Only open a few weeks, the Lamb of Tartary is owned by the folks who run the Edinburgh Castle, the well known pub in Ancoats which has its food described as “something between workaday pub food and fine dining” by the Good Food Guide. . Something in between pub grub and posh grub would suit us nicely and we went in the hope that the ethos of the Castle had moved a bit nearer the city centre to their new venture. The name comes from a mythical plant in Central Asia which, many centuries back, was said to produce sheep as its fruit.
The building it’s in is officially listed as being of special architectural interest. It’s in what we now call the Northern Quarter but back in the early part of the 20th century, this was the centre of Manchester wealth generating cotton industry. The area then became known as Cottonopolis, because of its local power and influence. Just before the First World War, the premises were the offices of Thomas Barnes Ltd, a company which had its cotton mills in the Bolton area. In more recent times, the link to the past is that the ground floor was the well known Manchester bar, Cottonopolis and is now the Lamb.
In one large room, there are separate bar and restaurant areas which are managed quite well, although the sound track that will be keeping the drinkers happy, seemed a bit too loud for the restaurant end of the room (and, yes, I am a grumpy old man so maybe not on point for their demographics). Front of house service was spot on – from friendly welcome through to the speedy delivery of the bill (and all in between).
It’s a short menu – nine starters, five mains and four desserts – but still plenty of choice for both of us. As in a starter of two small crumpets, generously topped with a pile of brown crab meat and covered with a mace flavoured hollandaise sauce. Or a lamb scotch egg, served warm with a yolk still just nicely runny and a fenugreek mayo.
For mains, there was a pork chop – taken from the rare breed Tamworth. Served sliced off the bone, with a thick rim of meltingly soft fat and a powerful sauce, this was delicious. As was a similarly sliced bavette steak, also from a heritage breed, the Galloway. Here the sauce is “au poivre” – or pepper to you and me. We shared a Little Gem and herb salad (nice sharp dressing) and a portion of chips. Now, I must “ooo and ahh” over the chips. These may well be the best chips we’ve eaten. Ever. They were all you want from a chip – crisp outside, nicely browned, soft and fluffy inside and perfectly seasoned. I asked about them and the chef told me they go through a four stage process, including steaming the potatoes and frying them twice. If the kitchen cares this much about the humble chip, then it’s going to care about everything it cooks. And it had shown.
When it came to dessert, we just didn’t fancy any of the four on offer, so just got espresso. Good espresso, mind. It was a worthy finish to a nice meal.