GO to Mr Cooper's and get the Southport tomatoes, tomato granola, olive oil emulsion for £7.50. It's exquisite. There's a balance of picture-book good looks, range of flavour and scope of textures that lifts it way above average. Meat would be murder in this dish.
Mr Cooper's appears in good hands with the new head chef, Sean McGinlay.
It wouldn't be with the Herdwick chops, beetroots, star anise and cinnamon (£18.50) and definitely not with the piscine meat of the scallop starter (£12) or grilled bream (£15). The scallops dish is as good as the Southport tomatoes, and given a dash of flair with the wasabi while the bream comes with a clever and engagingly odd caramelised calamari plus a hazelnut earthiness.
"I want to make sure we are consistent with what we deliver," says Sean McGinlay, the new head chef at Mr Cooper's House and Garden. This fresh faced chef was recommended by the previous head chef Gareth Jones to Simon Rogan who masterminds the Midland Hotel kitchens.
Scallops"I was a sous chef and when Simon interviewed me I knew it would be a serious challenge but it was something I really wanted. It's a big responsibility to prepare food to Simon's standards but that's exciting too."
It's the precision of the cooking and the presentation here that grips. Other dishes sampled on our visits included the goats cheese pithivier, spinach, artichokes and cream (£14.50), another meat-free winner with a cunningly defined and very light pastry.
.Goats cheese pithivierAnother starter of aubergine fritters with ginger and coriander sounded heavy but again provided great flavour combinations and subtlety. This comes from the lunch menu, £16 two courses, £20 three courses, which reduces the burden on wallets and makes a trip to Mr Cooper's at lunch more enticing - and possibly regular. Get the superb gooseberry and elderflower trifle on the lunch menu.
If you've chosen à la carte then finish off with the compressed strawberries with walnut crumble (£7.50). This is irresistible, sweetened by cicely syrup. The use of the anise-like plant, cicely, reveals Rogan's joy in utilising traditional if occasionally unusual English country garden varieties - he, of course, has his own Lake District farm to indulge this passion.
Strawberry and CicelyThe service at Mr Cooper's is a bonus, friendly yet not intrusive. The decor remains a curiosity with its 'concept' progression from a 'library' through a 'study' and into a 'garden' complete with full-sized tree and pergola.
The chosen name inspired the design. Mr Cooper was a carriage manufacturer in Manchester and had big house on the Midland site in the early nineteenth century. The house had an impressive walled garden, which Mr Cooper would open to fellow Mancs to stroll around on high days and holidays. Early maps clearly show the extent of the place which took up the whole of the Midland Hotel block. The gooseberries were much commented on, as they should be again in 2015 with that lunch menu trifle.
On several recent visits I've gone for the whites when it comes to wines, successes have included a Dinastia Vivanco Rioja, (£30), very fresh and clean, and a more sophisticated and complex Paul Buisse, Pouilly Fume at £35.
Mr Cooper's appears in good hands with the new head chef, Sean McGinlay.
The food is as confident as ever, the experience as easy and comfortable as any in the region in this high to mid range style of restaurant. "We want the customer to leave happy with something to talk about," says McGinlay. If so, he and Mr Cooper's are achieving their goal.
Mr Cooper's House and Garden, The Midland Hotel, Peter Street, City Centre, M60 2DS. 0161 410 0108
Southport tomatoes
Aubergine fritters
Bream
