Harters

Midweek - and it was pretty much full. Italian regulars, as well as as tourists like us.

So far, I've managed to restrain myself from going to the Chester one. But Mrs H keeps hinting so I suspect time is against me.

Cor! That looks bloody good. But, as you say, a heck of a schlep for most of us.

ROEBUCK, MOBBERLEY, CHESHIRE The Roebuck is a past holder of the Cheshire Dining Pub of the Year award. And certainly, there’s a really good dining pub struggling to get out, in the competition between pubby food outlets on the outskirts of Manchester Airport. The small village of Mobberley has three decent contenders and a couple of others doing pretty gruesome looking pub grub. What brings folk in is the exceptionally well priced lunchtime two courses for a tenner. That might bring you Bury black pudding cake topped with poached egg, followed by local lamb’s liver and onion gravy. Another draw is the well kept beer, which included Tatton Best bitter, from literally just down the road in Knutsford. However, we decided to order off the main menu. For starters, a classic prawn cocktail was a generous mix of king and ordinary prawns. The sauce a tad underseasoned and a tad parsimonious. For the other, a breast from a locally shot wood pigeon sat between a “sandwich” of puff pastry with a little watercress and spinach sauce. It was good idea that needs some work – cook the sauce more to intensify it, cook the pigeon less so that’s not so tough. Rib of beef was described as 24 hour roasted (eh?) and served medium rare. Perhaps their definition of medium rare is different to mine, but this was somewhat past medium. Damn good flavour, though. Excellent goose fat roasted spuds, carrots, broccoli and cabbage contributed to my five-a-day. There was very good gravy and two deliciously crisp rashers of pancetta. On the other plate, an individual homemade shortcrust pie – steak, mushrooms, Tatton beer. I wanted this as soon as I looked at it but there was no chance of a swap. It came with the same veg as my beef, chips and small jug of beer based gravy. Good dish. So, a pretty reasonable lunch which, with drinks, had cost £45. Not perfect, but perhaps they were having an off day. The Roebuck might describe itself as a dining pub but this is pretty much a restaurant in anyone’s book. Sure, you’ll be welcomed just to stand at the bar and swig a pint or two. But folk are mainly here eating – you’re shown to your table, as in any restaurant; orders are taken at the table and the bill is later presented. Don’t let that put you off.

Apologies. You were right and I wasn't. Shoulda gone to Specsavers.

Not that anyone has, of course.

Mrs H & I had our silver wedding celebration dinner at Heathcotes in Manchester. There really was nowhere else to go - the building drew us like a magnet. It used to be the offices of Manchester Council's education department where I started work in 1966. Jump forward a little and it had become the main register office where we got married in 1972. And then 25 years later a pretty decent restaurant. We had a good evening there but it did go downhill in more recent times before the closure. I took an American friend there as an example of "north west" cuisine. Truth be told, I felt a bit apologetic afterwards. Oh, and I've just bought a secondhand copy of "Rhubarb" and am looking forward to flicking through.

Leaving aside any passing travellers or festival goers, you need to think about catchment area. We eat at a variety of places and,over the last couple of years, focus on places we havnt been to before. In the ordinary course of events, we limit ourselves to a 1 hour drive time from home. When I mention this to folk, they are generally gob-smacked that we'd be prepared to drive that far just for a midweek dinner. Clearly, they would travel less and, I suspect, much less. Means that you are going to have a generally limited catchment area - probably similar to what you have now. The question is how to tap into that population better. If you havnt already done so,I'd suggest it might be worthwhile visiting the local restaurants in Perth and around which are popular and successful and see how they're doing it. Maybe one of those not seeing the wood for the trees sort of thing. John

Pam To sort of paraphrase Groucho Marx (I think), I dont't want to eat somewhere where I am not welcomed as I am. On our forthcoming trip to Scotland, we're staying at Fort William overnight. Needless to say, I took a peek at the Inverlochy Castle website. Only a brief look, mind. Not only is a jacket required but a tie as well. Talk about old-fashioned, eh? I keep thinking that, one of these days, I'll try to identify the number of places in the country that are so backward as to still require jacket. Must be only a handful still clinging on (even Gordon Ramsey, Royal Hospital Road has now relaxed their policy to "preferred" so I might get to eat there yet) John

