NEW Northern Quarter brestaurant Tariff & Dale has done NQ by numbers; with more bricks than a Jewson yard, bartenders with tattooed foreheads, and 'craft' everything. If it ain't broke, eh?
The new 4000 sq ft venue sits splendidly white at no.2 Tariff Street
Still, this latest wood'n'dust venue is another solid addition to the rampant Northern Quarter scene, and joins Whiskey Jar, El Capo, Kosmonaut and Takk to complete the full house on Tariff Street - which will also welcome the new Pen & Pencil open at t'other end sometime in July.
Tariff & Dale comes from Nick De Sousa, the chap behind long-standing Chorlton insititution Lead Station, and is fronted by former-Liars Club manager Olly 'Fozzy' Foster and former-Red's manager Nicola Beckley, who could melt your eyes and spin your ears clean off with but 'alf a rollicking.
The new 4000 sq ft venue sits splendidly white at no.2 Tariff Street, which, most interestingly, isn't even an address, or wasn't until the bar established itself. You see, the entrance used to be a side door of 45 Dale Street, which by all accounts was blown to buggery by the Jerrys during the Second World War.
Up top the 200-capacity bar 'staying true to the Northern Quarter's indie roots' stocks 'exclusively UK draught craft beer' (from £3.60), 'meticulously sourced wine' (from £17 btl) and 'exquisite imported cans and bottles' (from £3.60). Exquisite they may be, but anyone that pays £5 for a can is either being paid too much, on the fiddle, or needs their bonce checking. Nine classic cocktails and their derivations will set you back around £8.
Down below the 72-bum basement restaurant is cheffed by Chris Vernazza, who cut his teeth in the kitchen of Tom 'Lush' Kerridge at two Michelin-starred Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and offers a fairly safe menu of 'small plates', 'sourdough pizza' and 'sharing boards'. So far so NQ. Still, Vernazza's hefty pork nuggets and delicate mackerel pate were fine indeed on launch night, while we look forward to trying the beef shin and marrow (£12.50) and steak and ale pie (£14.50, below) with a suitably quirky mini-ale peeping out top.
"We had a great canvas so have done as little as possible to the building, says de Sousa. "It was dark and shuttered up when I first saw it but when we finally opened the windows, the light that flooded in was amazing, so we used it to create a relaxing and comfortable place where people can come during the day as well as at night."
So another bankable bar for Northern Quarter. Full scored review to follow...
Tariff & Dale is open now 10am 'til late at 2 Tariff Street, Manchester, M1 2FF.
