Sunday Times List - A Bit Lazy?
The Sunday Times published its top 100 restaurants last weekend. Only three entries from the NW made it - none particularly close to Manchester. There's L'Enclume (11), Simon Radley at the Grosvenor (17) and Northcote (36).
In the top 200 there were five Manchester representatives, Michael Caines at Abode, Wing's and Yang Sing in the city centre, Aumbry in Prestwich and The Lime Tree in West Didsbury.
The national list is compiled by The Sunday Times with Harden Guides using 7,500 readers who provide 75,000 brief reviews - ten each, eh?
While the Manchester winners are worthy the choice is mostly predictable - a case could also easily be made for 63 Degrees, Cicchetti, Red Chili, Zouk, Australasia and many others.
Maybe the demographic of the Sunday Times outside London is a bit county for this type of survey? Confidential is not sure how representative any of this, and therefore how valuable.
Still it could be worse - ridiculously - there is no restaurant from Merseyside or Wirral in the Sunday Times list. No Michelin-starred Fraiche, no London Carriageworks.
Honestly it could be enough to give a region a complex.
An Illustration Of The NW Food Scene From The Sunday Times
Big Heap Good Fun In Teepee
Incongruous structures are proliferating in Spinningfields. Next to the Oast House there's now a massive Christmas teepee - top picture on this page and below. There's no rhyme nor reason for this, no pretense of trying to theme a Mohawk traditional festive season or something, but my-oh-my it's an impressive thing. Food and ale comes from the Oast House next door, otherwise there's a bar inside. There's also a real fire with a fire monitor who only allows four logs to burn at a time - so don't bring along any redundant office furniture to ignite. All in all, very pleasant, and very cleverly delivered.
Teepee nights
Pretty Design Is Key
Confidential does like the design of the promo-material for the Teepee as well. It's attractive without being cheesy. Attention to detail and all that.
Good festive design
Design led
Lavazza Opens Manchester Coffee House
The 100 year old Lavazza company is to open one of its Espression cafés in the Trafford Centre on 1 November. It will provide coffee of all descriptions prepared by 'expert baristas alongside designer food'. Apparently Lavazza are looking to combine 'creativity and quality with contemporary design'. The unit in the Trafford Centre will be 220sqm. The coffees will be 'Rainforest Alliance certified Tierra coffee, and the Lavazza Espression Arabica and Robusta blend'. Confidential question: Is the word 'barista' denoting a coffee shop person traditionally used in Italy, or is it simply a bit of marketing?
Lavazza Coffee House
Best Fish And Chips?
Perhaps fish and chips should never be eaten in a restaurant, it's a fast food and should be fresh from a proper chippy. Still a recent visit by Confidential to Harvey Nichols showed that there are versions of good fish and chips in upmarket dining places. Manchester's increasing tourism also means we must have fish and chips on the menu as overseas guests expect it. The Harvey Nichols version comes as cod, fat chips, beautifully textured mushy peas, and absolutely gorgeous tartare sauce. It costs £13.50. Bit stiff for a take-away, but get a bottle of Albarino and you can make an afternoon of it. Confidential might do a Best of Manchester Fish And Chips in Restaurants after Gordo gets his Best of Manchester Breakfasts sorted this week.
Flaking flesh and glorious tartare
Zizzi Bottom - Why Do Chains Get It So Wrong?
Oh dear, off to Zizzis in Spinningfield's we went on Saturday because a) we were passing, b) everywhere else was full. We had the cicchetti menu. It was grotesque. It was rubbish. It was an insult. The spiedini di pollo, skewered oven baked chicken, was so dry, you could have soaked up red wine stains. The sliced steak with peppery rocket tasted like the nastiest frying steak, the risotto was a Saharan sand-dune, there was an aubergine clogged with a vile tomato paste and shrivelled basil. The pizza was all right. How can chains, where the only virtue in the cooking can be consistency, get simple food so wrong? Unless this was normal and the food is consistently bad. Five cicchetti pieces of food, by the way, cost £20.
Get thee behind me Satan
The Living Room New Menu
There's a new menu in that stalwart veteran of Deansgate, the Living Room, and they've sent us some lovely pictures to emphasise this. The pork and chorizo burger with a smoked paprika aioli on a brioche bun with chips looks a delight. The 10oz ribeye with all the trimmings at £20 is competitive. There's also a set menu (2 courses £12, three courses £15) between noon and 7pm, Monday to Friday.
Chorizo burger
And Finally...Cloud 23 Has Re-Opened
Deansgate Hilton's Cloud 23 bar has re-opened. Review to follow soon. People can once more take a lift and catch the fabulous views from the 23rd floor of Beetham Tower. Yes, the least divisive bar, in terms of the Manchester public opinion, is back with us. (Surely some mistake? Ed) In Confidential we're taking bets on how quickly somebody will be ranting about the queues, the wait for drinks...
Cloud view