Perhaps exactly my point, Pam. You are who you are, with your knowledge and experience of food and restaurant eating. But would you be typical of Christina's punters or, more to the point, potential punters? By the by, looking at the location, I see I'm passing nearby in a couple of weeks, coming south from Pitlochry. I'm not sure of timings but, if around lunchtime, we'll try to pop in. Happy to review it here and, as usual, send off notes to the Good food Guide. John

It wasn’t the best of omens. I must have set the sat nav wrongly as, when Jane’s dulcet tones rang out announcing that we had reached our destination, we were in a part of Preston forsaken by every known deity. It took a few minutes more before we saw Longridge signposted and we felt on more familiar territory. It’s been a goodly while since we were last here and have been thinking about a return meal for some time. I have to say that we’ve now seen that, done that, paid the bill and are in no great rush to return. Perhaps it’s because we’ve had some really good meals lately. Perhaps we’re a bit jaded. Or, perhaps, Longridge just isn’t as good as we remember it. That’s not to say all was bad. Far from it. There were nice canapés – two fritters, one saltcod, the other cheese. And good olives. There was a good short menu (although too short to include any vegetarian choice). There was excellent bread – a Blacksticks Blue stood out, as did a caramelised onion. And the amuse was bang on – pea and olive oil soup – fresh and light and tasting very much of itself. And, always a thing of interest to my partner, a good selection of wines by the glass Twice baked Lancashire cheese soufflé was a bit dense and was underseasoned. It was, however, lifted by crispy onion rings and a little salad of pickled pear. The other starter was almost classic Heathcote. Black pudding with a little mustard mash, apple puree, watercress and a long cooked duck egg yolk. What’s not to like? There was then an inordinate delay approaching 30 minutes between plates being cleared and the next dish arriving. It was not as though food was going to other tables. Perhaps chef was on a tea break? Roast cod flaked into delicious pieces but would have been much better with a crispy skin. Accompaniments of new potatoes, samphire and asparagus were nicely seasonal and dressed with a tomato vinaigrette. My partner had asked for it to be served without the advertised poached egg so it had to go back. Of course, when the plate returned the food was not particularly hot any more. And, whilst there was an apology, there seemed to be a sense of incomplete teamwork with the restaurant manager making the point that he had written it on the slip and it was the kitchen’s fault. I rarely order steak and my fillet was a reminder of why. Tender, perfectly cooked to my requested medium rare but bland, boring meat. If I find it very easy to buy good well aged beef at home then I’m sure restaurants can as well – but few seem to be bothered. It came with a little braised oxtail meat which was delicious and I’d have been happy to have a plate of just that. A little potato puree and some shreds of cabbage and carrot completed the plate. Inoffensive is probably a good description. There was then more of a delay with no sign of dessert being offered, so we buttonholed one of the staff to get menus. Once we’d ordered there was, again, almost too long a delay. Pre-dessert was, frankly odd. A blob of vanilla of vanilla ice cream sat on a bigger blob of fruity yoghurt. It’s the sort of dessert my nephew used to make when he was 6. Desserts proper were just about worth the wait. Lemon curd & strawberry sorbet with little meringue peaks – a good balance of sweet and tangy. A rosemary pannacotta didn’t seem to have any detectable rosemary but was a good texture and the accompanying poached rhubarb and rhubarb sorbet gave it a zingy boost. We finished with some good coffee and petit fours. As I say, it was an OK evening. Not outstanding and definitely not outstandingly good value. Service had been patchy – for instance, we’d ordered a bottle of sparkling water then, when we ordered a second bottle, it came as still – but because they were constantly topping up glasses, we didn’t realise the change at first. Oh, and neither bottle was cold. If I was Paul Heathcote, I’d be ordering up a couple of “mystery diner” visits and really paying attention to what they have to say. It really wouldn’t take much to sharpen up both food and service.

Have to say, I find reading the menu to be a big turn off. To me, it's saying that someone is trying to gussy things up by sticking in the odd French word here and there. "Assiette" - isnt that what we call a "plate" in English? And don't get me started on "foie gras bonbon". Surely, we've come far enough along the road that we don't need that sort of language any more (if ever we did.

Make sure you buy some coppa. It's excellent.

Correct. Although to get a booking for 1 September, you will have to ring on 1 July. For 2 September, on 2 July.

