REVIEW | Rosylee | Northern Quarter

WHAT is the English equivalent of the classic French bistro? ‘Premium casual’ might be the new watchword in the dining scene but our European cousins have been at simple, well-cooked provincial dishes from a menu terroir served in comfortable but classic surroundings since le déluge. Pub food might be the closest thing Les Anglais have traditionally had to this concept, though it’s only comparatively recently that pubs have upgraded from serving scampi ’n’ chips to scallops ’n’ pancetta.

What if I’d rather be grumpy and then quietly die alone? Alas I can’t find that as a framed poster anywhere.

With its new menu focusing on British classics and a dining room in elegant yet not overbearing black-and-white, could the Northern Quarter’s Rosylee be a real life English Bistro? The place started life as a tearoom but soon graduated to a proper restaurant with a neat line in cocktails (The Fitzgerald, a 1920s speakeasy-style bar sits above). Robert Owen Brown, of Mark Addy and Midland fame, cooked here for a while, which is a promising influence in terms of buying from local producers and celebrating Northern dishes, ticking some bistro boxes right there. 

Rosylee

But Owen Brown has long moved on and a new menu was launched last month. The new executive chef is Chris Byron, who says that his new menu is “more accessible”. ‘Accessible’ is sometimes code for ‘lowest common denominator’ - but then again might also mean “less of the offal, it made people nervous”.  Byron also says “it’s great to be able to work with such a diverse portfolio of brands,” referring to Rosylee’s owners MAD, which also own tiki bar Hula and the opening-as-we-speak Infamous Diner. I’m not sure chefs should ever refer to brand portfolios. Swearing enough to turn the air blue while sous-viding a duck egg maybe, but not this corporate speak.

Speaking of speak, Rosylee has fallen into the twee trap opened under our feet by Innocent Smoothies back in the 90s. There seems to a constant barrage of sign and little notes urging customers to get comfy in faux-matey tones. This reminds me of home decor which tells me to ‘love, laugh and live’. What if I’d rather be grumpy and then quietly die alone? Alas I can’t find that as a framed poster anywhere.

A rather incongruous feature among all this English cuteness is the INKA grill, which is Rosylee’s pride and joy and of which there are apparently only five in Manchester (two others belong to Solita and Manchester City respectively. Solita I can understand, though what City are up to with a £10,000 barbecue I have no idea. Setting light to £50 notes maybe).

Scampi

Nevertheless as INKA dishes make up around a third of the dishes on the menu it seemed important to try a starter and a main flamed in the cooking behemoth. We opted for prawn skewer (£6.75). It’s funny that despite being commonly available for a few decades now, massive prawns are still considered a bit luxurious. That is the only reason I can think of to justify only four prawns and several chunks of courgette not mentioned on the menu. At least both shellfish and vegetable tasted genuinely barbecued, succulent and with a proper smoky flavour. In remembrance of pub grub past we also had scampi (£5.25) which was fine, though the accompanying tartare sauce tasted like mayonnaise that was once Facebook friends with a caper - any piquancy was a distant memory.

In the spirit of cozy home-cooking, I ordered the pie of the day (£9.95) for my main which turned out to be cottage pie. There were two problems with it. It was on the small side (it didn’t come with any veg so I ordered extra peas for £3) and almost unbearably salty.

It reminds me of Woody Allen in Annie Hall when he says, “There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, 'Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.' The other one says, 'Yeah, I know; and such small portions.'"

Cottage Pie

Just to get things straight, I’m not saying the food at Rosylee is terrible, or that the portions are ridiculously small. But when plain-cooked comfort food is your thing then luscious heaps that make the customer feel practically swaddled in a duvet of fluffy mashed potato with a giant jam roly-poly for a pillow (just watch out for that custard night cap) is really a must. Nursery food and, ahem, restricted portions don’t mix.

Spatchcock chicken (£14.95) marinated in dandelion and burdock was our other INKA choice. This time I could taste neither smoke, nor the promised flavour of the thinking man’s pop. Other people have mentioned that the D&B taste was mainly in the gravy, well no gravy turned up this time. The chips were pretty decent though, and the cauliflower cheese, instead of being soggy and blanketed in floury white sauce, was well-cooked and topped with melted cheese which made a nice change. Dessert was lemon posset (£4.95), a shotglass of pure citron-sweetness (much too sweet for me) with delicious homemade shortbread biscuits.

Spatchcock Chicken

Apparently MAD were once thinking of ‘rolling out' the Rosylee concept (or as normal humans say ‘opening more’) in other northern cities, but that idea has gone quiet as they focus on their utterly original retro American diner. This is a shame. Rosylee is clearly suffering from a bit of inattention at the moment, but with a bit of tuning up the English bistro could be a refreshing change after a surfeit of burger joints. I can only give a wholly gallic shrug. 

All scored reviews are unannounced, impartial, paid for by Confidential and completely independent of any commerical relationship.

Rosylee, 11 Stevenson Square, Northern Quarter, M1 1DB. 0161 228 6629.

Rating: 11.5/20

Food: 4 (Scampi 4; Prawn skewers 5; Spatchcock chicken 4; Cottage pie 3; Lemon posset 4)

Atmosphere: 3.5 bustling

Service: 4 a mistake with an order was corrected straight away very professionally.