.There’s been a lot of reviewing going on for this place. The Good Food Guide has been. Manchester Confidential has been. Michelin has been. Even the Observer has been. And all have been very, very positive. But how was it going to suit a couple of elderly gallivanters? Well, as it turned out, very well. It’s a nice, minimalist room with friendly, helpful staff and counter/bar seating as well as tables (you can choose when you book)
As for the food, this is not a “small plates for sharing” type place, but food is served on small plates, which could leave you wanting a bag of chips on the way home (we stopped at the convenience store for a packet of biscuits). This is not an Italian restaurant although the short menu comprised Italian (or Italianesque) dishes - apparently it’s what the chefs currently fancy cooking. But it’s all interesting and enjoyable.
From the snacks section of the menu, we ordered panelle – Sicilian chickpea fritters, spiked with fennel and a little chilli. Maybe the nicest thing we ate all evening. For one starter, there was a cooked, hollowed out onion filled with finely chopped chicken liver. Delish and, almost literally, melt in the mouth – I’m sure that’s how it’s supposed to be but I’d have preferred a little more texture to the onion. Pappa di pomodoro is a Tuscan tomato and bread soup, where the bread goes mushy (in a good way) to thicken the soup. It’s lovely
I mentioned earlier that food comes on small plates, so a main course of lemon sole was just that. It filled the plate with just a little bottarga (fish roe) on top. Delicious it was, main course it wasn’t. Barnsley chop was a bit more substantial and came with a few strands of “cima di rapa” – a leafy veg that I’ve had before in Italian restaurants. A spoonful of a garlic, anchovy puree and a really good sauce set it off. There are a couple of sides available. We shared a bowl of braised Tarbais beans – a bit like butter beans but more flavoursome. If the panelle wasn’t the best thing we ate, then this was.
We thought about dessert – there are three on the menu. Two were cheese based and the third was rhum baba, none of which we fancied. So we just got the bill. Not sure if this will become a regular place to visit but we certainly want to come back. And make sure we order bread to bulk out the meal a bit.