I suspect the online system may possibly be of use for lunch but hopeless for dinner. You'll have noticed that it does not open until 1 week after the telephone reservation system by which time, I've have thought tables would be long gone. Our experience, last year, was that you had to telephone exactly two months to the day. In fact, you had to telephone at 10am when they start answering the phone. It was constantly engaged for about 30 minutes and we then went on hold for another 30. I have seen a post suggesting that the best way to get through is to set up several phones with speed dial and just keep ringing them.

Not Staffordshire but, possibly, not too far for you (Whitefield - just off the northern bit of the M60) http://www.roma.ltd.uk/ And, by the by, you'd be 5 minutes away from the Metro Fish bar - a recent regional winner of the Chip Shop of the Year competition. Almost worth a trip in itself, IMO. Then, perhaps, you could go on to Bury market and make it a full foody day out.

SPIRITO DI VINO “So, where are you from?” “Near Manchester”, I reply “United or City?” Sometimes, you just know you’ve found the “right” sort of place just from the style of welcome. Then you find out that the food is prepared according to Slow Food principles and you know all really will be fine. “Bring it on”, we said to ourselves. One starter was simplicity itself. Two cheeses - one sheep, the other goat, served with lovely sweet fig jam that would be great on toast for breakfast. A classic combination of the sharp salty cheese and the sweetness of fig. It worked as well here as in Spain where I’ve had pan de higo or, in the UK, where cheese was served with fig roll biscuits at the now closed Juniper. The other starter, described as artichoke cake was thin slices of the vegetable baked in a savoury custard. I was allowed a taste. Only a small taste, mind. And it was excellent. Rich yet simple at the same time. On to the pasta. Spaghetti with a sauce made from “Cinta Senese” pancetta (apparently made from free range Tuscan pigs) and a powerful Parmesan cream. A similar richness to a carbonara but no egg. The other, mezze manichi (a large tubular pasta) with a white meat ragu. It’s explained that the “white” means no tomato, rather than any description of the meat. Both of these dishes were faultless – good pasta, great texture and taste to the sauces. For mains, there was a fillet steak, simply cooked to a very rare side of medium. It came with mixed salad leaves and a thick tomato based sauce, heavy with mustard and a good touch of chilli. The other plate, taken from a recipe from ancient Rome, was a pork shoulder stew. There was a complex spicing going on here with no single flavour dominating the meat. The owner had explained that there were thirteen herbs, spices and other flavourings. There was nutmeg certainly, coriander probably and an asian fish sauce used as a substitute for a Roman flavouring of fermented fish (garum?). Served with a little finely shredded and wilted cabbage and a medium sweet apple sauce, it was the sort of dish you’d find throughout Northern Europe but entirely in its place here. We passed on dessert but had good espresso. Thoroughly recommended. So, returning, in a celebratory way, to my opening sentences......forza azzurri.

