ONE of our chief aims here at Confidential is to make sure you never spend one hard-earned penny, not one bleedin' minute, suffering a shitty restaurant.
The chicken could have been cooked in nuns' tears it was so delicate
To achieve this (by our frankly woolly reckoning) we've chewed our way through 143 restaurants over the past twelve months - 83 of which we've reviewed on this site.
Not too shabby, I think you'll agree.
On occasions we've wanted to storm the kitchen, sweep up the chef like Richard Gere, and carry them off to bed. At other times we've wanted to lop off our tongues with the butter knife.
Now, with but a couple of weeks to go before we shake hands with the new year, it's time to look back at some of the most exceptional dishes we've eaten this year. From Mohalabia to red cabbage, Japanese curried potato korekke to duck broth, here's 24 dishes we gave full marks to in 2015...
SUGO | Orecchiette con ragu
"I went down the long slow stewing avenue for my main, pairing the ear-shaped pasta variety called orecchiette with a ragu alla Napoletana and – pasta overload – some twisty trofie. The ragu was among the best Italian sauces I’ve ever eaten, a dense tangle of beef shin, pork shoulder and spicy Tuscan sausage." Neil Sowerby
Price - £13
Sugo Reviewed - 22 Shaw’s Road, Altrincham WA14 1QU
ROGAN & CO. | Green salad
"What did shine was a side salad of vegetables and leaves from Rogan’s own farm. The salad is one of three in 40 years for this writer that hit a perfect score. The ubiquitous kale lifting the piece into the stratosphere." Gordo
Price - £3.50
Rogan & Co. Reviewed - Devonshire Square, Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria LA11 6QD
HAWKSMOOR | T-bone
"I shared a Hawksmoor T-bone steak with a friend. T-bone's are a delight, fillet one side, sirloin the other. As Fearnley-Whittingstall writes in his flesh-bible Meat: 'The joy of this cut is that it retains and absorbs flavour from the bone'. Cooked perfectly medium rare it so filled the pair of us we couldn't finish it so I asked for a doggy bag to have another go at home. There was no fat left in the doggy bag by the way, I'd torn into that like a wolf who'd not eaten for a month." Jonathan Schofield
Price - £8/100g
Hawksmoor Reviewed - 184-186 Deansgate, City Centre, M3 3WB
IBERICA | Rice Pud / Mallard
"The rice pudding was better than (Gordo's pal) Yousaf's mum's, which was the best in the world. It was room temperature with a thin brûlée topping and smelled of forbidden promises." Gordo
Price - £4
Iberica Reviewed - The Avenue, Spinningfields 3, Hardman St, Manchester M3 3HS
"The pick of the dishes? It had to be the perfect mallard duck breast, served pink, with sweetly pickled chanterelles and beetroot, both roast and cured. Chef Cesar Garcia is an enthusiastic convert to beetroot, which barely figures in his native Asturian cuisine." Neil Sowerby
Price - £10
L'ENCLUME | Roe deer tartare / Jerusalem artichoke
"Firstly, the roe deer tartare with, if Gordo isn't mistaken, coal oil. This took what is on the menu at Fera and The French and lifted them a notch; the emulsions, the tiny tickles of leaves and cubes of vegetables and fruit made this a perfect dish. Billed as a house special; this was very special indeed." Gordo
Price - set menus from £49
L'Enclume Reviewed - Cavendish St, Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands LA11 6PZ
"The Jerusalem artichoke dish was a triumph of balanced flavour, texture and silken cream; most importantly, it majored triumphantly as a dish that was deeply, reassuringly one-dimensional. That dimension being the artichoke part. Whilst it looked a bit over-fussed, it wasn’t. This was one of two dishes on the day which were so standout it managed to stop Shagger and Gordo from telling each other lies for at least ten minutes." Gordo
TNQ | Gnocchi
"The baked butternut squash and sage gnocchi was a creamy dream of a dish that shows those vegetarians might be onto something after all. Slippery with butter, sweet squash was paired with pillows of softly baked gnocchi, unctuous goats curd and studded with walnuts and garnished with the soft grey-green velvet of sage leaves peeping through like rabbits’ ears in a meadow." Lucy Tomlinson
Price - £10.95
TNQ Reviewed - 108 High St, Manchester M4 1HQ
LUNYA | Monte Enebro cheese
"The deep fried Monte Enebro cheese, meanwhile, is worth a visit alone. On the face of it, cooking a cheese which has come out top at the World Cheese Awards on several occasions seems misguided. Yet the smooth heart of this cheese from a remote corner of Castilla y Leon contrasts effortlessly with lashings of melted honey and beetroot crisps. It sounds strange, but the outer texture brings to mind the comforting shell of a McDonalds apple pie and I love every inch, right down to its charcoal-coloured rind." Ruth Allan
Price - £7.95
Lunya Reviewed - 7 Barton Square, Manchester M3 2BB
NORTHCOTE | Treacle tart
"When opting for dessert there’s a souffléd apple crumble, and Yorkshire rhubarb with custard, white chocolate, ginger and jelly. But it is hard to oppose the tremendous treacle tart with great pastry, clotted cream and a few raspberries." Charles Campion
Price - £6.50
Northcote Reviewed - Northcote Road, Langho, Blackburn, Lancashire BB6 8BE
HARVEY NICHOLS SECOND FLOOR BRASSERIE | Hoi sin duck buns
"The dishes on offer as ‘starters’ are more like Venetian small plates beloved of the Italian ‘Polpo’ style. Gordo can’t give you a title. Modern Bristish it isn’t. But some of them are extremely well done. The Hoi sin duck buns actually beat Harry Yeung’s at the Yang Sing." Gordo
Price - £7
