REVIEW | Chorlton Green Brasserie, Chorlton

CHORLTON Green Brasserie opened in January 2013 and has proved such a hit with the locals, that you can barely get a foot in the door. If you can get a table – and it's not easy as they don’t take messages - hand-drawn grafitti maps of Chorlton illustrate the walls, while the menu takes in pigeon breast with blackberries and peppered mackerel with horseradish potato salad. There’s trendy pan-fried polenta with asparagus and poached egg and crowd pleasers like scallops, beef medallions and sticky toffee pudding.

This isn’t just overpowering, it’s the culinary equivalent of patchouli incense

Our punishment for booking the day before is the last table in the house. It’s more of a perch, to be honest, located in the corridor between the bright bar, and intimate main room towards the back of the building. Either way, it’s enough to get a feel for this friendly place.

Things get off to a dodgy start with hummus, pesto and underdone, bought-in baguette (£3) serving mismatched flavours and little else. The only way is up with crisp panko-coated beef croquettes (£6.50, main image), whose handsome notes are accented by red wine jus and caramelised onion puree.

Chorlton Green Brasserie

Scallops and chorizo

Since they are the law, scallops (£7.95) are a good measuring stick - and these come well up the chart. Paired with finely chopped chorizo (not too overpowering thanks) and a kind of lemon shortbread crumb, pudding-y flavours breathe new life into this old dog.  

Rump medallions (£17.95) are everything you’d expect, unctuous mushrooms turning this into a dish worthy of the price tag. Likewise, miso blackened cod (£17.50) is a gentle nod to Nobu’s famous ‘miso black cod’. The sticky, miso flavour that makes the original so mindboggling is here too, only in whispered form, and it has a little chat on plate with a white-washed wasabi cream. This is modern Asian turned British brasserie and it’s perfectly fine.

What isn’t fine is two eyeballs of ginger in syrup looking up from the side. By all means top your vanilla ice cream with one of these guys (I can’t imagine a culinary situation in which you’d need two) – or, perhaps, treat it like a truffle and add a few aromatic shavings of sweet ginger to the dish. But, frankly, I have no idea what the kitchen are thinking. This isn’t just overpowering, it’s the culinary equivalent of patchouli incense.

Rump medallions

Ginger aside, an elegant Australian Shiraz (£26) is a super match for the whole meal. We initially order the house Amarone  - £35 is the lowest I’ve ever seen this Italian wine advertised at, even in an off licence – which is perhaps why they’d run out. PicPoul is another temptation yet our waitress’ recommendation is spot on. Shiraz usually has too much to say for itself to be enjoyed with food - not this one.  

Sticky toffee pudding (£5.50) is served with honeycomb ice cream that plays up the syrupy theme in a good way. Likewise, the cappuccino crème brulee (£5.50) is something all the kitchen’s own. Almost bitter and creamy beneath a caramelised sugar crust that’s so thick you could skate on it. It’s a bit much for my teeth, but it tastes great. I could have done without the shortbread sticks from the hotel minibar on the side.   

So: food lacks attention to detail in places, and at times is quite wrong, yet Chorlton Green Brasserie is one of those special places (like Altrincham Market Hall, or Volta) which manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. The result is a genuine lack of pretention and a good vibe. Nice work, Chorlton. Just keep an eye on the ball – rather than those ginger eyeballs - and everything will be just fine.

Chorlton Green Brasserie, 137 Beech Road, Chorlton M21 9EQ. Tel: 0161 881 7759.

Rating: 14/20

Food: 6 (Hummus 4, croquetes 6, scallops 7, beef 8, cod 7, sticky toffee 7, crème brulee 6) 

Ambience: 4

Service: 4

Miso blackened cod

Sticky toffee pudding