CONFIDENTIAL PROMOTION
THE black pudding with scallops combo is a traditional pairing that I adore. Ramp up the game with roast pear and a cracking mustard cream and we're sailing through the textures and flavours on a luxury yacht in calm waters. This £9.50 dish at the Lawn Club shows the place remains a guarantor of crafted creativity ensconced in very pleasant surroundings.
The Lawn Club is still one of the best operators in this part of the centre.
Other new dishes displayed the same qualities as the scallop dish. There has been a change on the menu though. Instead of a series of small plates the scale has been boosted across the menu to give more bang for your buck. This was shown in the half roast chicken on gnocchi which was a full main course and also astonishingly good. The price was £16 and the flavours were winners throughout. This was deceptively simple dish made rich and lush with garlic and truffle and a seductive pea and tarragon cream sauce. I'm not usually fond of gnocchi but here they worked a treat, bolstering the delicate flesh of the cornfed cluck-cluck.
A damn fine fowlMacaroni and cheese is becoming endemic in Manchester but the Lawn Club's offering is one of the best at £8.50 with nut crumb and roast sprouting broccoli. Not sure what the latter's role is but as whole this dish was a good winter/autumn filler, wholesome rather than winsome. The smoked lardons as an add-on for £2 are recommended to liven up proceedings.
With the chargrilled hangar steak (£15.50) you again get a sense of the way the food on the Lawn Club plate is getting bigger. The steak came with excellent chips and a good peppercorn sauce plus huge battered onion rings. Not my thing onion rings. Tim Bacon of Living Ventures says the first thing that has to go on most menus if a restaurant wants to make commercial sense is steak and chips. He's right but I feel that while the Yorkshire men visiting Manchester might want to dive into the Lawn Club's steak I'd prefer to stick with the subtleties of the scallops and chicken dishes.
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The steakThese subtleties are also in evidence with the half grilled lobster (£18) or the grilled salmon (£9.50). There's even a sort of elegance about the Lawn Club lemon posset for £4.50. This comes with raspberries, cream and homemade shortbread and is a perfect palatte cleansing end to any meal. The milk chocolate mousse (£5.50) is stonkingly rich and sports a scatteriing of hazelnuts.
The Lawn Club is still one of the best operators in this part of the centre. It's got that sweet sward outside, a winter-lodge-feel, at this time of year, to the interior with all the timber, the fires and the piles of logs. Couple the comfortable nature of the interior with good service, a fine drinks range and the handsome choice on the menu and the place is a winner. My choice is the scallops, the chicken and posset and life is good.
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Mac attack
The menu has been boosted
Cute cocktail list