Harvey Nichols Reviewed - 21 New Cathedral Street, Manchester M1 1AD
COMMON | Korean fried chicken
"Chunky, slightly crispy, boneless chicken bites glazed in a syrupy sweet Gangjeong sauce (a Korean confectionary of rice, honey, malt and cereal) and sesame seeds. Every now and then you discover a dish that makes your day, this made my week." David Blake
Price - £4.50
Common Reviewed - 39 Edge Street, Northern Quarter, M4 1HW
PARKERS ARMS | Manx queenie scallops
"Manx queenie scallops are the perfect place to cast off. The tiny molluscs find their feet in Chef Madi’s arrangement between slivers of blood orange, wafer-thin fennel and a sweet, scallop parfait. The fishiness comes to the fore as a sail of sourdough brings to mind the sea." Ruth Allan
Price - £8
Parkers Arms - Newton-in-Bowland, Nr Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 3DY
MANCHESTER HOUSE | Chicken / Cucumber mousse
"Jeez, I'll remember the star of the show; the chicken breast and leg with cepe mushrooms, wild garlic and about thirty other ingredients. This was a dish so complex, rich and engrossing I could have eaten two or three more portions. The chicken could have been cooked in nuns' tears it was so delicate, yet the essential chickeny nature was uncompromised by the other elements including an especially glorious and rugged blast of cepe mushrooms." Jonathan Schofield
Price - £32.50 for three courses
Manchester House Reviewed - Tower 12, 18-22 Bridge St, Manchester M3 3BZ
"The 'End', the desserts, didn't let the side down. The cucumber mousse with 'Gin and Tonic', pink grapefruit and current mixologist buzzword, 'herbals', was invigorating and beautiful to gaze at - then gobble." Jonathan Schofield
LUPO | Tiramisu
"Ornella had outdone herself here. This was the richest, creamiest, coffee-est, cocao-est, over the top, yet natural and refreshing tiramisu I've had on the planet. With a base saturated in Marsala wine I always think tiramisu is the closest there is to a proper English sherry trifle but lacking the exuberance of the latter. Not this one. Ornella's was ornate." Jonathan Schofield
Lupo Reviewed - 142 Chapel Street, Salford, M3 6AF
STREET ON 1ST | Duck broth
"I dreamt last night of small teapots dancing gaily amongst delicate wonton forests. It was a good dream. Now back in the land of the waking the memory of the duck broth shooters at Street on 1st is just as beguiling. This dish is scintillatingly subtle, with wafts of gentle spicy flavour and a strong underpinning of meat. The presentation is lovely with laboratory-like little glass mugs and sweet teapots delivered with the grace of a Japanese tea ceremony." Jonathan Schofield
Price - £8
Street On 1st Reviewed - Innside Hotel, First Street, Manchester M15 4RP
SIMON RADLEY AT THE CHESTER GROSVENOR | Cheese trolley
"Before the puds, treat yourself to a fly past by the heavily laden cheese trolley. The cheeses look good and the majority are on the point of ripeness, what’s more everything is at room temperature. Let’s bring back cheese trolleys." Charles Campion
Price - tasting menus from £79
Chester Grosvenor Reviewed - Eastgate, Chester, Cheshire CH1 1LT
AUSTRALASIA | Korekke
"Our waiter recommended the hit of the day with the Japanese curried potato korekke. Picture one of those Spanish croquetas, crisp outside gooey within, then make it much larger and sprinkled with green herbs." Charles Campion
Price - £7.50
Australasia Reviewed - 1 The Avenue, Spinningfields M3 3AE
THE CLARENCE | Ox tongue
"The beers were perfect for my starter of braised ox tongue, bone marrow croquettes, parsley puree, soused shallots. Now this was a dish that sang of Old Bury, the melting texture of tongue ‘coins’, fat in crumble of the croquettes, sharp sweet pickle and a slick of vibrant chlorophyll, which I mopped up with bread from an odd iron receptacle." Neil Sowerby
Price - £6.50
The Clarence Reviewed - 2 Silver Street, Bury BL9 0EX
BURNT TRUFFLE | Red cabbage
"...the red cabbage was the best ever. That’s across this country, any country that has a few Alps in it and the Austro-Hungarian Empire adding in Prussia and Poland. Let's not mess about here, this is a 10. Only Halle Berry strolling out of his bath would have impressed Gordo this much." Gordo
Price - £4
Burnt Truffle Reviewed - 106 Telegraph Rd, Heswall, Wirral CH60 0AQ
(Gordo has been flogged for this shoddy image)
COMPTOIR LIBANAIS | Mohalabia
"We were too full for desserts so shared what turned out to be the highlight – Mohalabia, a traditional Lebanese milk pudding flavoured with sweet rose syrup and topped with toasted pistachios. It was like a very light and gently perfumed panna cotta with a definite wobble, much like me on a treadmill." Deanna Thomas
Price - £4.45
Comptoir Libanais Reviewed - 18-19 The Avenue, Spinningfields M3 3HF
63 DEGREES | Snails
"Snails, oh snails. Sleuth was in 63 Degrees on Thursday and ate this work of art. An absolute beautiful dish of snails, pancetta, in a tuile basket with a parsley foam that was fluffiness defined." Jonathan Schofield
Price - £11
63 Degrees: Dish of the week - 104 High St, Manchester M4 1HQ
APPLEBY'S | Coffee cake
"The coffee cake was softly moist and fluffy, tasting of ground and roasted coffee beans from Ethiopia. The butter cream filling was just enough. It was wonderful. 24 hours later, it still lingers in the mind. The balance all the way through could only have been achieved by a truly artful baker with magic in his fingers - that cake is in line for Gordo’s ‘dish of the year'." Gordo
Price - £3.25
Appleby's Reviewed - 21 Barlow Moor Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 6TN
