REVIEW | FEAST, King Street West

Confidentials 16 November 2016

IT’S the unlikeliest of flings, the festive bromance between Robert Owen Brown and the San Carlo Group. The chef for hire with his roots in the north west and the global Italian chain are cosying up in a woodland-themed pop-up until early January. After that who knows what the future holds for the former 47 King Street West?

Chop Houses apart (and Owen Brown is an alumnus), there is no one serving this kind of classic British cuisine in the city centre – and precious few outside

In a pre-emptive whirlwind swoop the owners of San Carlo and Cicchetti snapped up their neighbour, targeted apparently by other operators. Then they called in rent-a-thicket to deck the house, creating a Hobbit’s forest den for Rob’s earthy cooking plus wintry cocktails to match – the kind that make you glow in the dark. Egg nog anyone? Peer more closely, though, and there’s the reassurance of resident cream leather booths that wouldn’t be out of place in glitzy Cicchetti.

It’s all been done on the hoof obviously. Witness the menu misspellings – Morcombe Bay shrimps and Rijoa wine. And settling into one of those booths, my lovely companion snagged his curls on an errant twig. Beware too splinters from the crate-crafted bar.

So does the swiftly set up FEAST work? Definitely – on the evidence of two lunchtime visits.

FEAST, King Street West

Sandwiches hover around the £6-£7 mark, but it would be wrong not to tackle the sophisticated rusticity of ROB signature dishes that abound on a menu that really fits the brief. Chop Houses apart (and Owen Brown is an alumnus), there is no one serving this kind of classic British cuisine in the city centre – and precious few outside.

I remember from collaborating with the chef on his cookbook Crispy Squirrel and Vimto Trifle (MCR Books) that he used rapeseed oil rather than olive and was reluctant about tomatoes because he might have to import from the Med. He’s not compromising now in his current unholy alliance.

Witness a starter of potted Belted Galloway ox cheek (£6.50). The menu, oops, says Galway but these heritage cattle are definitely of Scottish origin and ROB’s treatment of them is pure Lancashire. More tender and less peppery than the potted meat of my childhood.

Roast fig with pomegranate, pumpkin and Mejdool dates

Buttered Brixham crab claws with oyster and Bloody Mary shooter

Next up proof that this chef is not just about venerable dishes. First time of ordering plum and rum tobacco smoked venison carpaccio (£8) arrived under a glass cloche and belched aromatic smoke; second time round that element was less assertive and the vension a mite chewier. A nice touch the accompanying hazelnuts and a radish carved like a fly agaric mushroom. Welcome to the forest floor and all who feed there.

Much more exotic was an aged balsamic roasted fig on a tangle of pomegranate, pumpkin and Mejdool dates (£6.50), each time the stand-out starter, though simple hot buttered Brixham crab claws with a single oyster and a Bloody Mary shooter (£8) ran it close.

The real revelation came among the mains where the marriage (never a fling) between mutton and capers came in the form of hay-baked chops – three of the beauties, taut yet tender, putting callow lamb to shame – in a Scotch broth reduction peppered with the capers (£18.50).

ROB's Hobbit forest den

Gorgeous mutton chops

Across the table, there was equal enthusiasm for the steak, Marble beer and cow heel pie (£16, main image). Yes, cow heel. That fatty fetlock that adds rib-sticking unctuousness to traditional Lancashire dishes. Hobbits, this is one Pie to Rule Them All.

In contrast a dish of Claret-braised Wild Boar with chorizo felt an odd construct, less festive by half. Rolled roast rare breed belly pork was a tenderer mouthful, but really needed more gravy (we are not talking jus), while the sage and onion beignets felt like golf balls in the mouth.

The El Coto Rioja was flowing – from a wine list that feels a bit flung together – so it was just the token fish dish. Salmon fillet delicately en croute with creamed leeks and a scattering of shrimps and cockles was gorgeous.

Rolled roast rare breed belly pork

Dark chocolate terrine, marinated cherries and thick brandy cream

Somehow we found space for £3 sides of buttery dauphinoise potatoes and, very seasonal, sprouts with chestnut and bacon… and, against the odds, puds.

Alas no crumbly Eccles cakes, a favourite ROB dish of mine. Consolation a dark chocolate terrine, marinated cherries and thick brandy cream (£6.50) – a kind of deconstructed Black Forest. The sort of dish that demands the accompaniment of lashings of rum-laced Egg Nog. So we hairy-toed Woodland Folk did just that.

Who knows? This off-the-wall pop-up may branch out into something more permanent.

FEAST, 47 King St West, Manchester M3 2PW. Mon-Fri 8am until late; Sat and Sun 9am until late. To book a table ring 0161 839 1929.

Rating 16/20

Food: 8.5/10 (Ox cheek 7, Fig 9, Crab 8, Venison 7, Mutton 9, Pie 8, Boar 7, Salmon 8, Dauphinoise 9, Sprouts 7, Choc Terrine 8)

Service: 3.5/5

Ambience: 4/5

PLEASE NOTE: All scored reviews are unannounced, impartial, paid for by Confidential and completely independent of any commercial relationship. Venues are rated against the best examples of their type: 1-5: saw your leg off and eat it, 6-9: Netflix and chill, 10-11: only if you're passing, 12-13: good, 14-15: very good, 16-17: excellent, 18-19: pure class, 20: cooked by God's own personal chef