Harters

It’s some months since I last had lunch here and, for my partner, it was her first visit. As on every previous visit, all the other customers were young Chinese folk – perhaps it’s only the youngsters who brave the quite considerable number of stairs to get to the restaurant. Anywhere else, I’d probably run a mile from a place where the menu was in pictures, although the dishes are also named, but here it seems to work. You write down the dish numbers on a little slip and give it to the server. Knowing the usual portion size here, we skipped starters and went straight into the mains, which will each serve two people with not very large appetites. Gong bao prawns was a good mix of sweet, vinegary,hot flavours, zingy with ginger. A generous serving of king prawns which, to our taste, could have done with slightly longer in the pan. But only slightly. Good crunch from the peanuts. Nice but it quickly went a bit congealed as it cooled which was definitely not an advantage. Another Sichuan classic was cumin lamb. Thin slices of meat, tossed with a heavy dose of cumin. It seems to work really well with lamb in different cuisines, both east and west. There’s also garlic, dried chilli and Sichuan pepper in there and just a little moistening of, I think, soy sauce. Really good. With the Hunan just down the road and Red Chilli just round the corner, there’s a little competition for the spicy Chinese meal now. I think Red N Hot just edges it from the other two.

JEM & I, DIDSBURY Less than ten minutes from home, this is pretty much my neighbourhood restaurant (although it’s a couple of years since we were last here). And it really does have pretty much everything I want from a neighbourhood restaurant – a short, well priced menu of interesting sounding “modern European” dishes; smiley staff who know what they’re doing, an attractive room, modern comfortable furniture (even if the tables for two are a whisker too small for everything you want to put on them), a decent wine list (although no half bottles and nothing really interesting by the glass). Oh, and a kitchen that’s bloody good at its job. Jem & I has, in the past, held a Michelin Bib Gourmand and still appears in the Guide. It also appears in Hardens although, somewhat gob-smackingly, not in the Good Food Guide. The menu kicks off with a couple of nibbles – breads and olives. But what jumped off the page was “fish and chips”. Oh, yeah, we’re having some of that. A single fillet each – cod, of course, because this is Manchester. Delicious fish, light crisp batter. And shoestring fries – served in a newspaper cone. A real newspaper cone. Like chips used to come in. I am now fully, totally, absolutely, on this restaurant’s bus. There’s nothing wussy about the flavours here. So, one starter of Bang Bang Chicken was punchy with chilli, vinegar and peanut sauce – the meat just cooked through and still juicy. The other, a generous portion of king prawns cooked in olive oil, garlic, chilli and parsley with some rocket leaves on the side. Both these plates were emptied as quickly as though food was going out of fashion. The prawn dish seemed very Iberian and the main that followed had its roots in the same part of the world. Grilled sea bass, sat on a pile of spinach and chorizo – the sausage a fine example of the chorizo making art – porky and with a whack from pimenton and chilli, fried to a crispy loveliness. Some salad leaves to mop things up and, separately, a bowl of patatas bravas. To quote wossisname, these were deep and savoury flavourings – the sweetness of the fish counterpointed with the heat of the chorizo and potato, yet not overpowered by them. I’d gone with a dish much happier in northern Europe. Fillet and loin of lamb – bang on cooking – delicious meat. Crisp rosti potato, some sautéed green beans and spring onions, surrounded by a wine and rosemary jus. Separately, a little gratin dish of sweet butternut squash. Exactly my sort of grub. Too full for dessert, we just got the bill. It was just shy of £80, food making up about £50 and drinks the rest. Best meal we’ve had in many weeks. Bar none. It's a "jem" of a place [groans]

Oh dear, pre-cooked burgers are an 'orribly bad sign.

Definitely an attitude problem, David - I suspect wanting to act the "Big Man in his Restaurant". And, indeed, we heard him speak to customers on a couple of occasions mentioning that it was "his restaurant, so things are done as he wants them". Another party, as they were leaving, accidentally knocked a napkin on the floor - chummy picked it up and went after them clearly to "have words" (although we couldnt hear what was said). I can't recall similar rudeness towards folk - all very Basil Fawlty. On the other hand, his wife/partner is lovely with excellent customer skills and, as I've mentioned, the young lass serving.

