THIS has been a difficult site. Beluga, Citrus and Velvet Central have come and gone without ever really registering on the city's food and drink consciousness. The terrace between the former Inland Revenue building from 1876 and the Friend's Meeting House is one of the best in the city, surrounded as it is by grand buildings, but in winter that plays no part in the success of business.
Bourbon & Black needs to up its game if at last this space is to realise its potential
Inside there's a fairly small upstairs room with a mezzanine area, a bigger downstairs room and toilets somewhere in the Mines of Moria, under Leeds - they're very dark and a long way away. The company, which began in Didsbury a couple of years ago, describes itself as a 'kitchen and bar'. Throughout the meal I wondered whether that was the right order. Bourbon, as the name would suggest, has its own extensive menu.
We tried a lunchtimely modest Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare 10-year-old (£5.50 a shot) which was fragrant, woody, with a refined sweetness at the back. It was very good I thought in my untutored manner. If bourbon is your thing then the Pappy Van Winkle 23-year-old tops out the list at £90. The bourbons are on high back-bar shelves. Our waitress, Alexa, a Floridean herself, amused us by scaling the shelves to get the drink. This was an achievement given her four inch heels.
The Bourbon & Black menu is simple enough, grills, burgers, a smattering of fish dishes, hyper-sweet desserts. The generic term for this is 'comfort food' I suppose, although I'm never sure who's comforting who about what.
A medium rare 10oz steak (£17.95) was beautifully seared black and then excellently timed on the inside. The requisite medium rare was attained which is always a good thing. The steak suited the bourbon. The attendant side of roasted root veg (£3.50) suited work on a construction site. They were woefully undercooked, indeed more or less uncooked, the carrot could have held up bridges.
Constructional root vegI was hugely looking forward to the seafood boil southern style (£18.95). It looked the part overflowing with crab claws, mussels and prawns. Those elements were fine. But with this sort of dish part of the joy is spooning up the stock which should be a blowout of fishiness, a distillation of King Neptune's domain. Not so here, the stock was gritty and almost characterless, a muddy residue and not fishy at all.
Good looking but...A corn flake tart (£5.50) was fun, nicely syrupy, although the custard could again have been less wishy-washy and more strident. A bottle of Legaris Verdejo 2014 for around £20 was an unexpected treat, medium, floral, charming.
There's regular live music and when that's not being played an enjoyable mix of roots, blues and general southern USA sounds.
Bourbon & Black needs to make itself feel more special though, especially with the food which is lagging at present. As stated before they need to decide which takes precedence; the drinks or the food. If they major with the former that's not a problem, but they might have to boost the ales and the winelist, as bourbon isn't going to suit all tastes.
What is certain is the kitchen needs to be more careful with the food, although that's easier when a place is busy. In quieter periods the pressure lessens and standards can drop. In short, Bourbon & Black needs to up its game if at last this space is to realise its potential. Manchester city centre is overflowing with competition providing very similar experiences and at present Bourbon & Black doesn't stands out from the crowd.
Bourbon & Black, 2 Mount Street, City Centre, M2 5WQ, 0161 839 9988
Rating: 13/20
Food: 6/10 (steak 6.5, seafood boil 5.5, cornflake tart 6.5)
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 3/5
Clean flavours with the Verdejo
House speciality, bourbon
A man at a table.JPG)
The bill of fare
Interior
