Category: Restaurants: mid-range to aspirational. Score 12/20 (Full breakdown below and score explained. Venues are compared with similar venues and measured against the best examples in their category.)
STOCK has the grandest entrance hall of any Manchester restaurant: a well proportioned 1907 marble-lined space you want to settle down in and talk with friends in the manner and style of Oscar Wilde.
"Shall we dine?"
"Yes, I rather think we shall."
"You know, after a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives.”
“Yes I rather agree. And when I am in trouble eating is the only thing that consoles me. I refuse everything except food and drink. I can't stand people who don't take food seriously.”
A slice of that, a cut of mint leaf, the lamb and then the mash bunched on a fork produced a slightly unnerving taste that was strangely beguiling, although I never expect to see anything like this again.
Apologies to Oscar for stealing his lines there but the atmosphere is thick with that sort of mood in Stock.
But the entrance hall is only the appetiser, the building then opens into the very grand domed space that was the former trading hall of the Northern Stock Exchange.
Here the decoration is green marble with plaster extravagances bearing wonderful architectural titles such as festoons, wreaths and swags. There are big mirrors too and wine cabinets turned into features. It’s a lovely place in which to dine - although the lighting in the booths makes it hard to see what you're eating clearly.
Lovely room
The building was converted to restaurant use in 2000. Thirteen years later and the situation may be fluid again. The building has been bought by Gary Neville, the brainy multi-tasking footballer turned pundit, England coach and property tycoon.
Rumours abound that Stock may be converted into a boutique hotel, despite the hidden away location with the Arndale yellow toilet tiles at one end of the road and Market Street round the corner.
The food is distinctive, odd even. Stock made its name through the imagination of Enzo Mauro, a restaurateur and chef of good pedigree - a former Outstanding Contribution winner at Manchester Food and Drink Festival who made his name with an eponymous restaurant in Bollington.
His influences are said to reflect his southern Italian background. If that was the case it is no longer apparent.
Gianchetti, deep fried livebait on beetroot and baby leaves with chilli oil (£7.70), was a typically curious dish. Beetroot married to whitebait was plain bizarre, not horribly so but definitely weird. It sort of worked but the whitebait needed lemon which didn't come with the dish and had to be requested separately. Dear Stock always send out the zest with this dish, it needs it.
Whitebait and beetroot
Fegatini, chicken livers cooked with Masala wine, mushrooms and grapes on focaccia (£7.20) were probably the highlight of the meal. Big flavours here, juicy when need be, rich all the way through.
Service was cheery but occasionally Laurel and Hardy. After the starters the waiter came over and presented us with the dessert menu. We stared back dumbstruck for a minute recalling how we'd clearly ordered mains. What would Oscar W have said. Maybe "Come come now man. All men are monsters. The only thing to do is to feed the wretches well. So shall we have our main courses before the dessert." Spot the real Wildean lines there.
Lamb attacked by chilliAnyway with the waiter corrected and the meal put back in sequence the mains arrived.
The agnello, the lamb rump marinated in mint, garlic and chilli pepper with onion mash (£21.20), did the weird thing again. Amongst the good flesh and the traditional mint was a massive obscene looking chilli. A slice of that, a cut of mint leaf, the lamb and then the mash bunched on a fork produced a slightly unnerving taste that was strangely beguiling, although I never expect to see anything like this again.
The porchetta, slow roast pork belly with mixed herbs on a bed of Savoy cabbage (£17.20) was an ugly thing. The pork belly was a robust, peasant proportioned stomach filler. It was inelegant in the extreme given the stately surroundings of the room but the big let down was the bland Savoy cabbage it sat upon.
A big ugly filling thing
Another let down was the final nosh, a cheeseboard that was half-hearted at best. It took a couple of waiters to work out which cheese was which.
Drinkswise there are some good deals, especially if you ask for some of the bin-ends. A 2006 Nicolello Barolo is a decent deal for £40 if you've got spare cash.
Looking back I'm still trying to work out the food.
It wasn't bad food, some of it was fine, but it was so crazily distinctive as to border on the maverick. Like Alice I felt I'd fallen through the Looking Glass into a place where everything was almost but not exactly the same, where a huge chilli placed on lamb might be an every day occurrence.
But then as Oscar said, 'Illusion is the first of all pleasures'. And given one of the best elements of dining out is to be surprised then I confess I had a really pleasant time at Stock. Although not in the way I expected.
You can follow Jonathan Schofield on Twitter @JonathSchofield or connect via Google+
ALL SCORED CONFIDENTIAL REVIEWS ARE IMPARTIAL AND PAID FOR BY THE MAGAZINE.
Stock, The Stock Exchange, 4 Norfolk St, City centre, M2 1DW. 0161 839 6644
Food: 6/10 (livers 7, whitebait 6, belly pork 6, lamb 6.5, cheese 5.5)
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5
It's a grand old room