GRENACHE, WALKDEN OK, so Walkden is in Salford whch is not "south" of the city but it fits in my quest for restaurant suburbia. We’d had Grenache on our “to do” list for a while and were interested to see it pick up the “Manchester” award in the Hi-Life Diners Club awards the other week. However, once inside the restaurant, I found myself getting peeved quite quickly. Nothing about the place. Nothing about the food. It was the owner. He’s just one of those blokes who irritate me just by existing. But he got off to a really bad start with me. In the middle of taking our order, his mobile phone went off. Did he ignore it? Nope, he checked it and answered. “Hello, Mum” ....and picked up the menus and walked off to have his chat, leaving us with wine unordered. Now the situation was rescued by his excellent young waitress who must have realised what had happened and swiftly came over to take the order. In due course, he came back to apologise saying Mum was more important than customers. Yes, he really meant that as an apology. Tosser. Now I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about the place. Decoration and furniture is very modern – there’s a few quid been spent here. They style themselves as “decadent dining” – for sure that’s the owner’s take on his menu which, in reality, has nothing of the decadent about it. But it’s a well constructed Modern Brit bistro affair offering a fixed price three course menu at a bargain £16.95 (although a couple of dishes will add a few quid supplement) or a more extensive, but well-priced, carte. My partner went for the fixed price but choosing both the dishes with the supplement. A starter of accurately cooked scallops sat on little discs of black pudding. There was a little sharp apple puree and a smoked cheddar cream (the latter just bland and white). She followed this with a sirloin steak, red wine and pancetta jus, chips and some perfectly cooked cabbage. Pretty standard bistro food and none the worse for that. Meanwhile I’d started with a smoked haddock risotto, topped with a poached egg. Good concept, except for the risotto being a bit too claggy in the way it often is in Britain. But it tasted good. I followed that with pork fillet, simply pan-fried, a fairly rich fondant potato (I’d have happily eaten another), some just wilted spinach and a few blobs of an overly sweet berry sauce. Grenache doesn’t offer half bottles of wine but does have a good selection of above average offerings by the glass, including a champagne. It’s the sort of food a reasonably competent home cook could handle but, some nights, I’m happy to let someone else do that cooking. They’re certainly getting things right with their customer base – place was busy.

My sympathies, martinwa. It must be so unfortunate to have such a jaundiced view of our contributions.

Manchester Confidential reports that the MODERN has closed. It is described as "temporary" whilst the Urbis building is converted to the Football Museum but ManCon suggests that it will be permanent, at least in its current guise, perhaps reopening as a facility operated by the Museum. A loss to the city centre, IMO.

I would say so. It's consistently a pleasant and well valued lunch experience (one experience at Colwyn Bay excepted). My only criticism which I seem to voice on most my reviews upthread is that starters tend to be poorer than mains - but that's possibly down to my picks. They continue to slowly expand, particularly in the south (where they've now got something like 10 places). Expansion and a loss of what must be quite close management control of the group would worry more than the overall ownership issue. John

FOX & BARREL, TARPORLEY, CHESHIRE You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d walked into a Brunning & Price pub. The furnishings are similar, the welcome and the immediate offer to set up a tab is similar, the menu is similar. In fact, everything is similar – right down to the old prints on the walls of the loos. It’s no surprise – both the manager and the chef are ex-staff of the group, previously working at the Grosvenor Arms. And, clearly, they know what works and have taken that with them. We weren’t that hungry and decided to go straight for main courses. Pot roast lamb rump was flavoursome. It sat on lentils which were OK, although there was slight incongruous taste going on there – burnt garlic probably. Full marks for serving a free-range chicken breast on the other plate, although it was a shame to cook it till it was a bit dry. It came with what was described as “chorizo boulangere potatoes” which were fine as a small serving of boulangere but without any discernable sign of chorizo. Some honey roast carrots and green beans completed the dish. Now, it is fair to say that the food is well above the offerings of most pubs. In itself, that doesn’t say much and the test for us had to be was it the equal, or better, of Brunning & Price places. Well, I’m afraid that on this showing, no it wasn’t. There was a lack of generosity in portion size and the cooking was just off the mark. The Fox is listed by the Good Food Guide as a Cooking 2 which may be about right (as I'm in a generous mood today). How come no Brunning & Price places listed by the Guide?

