REVIEW | The Elk, Chorlton

IT'S NOT often you get to cover two seasons in one review. From snow and sleet, to spring sunshine, this review embraces more weather than the shipping forecast. And climate is important for eating - seasonal food is most definitely a thing these days. Things have moved on from only having oysters when there is an ‘r’ in the month to making sure it’s guinea fowl in February and samphire in July. But seasonality covers what you feel like eating too, with carby comfort blankets being the order of the day in winter, fresh and zingy salads (ok ice lollies) in summer. Not that we managed both of those in the same visit, but in two visits only a few days apart.

As a rough guideline this place does cheese well, so base your orders around that and you can’t go far wrong

My venue of choice was Elk (formerly Moose) on Beech Road, that genteel thoroughfare of cafés and handmade greetings cards in Chorlton. Elk does a good line in themed nights – steak night on a Monday, curry on a Thursday etc. -  but what it really does well is a sense of cosiness. On this particular visit there was a roaring log fire with a sweet little Jack Russell curled up in front of it, and a general atmosphere of warm bonhomie. As the weather was practically sub-artic and I’d heard they do a nice tartiflette, I decided to pop in.

The Elk, Beech Road

Tartiflette is a dish that was invented for that most bourgeois of sporting activities, skiing. It combines the duvet-like properties of a fondue, hot chocolate and that little barrel of brandy St Bernard’s wear in order to weather-proof the Octavias and the Olivers before heading down the slopes. Tartiflette is the food equivalent of a pair of mink-lined salopettes - thermal insulation that is almost uncomfortably rich, padded with potatoes, reblochon cheese and lardons, the only concession to health being a teeny cornichon on the side.

Excited for my cheesy slumberdown, I decided to get the mood started with a starter of the goat’s cheese wontons (£5.50) – don’t worry these are fried wontons rather than boiled, served with a sweet chilli dip which made for a perfectly acceptable, not terribly memorable starter. The same could be said for the mini chorizos served with peppers (£5.50), which again were quite tasty, but might suffer from comparison with a similar dish at San Juan up the road.

Goat's cheese wontons

 

Chorizo and peppers

Unfortunately the tartiflette was off the menu. Disaster! What would Bear Grylls do in this life-or-death situation? I used all of my highly developed endurance instincts and opted for its close cousin in comfort food, the fish pie (£9.95) instead. This was a slender offering, tough cubes of white fish floating in a very cheesy sauce (in itself not necessarily a bad thing) and the chef seemed to have opted out of the traditional mashed potato topping. Not only had I not considered this a possibility before, but why on earth would you? Clouds of fluffy mash to soak up all that sauce might have lifted this dish from thin t-shirt to waterproof mac, in the warming stakes, but as it was I was practically hypothermic. The ‘Elk meets Jack’ burger (£10.95) made up for it though, with a thick, juicy patty; soft yielding bun and nice rack of sweet potato wedges on the side. It didn’t have the bells and whistles the fancy burger joints bust out, and was probably all the better for it.

As for desserts, there was quite an intriguing menu (bread and butter pud? Don’t mind if I do) but oddly they also were off so we made do with a thick wedge of a lovely light Victoria sponge (£4.95, with a hot drink included).

Tartiflette

Mountain Goat sandwich

So that’s the snowfall, what about the sunshine? Well as just a couple of days later the thaw set in and the sun finally showed its shamed face down Beech Road, I decided to give Elk another try. The fire was no longer roaring and there was a distinct lack of cute dogs, instead it was all about wearing shades on the mini-patio. And this time, the tartiflette (£7.95) was on the menu. It didn’t disappoint, despite being completely weather inappropriate, a glorious Falconware dish of carbs and cheese studded with lardons and just a sprinkling of chives. It was served with a large, somewhat uninspired (and undressed) salad. No matter, I just added it to the lake of cheese oil swimming at the top of the ‘flette as a dressing in a girl-guide level, nay practically survivalist, display of improvisation.

My companion ordered the Mountain Goat sandwich, a thick doorstop of goat’s cheese and onion relish, served with a pile of very wan-looking fries and a dollop of coleslaw. At £8.95 I thought that was a little expensive, but a spicy virgin Mary (£3.50) and a refreshing, apricot-tinged chenin blanc (£3.90) soon distracted us from the price.

The food at The Elk seems a little all over the place, some well executed, some barely thought through, some plain missing. As a rough guideline this place does cheese well (as they should, it is run by the owners of The Little Deli Company in Hale and should have access to the good stuff), so base your orders around that and you can’t go far wrong. The atmosphere here is pleasant and the staff friendly, so one to consider if you are wending your way down bougie Beech Road, whatever the weather throws at you.

The Elk, 48 Beech Rd, Manchester M21 9EG. Tel: 0161 881 6399.

Rating: 12.5/20

Food: 5.5 (Goats cheese wontons 5, mini chorizos 5, fish pie 3, burger 6.5, tartiflette 6.5 [the salad pulled this one] down], cake 7)

Atmosphere: 4/5

Service: 3/5