Burger, Humbug, Kampus (£12)
Humbug, the latest venture from Where The Light Gets In, was far more than just a pop-up burger joint in Kampus. It was an exercise in sustainability, nose-to-tail cooking, and a reflection on our fast-food system - all told through the story of one cow, a 31-month-old native Red Poll named Maraschino.
Maybe it’s because my coat smelled of beef for a few days afterwards, maybe it's because I laughed at the pathetic Daily Fail comments referring to owner and Head Chef, Sam, as “another silly little woke joke of a man,” or maybe, just maybe, it’s because it’s the only meal that’s made me stop and think about what I’m eating for two seconds.
One cow, 1,200 patties.
The burger was beefy, with a distinct umami depth (probably provided by the offal) and generously seasoned with black pepper. Yes, I did dip it in the cheese sauce provided, but mainly for the ‘content’ - it didn’t even need it. The standout sides weren’t necessary either. In the wake of Almost Famous and its burger-based empire ending its tenure in the city, the poignancy of this social commentary became even more powerful, and if anything, I ate that up too.
Is this the best burger I’ve ever had? No. Is it a burger I will always remember having? Yes.
Hayden Naughton
Prime Rib Roast, Red Dog Saloon, Liverpool (£25pp)
I was lucky enough to try Red Dog’s Prime Rib Roast whilst on a client shoot. Technically, it’s a bit of a cheat calling this my dish of the month since I didn’t pay for it - but after January left me skint, I’m not complaining. That said, even if I had paid for it, I’d still rate it just as highly.
The prime rib was cooked perfectly - juicy, tender, and full of flavor, with a great crust on the outside. The gravy was thick and rich, and most importantly, there was plenty of it. The roast potatoes had that ideal crispy outside and fluffy inside, the creamed corn was smooth and slightly sweet, and the collard greens balanced it all out. An absolute Sunday showstopper, what more can I say?
At £25 per person (minimum two people), this is exactly what a Sunday roast should be - big portions, bold flavors, and no shortcuts. If you’re after a proper, satisfying meal to round off the weekend, this one’s worth it.
Georgina Harrington Hague @georginahague
Melanzane E Caprino, Baci, Bolton (£6.50)
Literally 'aubergine and goat'. I'm always intrigued by aubergine on a restaurant menu as I'm a dab hand at rubberising the poor things when I cook them at home. I'm also recently obsessed with upping my intake of C15, a recently discovered essential fatty acid that helps to prevent diabetes in dolphins (the Man Con team have learned never to ask follow-up questions). A good dietary source is apparently fermented dairy from grass-fed ruminants so goat's cheese closed the deal for me.
I really enjoyed the combination of sweet grilled peppers and lightly crisped aubergine with the gloopy umami cheesiness. I'm not big on feety cheeses and this goat's cheese was just the right side of sweaty sock without becoming anaemic. It was satisfyingly rich and I now have a new habit of baking a brie or camembert as a post-wine treat.
Baci is a typical laid-back Italian family restaurant in Bolton where huge portion sizes are standard so if you're going, go hungry.
Martyn Pitchford @Pitch_Blend
Napoli and Vulcano pizza, Double Zero, Spring Gardens (£12.70 and £13.50)
To Food Snobs everywhere,
Yes, I’ve picked a pizza as my dish of the month, eat your heart out.
Usually, my love for this admittedly ubiquitous dish is squashed into a dark corner of my soul. I don’t know whether it’s the comfort food association, or maybe the fact that you can order it as a particularly glutinous takeaway, but whatever the opposite of aspirational is, that’s what I feel when I utter the word “pizza” in response to being asked about my favourite food.
One particularly windy January afternoon, however, the bready air pumping out of Double Zero’s pizza oven offered a carby end to mine and my boyfriend’s weary yomp around the city centre in search of a food that we could both agree on.
And it was the Napoli (£12.70) that saved us: fior di latte, tomato, anchovies, kalamata olives and capers.
The sourdough base, cooked vera Napoletana style, was beautifully blistered, offering a pillowy crust at that perfect flour-dusted gold shade that turned black at just the moments you needed a hit of charred bitterness.
Paired with a pesto dip, it made for a perfect encore to the trio of salty goodness scattered over pools of alternating tomato and mozzarella. Anchovies, olives and capers - bold, briny and utterly addictive - proved that the best way to elevate the freshest of fresh tomato and fior di latte is with a hit of anchovy, the sea’s saltiest export.
Pizza snobbery be damned - this one was worth every bite.
Lily Wallen
Margherita and pepperoni pizza, Home Slice, Austin TX ($4.25)
Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the pizza.
Layers of salty cheese, paper-thin dough and slightly acidic tomatoes are always a good time. Served on a paper plate by the cheeriest human I’ve ever seen, Home Slice in Austin, Texas, just gets what makes a good pizza.
Charley Moore
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