Me grassing them - according to an email this morning from Michelin. Now, go there folks and have a nice dinner.

I think possibly Isinglass reads egullet. Or, perhaps, it's me grassing them to Michelin. Either way, their website has now been amended and simply reads that they are recommended in the current Michelin Guide. Which is certainly accurate and, in my view, a worthy entry.

Ah, yes, andouillete. I worked on the basis that I am a man, therefore I like sausages. And these were bang on for "terroir" as I bought them in Cambrai. I think the vilest thing I've ever put in my mouth.

A supper club? Secret underground restaurant? Or just a small group of strangers meeting for a dinner party? Well, we didn’t really know what to expect and, in truth, the Spice Club is all of the above. I’d found it through guestaurant.com and, so it appears, it’s the only one in Greater Manchester. Run by Monica, her mother and brother, you’re invited to a secret destination to eat home cooked, home style Punjabi food. You get an email telling you the location the day before – I’ll only say it’s north of the city centre – and a reminder that it’s bring your own drinks. There’s a warm welcome and guests are introduced to each other. There’s another couple, a group of four and two singles. It’s everyone’s first time. Unsurprisingly, everyone’s a bit of a foody. As to food, it’s the best Indian meal we’d had in long time. Every dish expertly cooked and subtly spiced. After some mini-pappads and chutney, it was on to the starter - a lovely chaat – crisp pastry, tomato, a zing from tamarind and mint. As for the mains, there was Kashmiri Lamb Massala, a chicken dish, aloo gobi, and a dal. There was nothing in the cooking here that needed tweaking and, as someone who has never eaten homestyle Indian food, it was revelation that everything had much less sauce than restaurant food – even the good restaurants. The fifth dish has converted me to okra – something I’ve eaten only a couple of times before and have not enjoyed – but here it was stuffed with paneer and was delicious. There was also a good raita, spot-on rice and lovely hot chapattis. For dessert, kheer – an Indian rice pudding delicately flavoured with cardamom. Just the sort of light ending you want to such a meal. The cardamom theme continued with the tea that most of us took in preference to coffee. Monica deals with the money side of things by offering each guest an envelope, suggesting a donation of £20. A completely different sort of evening - and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

ISINGLASS, URMSTON The website proudly proclaims that “Isinglass English Dining Room has been awarded the prestigeous [sic] Michelin Bib”. What the fuck’s this all about? It hasn’t been awarded a Bib. It doesn’t hold a Bib. It didn’t hold Bib in 2010. Or in 2009. Why fucking lie about such things? It’s not just the complete misrepresentation that’s the problem. It now makes me distrust every other statement on their website. And this is a big problem for a place advertising itself on the basis of very specific, very local, food provenance. And what’s even worse, they don’t need to lie. The food is actually none too shabby and will happily take on the area’s “Modern Brit” competition. A butternut squash fritter was a substantial looking starter – simply mashed squash formed into a sausage, bread-crumbed and deep fried. Tasted OK but need more seasoning. This was a problem – Isinglass is one of those places where salt and pepper are in open dishes into which generations of punters have dipped their fingers on returning from the bogs or scratching their “down below” bits. No thanks, we’ll eat it bland. And, in this case, not quite hot enough. There was a little horseradish cream, watercress and poached rhubarb which all went to perk it up somewhat Speaking of the bogs, I paid a visit. Isinglass is one of those places which use paper towels. All well and good – but only if you also provide a bin for the used towels. Otherwise, you just have to throw them on the floor. Which I did. Any way, back to the starters. My first choice of goose breast was “off”, having sold out at lunch (allegedly). As were my first two choices of main. So it was to be black pudding, sliced lengthways, sat on some watercress and Lancashire “pancetta” and topped with a poached duck egg. Good dish, well executed – meaty, salty, crisp, eggy. I followed this with a venison Wellington. Nice tasty piece of Bambi, unfortunately on its way to being well done. No duxelles and the encasing pastry limp and a tad undercooked. A good sweet/sharp blackcurrant sauce was bang-on. As was a fondant potato. I’m never sure whether kale makes a good veg – great taste and great look on the plate, but it goes stone cold as soon as you look at it. A dollop of the horseradish cream mentioned earlier worked well. My partner went for a fillet steak – declared as being 28 day aged from Moorelands Farm. Dunno about the Moorelands bit as I can’t find any internet reference to them so it might be another drop of puffed up porkies. That said, this was steak with flavour. Came with the classic accompaniments – mushroom, tomato and chips. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous “fat chips”, but cooked in duck fat to a good crispness. Desserts were a fig and apple semi-freddo and a chocolate cheesecake with a star anise and blackcurrant sauce. Both were OK but nothing to shout from the rooftops about. And, in the final bit of irritation, the bill comes as an un-itemised total, separating only the drinks from the food. £11.45 for the former, £59.30 for the latter. It was probably right but, in this day and age, is an itemised one too much to expect?