IL PAGLIACCIO Il Pagliaccio provided two surprises before we started on the surprise eight course tasting menu. Firstly, when we made the reservation they required not a credit card to secure the table, but a €100 deposit, payable upfront through PayPal. And, secondly, perhaps even more surprising, they are quaint enough to provide two menus – one with prices starting “Dear Sir” and another without prices for my wife. I havnt heard of that in many a long year, let alone seen it. And it was surprising, not least, as she was the one with the credit card that was paying for the meal. As mentioned, we decided to take the eight course menu (there’s other options at ten and twelve courses, as well as a carta). Confirmation received that we’d no allergies, major dislikes, etc, it was on to one of the best meals we’ve had in the last 12 months (on a par with Sat Bains in Nottingham and In De Wulf in Dranouter). It’s not an Italian meal, as such, rather a meal with some Italian culinary influences. In ordinary circumstances, the first food out would be an amuse but I suppose it’s just an unadvertised “extra” course here – a few fried whitebait with a ricotta cream and cucumber sauce to dip them in. Beef that had started out as carpaccio was slightly cooked through in a broth, along with some soba noodles and calamari, returning to a link with the beef by way of a topping of iced horseradish. Clever. Very clever. Then a soup – mozzarella and oyster, soft and luxurious, topped with the sharp contrast of a Granny Smith and camomile granite. Now, something distinctly Italian. Cannelloni stuffed with artichoke mousse, topped with smoked sardine. If I recall the whole meal correctly, this was the only dish which nodded towards fashionable foams with an unlikely, but entirely successful, liquorice one. Now, some technical skill. A small potato had been turned to a perfect cylinder and then hollowed out to make an extremely thin tube. This had been deep fried to perfect crispness and then stuffed with crab. Alongside, a quenelle of mango. In itself, this absolutely delicious but it was accompanied by something frankly odd – a coconut milk and rice soup. Again, in itself, lovely. But did the two elements work well together? The question divided us. No dissent on the next dish. One of the meal’s megastars. Three tortellini sat on the plate arranged like a work of minimalist art. Underneath each one, a blob of spicy tomato sauce. Inside a rich meat mix of suckling pig. Small fillets of red mullet – plainly cooked and tasting exactly of themselves and garnished simply with a quenelle of mixed spring vegetables. I suppose if there was one, the next plate was the main course. Pigeon breast, served whole and perfectly rare and perfectly delicious. A little wilted spinach and a couple of cubes of a beetroot jelly, adding an earthy sweetness. A single blackberry scattered with sesame seeds marked what seemed another nod towards influences of cuisines much further to the east of Italy. We thought that had finished the savoury courses but next up was the meat from the pigeon leg – long braised and served with black rice and thin slices of daikon. Another nod to the east. There seems to be a new trend in tasting menus to have a course that deliberately links the savoury and the sweet. Here it was a blue cheese mousse, surrounded by chocolate. The mousse not overpoweringly cheesy, the chocolate thin enough to be in the background. There was a little baked pear and a few arty dabs of yoghurt. These link dishes can be difficult – the chef got this bang-on. The first dessert was a palate cleansing lemon and ginger granite, topped with a twirl of lime flavoured biscuit. Absolutely excellent. And, finally, a white chocolate tart with superb crisp pastry, chocolate ice cream and, recommended to drink last, a hot rosehip syrup, served in a shot glass. Coffee was a right bleeding performance. Firstly, there was a coffee menu. Of course, none are cheap, so you can’t use price as a basis for selection. Then the foil sachet is presented to you, much as would a wine bottle. Then it’s opened and presented again for you each to sniff. At that point, it was emptied into the coffee machine “bowl”, tamped down and taken away. In due course, it came back in a cup. And damn fine it was too. As were the excellent petit fours – testament to the skill of the pastry chef. Needless to say, at Michelin 2* level, you have every expectation that service will be faultless. And so it was. There is a skill and craft to cooking and presenting food of this quality. And it has to be paid for. Il Pagliaccio is not cheap. In fact, Il Pagliaccio is bloody expensive – and not just by Rome standards where every meal seem to cost more than you hope it would. The meal for the two of us cost more than my annual salary when I started work in 1966 and now was a week’s pension. Back in the day, restaurant meals were, perhaps, steak and chips on a birthday. And, today, this is the third Michelin starred meal so far this year. It was worth every penny.

ARMANDO AL PANTHEON Situated literally a few metres away from the Pantheon, this could so easily be a complete tourist trap. But it isn’t. Of course, there were tourists, like us. Of course, places that get mentioned on international discussion boards are going to attract international customers. But it was good to see Italian customers as well – several clearly welcomed as regulars. As to the food, there was a good mix at all courses. Some light dishes. Some much more substantiaL. A really well constructed menu, in my view. A good selection of bread was served. More bread came in the form of bruschetta, topped with a delicious goose “ham”. Across the table, a generous portion of gnocchi with a rich tomato sauce. My partner followed this with a light main course and one that’s a long-term favourite – thinly sliced steak, a scattering of big chunks of garlic, a little dried chilli, topped with rocket; the dressing nicely astringent from balsamic. I’d gone with the day’s “special” – osso buco. Well flavoured meat, although a tad chewy in parts, surrounded with a light gravy flavoured with peas and mushrooms. I also had a plate of mixed vegetables – peppers, fried courgette, romanesco cauliflower. For desserts – tiramisu, topped with fruits of the forest, which needed more of a kick from booze, but was otherwise fine. The other plate described as a “traditional” Roman cake – an exceptionally light sponge with strawberry jam running through the middle. Espresso was good and hot. Service had been bang on throughout. A thoroughly pleasant experience.