I don't drink alcohol at all - and still have to make do with a six year old Corolla. Wine shop is just down the road from Cowman's - who do a very extensive range of fairly decent sausages.

Thanks, David. Added to my list of localish "to try" places - which now stands at 44. Isnt there somewhere else at Wiswell that gets tipped?

Steak & kidney pie (or snake & pygmy as we always called it as kids) is a regular on pub menus and I love it. But I always ask first about the pastry. If it's puff, I won't order it. Bought in ones are usually puff; shortcrust is a good sign it's been made on the premises.

ROSE & CASTLE, ANSTY, COVENTRY Just off Junction 2 of the M6, the Rose and Castle has a canalside setting that’d be lovely in summer. It’s definitely a pub for eating rather than drinking, although there’s nothing remotely “gastro” about the menu. There’s a long menu suggesting regular deliveries from Brakes Bros, or similar supplier, but home cooked ham was a generous portion of a quality gammon which came with coleslaw, chips and a salad garnish. The local Midlands dish of faggots also had a decent offaly flavour but I’m glad the chips were served separately otherwise they too would have drowned in the lake of industrial strength gravy (made worse by the fact that it had already started to form a skin. As often with these motorway stop-offs, I find that despite the negatives this was much better food that we’d have got at Corley Services. And much better value too as there was a BOGOF in operation till the end of the month which meant that the two plates, and a drink each, cost just twelve quid.

I'd regard ordinary shortcrust, not puff, to be the more "traditonal" (to avoid getting hung-up on "authentic". And it;s certainly my preferance.

Nick Most of my meat comes from Mansergh Hall who, in beef terms, sell mainly Galloway. I also buy Dexter and Welsh Black from suppliers at my local farmers market. I'm quite attached to my fairly longterm relationship with Mansergh (mainly for their lamb and pork) but I think I'd give the taste/marbling vote to the Dexters. John

Welcome, Dave Glad to see you found us - hope you find the chat here more relevent than "elsewhere". Look forward to your contributions "up north". Yep, I'd spotted the ManCon mention - hence the post here. John

MIDDLE KINGDOM, Princess Street. Anyone tried it? I gather Sichuan and Hunan cuisine.

In ownership, yes. Content is entirely British.

Sainsbury is our usual supermarket and, yes, they still publish a magazine (although I don't know if the publisher is still Delia Smith's husband). We havnt bought it for some years - it seemed to become less of a food magazine and more "lifestyle" and, certainly, more an advertising vehicle for their current "special offers".

In a rash moment, I subscribed to "Fork" magazine. I say rash because I hadnt realised that, whilst it has a handful of more general articles, it is essentially a magazine for the south west of England. Now, if I lived in that part of the country, I'd find the reviews of local suppliers, gastropubs and the like to be fascinating. But I don't. So, on a slight tangent to the OP, I wonder if there are any other regional foodie magazines around?