A COUPLE OF LUNCHES Il Miragggio, Via dell’Umilta. Pizza. Very average. Nothing to commend it except it was near the Trevi fountain. And so were we when we got hungry. Trattoria da Luigi, Piazza Sforza Cesarina, off the Vittorio Emanuele. It’ll probably never make the guidebooks. And nor should it. But it offered up a decent open air lunch eaten in the company of a mainly Italian clientele. Mixed bruschetta to start on the other side of the table – three slices of bread, one topped with an artichoke puree, another with tapenade, a third with tomato and rocket. All good flavoursI’d also ordered artichokes – a salad with parmesan. Just that. Thinly sliced fried but still very crisp artichokes topped with thickly grated cheese. A lovely very lemony dressing. I followed with polpette – five meatballs covered with a really good tomato sauce, the sweetness highlighted by the addition of peas. My partner had a plate of salt cod fritters. Firm white fish, crisp light batter. Simples.

DITIRAMBO A decent restaurant just off the Campo de Fiori is bound to be a magnet for tourists. And, of course, that’s why we were there. What was, perhaps, a bit surprising is that, apart from one table occupied by Italians, we were the only Europeans in the place. Everyone else was American. It’s a long, long way to come for decent – but only decent – food. For our first dinner in the city, we decided to order the “full Monty” – antipasto, primi, secondi, contorni – and see where that took us. There was certainly very decent bread – baguette, foccacia and an exceptionally thin crispbread topped with sesame. We both started with courgette flowers, stuffed with ricotta, dipped in batter and deep fried. It was a generous portion of two flowers but this was disappointing. Underflavoured, underseasoned, the filling a bit claggy and the batter a bit soggy. Pasta was a game of two halves. Tagliatelle was good. It came with a sauce made from rabbit and sun dried tomatoes, pecorino adding a creaminess. This was a good coating consistency – but light in both taste and texture. On the other plate, two large ravioli had been stuffed with exactly the same bland ricotta mix as the previous course. They had been cooked and then finished in the pan with butter to crisp them up. It desperately needed the lift from the tomato and caper sauce. Main courses – one lamb, one suckling pig – brought plates that could have been from anywhere in the Med.. A generous slow roast, served on the bone with a scattering of roast potatoes. Good, simple flavours here. A bowl of mixed salad to accompany, with a very good olive oil and OK balsamic to dress it. We passed on dessert. Espresso was a decent strong cup but was luke-warm. So, all in all, an OK dinner. Nothing to shout from the rooftops about. And, for €100, including a half bottle of Cab. Sauv. and a bottle of water, nothing close to several good value for money meals we’ve had in recent months. But, maybe, that’s the penalty for eating just off the Campo. That'll teach me not to listen to martin's advice.

For "really good" Indian, it'd have to be Moti Mahal, IMO. It is a truism that fish & chips in the south is never as good as the north. However, and it saddens me as northerner to admit this, but Masters Superfish isnt too bad. I'd also urge you to consider Rules which does our traditional food in exemplary fashion. I love it there.

What on earth can be the possible harm in taking a child to the shop? Beats me why it would even cross the OP's mind that there was an issue, even a small one, here.

As upthread, I've had this at Red Chilli's city centre and Atherton branches and thought it OK (city better than Atherton). Good balance of the sweet and kickarse chilli. That said, I prefer the version at Red N Hot in the city centre.

MILLER HOWE, WINDERMERE Perhaps the faded star of the country house hotel scene in the Lakes, but twenty five quid will still get you one of the best views of Windermere and a very decent three course lunch. To start, there was a ballotine of ham hock – chunky and very piggy meat, wrapped in a slice of air dried ham (perhaps Parma, perhaps the local Woodalls), it came with chopped apple, softened and sweetened, a swoosh of tart apple puree and scattering of raisins soaked in Madeira. I liked this. I liked this rather a lot. The other side of the table was also enjoying her starter – twice baked Lancashire cheese soufflé. Good texture and flavour, perhaps needing a stronger cheese for perfection. Topped with some cress, dressed with balsamic. Good dish. Main No. 1 - roast cod with braised Little Gem, button onions, peas and mash. Good dish, except for the lack of crispy skin on the fish. Main No.2 – chicken, lentils, very crispy salty pancetta, mushrooms, mash, lovely wine-based gravy. I happily cleared this. For desserts – a light sticky toffee pudding – well, if you’re in the Lakes, you gotta have sticky toffee pudding – and rhubarb crumble. The latter served with a good custard with its vanilla picked up in a scoop of ice cream. There’s been an aperitif in the lounge and we had good coffee there afterwards. All in all, a perfectly pleasant way of spending and hour and a half.