Harters

Presumably. I think the old one left to return to Heathcote's Longridge restaurant. May account for why no decent reports in the last couple of years.

ALBERT'S, BARLOW MOOR ROAD, WEST DIDSBURY A relatively new conversion of the old Barleycorn pub sees established an offshoot of the better known city centre gaff, Albert’s Shed. It’s big. It’s noisy (partly from the low ceiling and hard surfaces, but also from the loud music). Noisy enough that this grumpy old man found it hard to concentrate on conversation with the other side of the table. But grumpy old men are not what Albert’s is about – it is definitely a “young person’s place”. Which was odd – because it was friends of our own age who had picked this place, as one of their favourites. There’s a fairly wide menu – pizzas and pastas as well as more “modern Brit” food – and it reads quite well. There’s an attempt here to deliver serious food, even if it doesn’t always hit the mark. Herself started with a special of Bury black pudding which sat on a crisp rosti cake. A couple of slices of fried apple and a drizzle of chive/butter sauce brought it together. Followed by a 28 day aged fillet steak. Ordered at medium rare, it came well done. It should have gone back but that might have spoiled the evening a bit. You get to pick two accompaniments to go with your main – herself went for the ubiquitous fat chips and a rocket salad. Beef was well flavoured, shame about the cooking My own starter was an absolute cutey. A little shortcrust pastry pie, filled with long cooked beef. It came with a spoonful of mushy peas and little jug of gravy. Clever, Very clever. The main was also well crafted – rabbit stuffed with mushrooms and pancetta and an apple/cider and cream sauce. I liked this – earthy mushrooms and the salty pancetta both worked well with the rabbit, without overpowering it. Alongside, I ordered the chips and roasted root veg. Two perfectly decent plates of food. Desserts were pannatone bread & butter pudding and a treacle tart. Both with Cheshire Farms ice cream (which isn’t necessarily a recommendation in my book). They were OK but nothing to write home about. Our guests clearly enjoyed all that had been put before them (but I can't recall what that had been) Service, whilst efficient, was of the style where the overly chatty waiter wants to be your best mate. I’m not sure there was ever a time when I thought this a good idea and certainly not now I’m a grumpy old man. Albert’s is certainly popular amongst the local glitterati. There’s a short lunch menu at two courses for a tenner and I might well be back to try that. But, I wouldnt be in any rush to be back for dinner. IT'S JUST TOO DAMN NOISY - I SAID, IT'S JUST TOO DAMN NOISY.

Manchester Confidential reports that Paul Heathcote has sold his Olive Press restaurants, and the city centre Grado to Living Ventures Ltd, which owns Grill on the Alley amongst others. Apparently Heathcote is to concentrate on Longridge and his Preston site. Linky link

I'm unsure what you perceive to be the issue here. A blogger decides to make a contribution on two discussion boards? Well, shock horror at that. A blogger includes a link to their blog so folk can view a more extensive review and see the piccies? What on earth is wrong with that? The fact they are "advertising" their blog? Well, let's face it a number of posters here include a link to their blogs or other websites in their "signature" - so they advertise their blog on every post they make. I have yet to see someone complain about that - and why would they? Are we not all grown-ups?

So, that's Linthwaite sorted on a good deal. Onto the lunch planning. I'm thinking pub one day (Plough at Lupton or the Brown Horse, as a change from the Punch Bowl) and Gilpin Lodge for the other. Thoughts?

If the girlfriend still wants company for a trip to Noma, I could be persuaded.

Can't think of a chippy near the museum - only Akbars.

Yep, unlike many places in the north, we seem to prefer cod in the Manc area. Many chippies dont even offer haddock - having it is usually a sign of good place round here, IMO. David - Earle's on our list for week after next. We'd seen the ManCon deal as well. I loves me a bargain I do.

I dont visit London too often - once a year, perhaps twice - and, when I do, I'm not usually visiting the central area. As such, I don't really have favourites - but I'm looking forward to our next trip to the central area when we're revisiting both Hibiscus & Noura (and probably a lunch at Tayyabs). As a more general favourite in this part of "down south", I'm rather a fan of the Bingham.

Happy to be corrected but I hadnt thought the Critical Couple were professionals.

'Fraid so. A big loss to the area, IMO. Ta for the reminder re Petra - now added to my revisit list. Havnt been for quite a while - I seem to recall the owner had a family connection with the folk who own Aladdin in Withington.

FOSTERS, 812 WILMSLOW ROAD, DIDSBURY I make no apology for including a chippy cafe in this thread. This fairly new addition to Didsbury village is “the business”. It’s everything you hope a chippy is going to be – but rarely is (even here in the north). Mrs H went with the lunch special at £5.50 – small cod, chips, peas, soft drink – while I went with a standard haddock & chips at £7.25, plus peas, bread, drink as extras. Both fish were excellent (and their definition of “small” for Mrs H’s cod was not my definition of “small”). Crisp batter – I swear the noise of breaking it open could be heard in Withington. Lovely flaking fish. Chips – cooked through to a good colour with just a hint of wobble and no hint of greasiness. Peas – mushy yet with texture – and loads of taste. Bread – soft white sliced – perfect for the chip butty. If I was to have a criticism, it’s that they fry in oil not dripping. No doubt that’s good business for them as they can sell chips to the hordes of vegetarian social workers who infest the area. Other than that – just brilliant. http://www.fostersfishandchips.com/

Alan "Bespoke" is Marc's usual full Monty surprise tasting menu and is certainly what you want to be ordering. That said, if he's mentioned "Menu Black" to you, then that's what you want. If I've understood correctly, he only offers this menu, which has additional courses, at a few quid more than Bespoke, on two criteria. First, he reckons you're a foody who is going to particularly enjoy it. And secondly, that he can be arsed to cook to it that night. Hope I'm not misrepresenting him there - it's obviously additional graft on an already complex menu. Whichever menu you end up eating from, you're going love it - complex, detailed food with bang-on flavours but without some of the oddities of, say, L'Enclume. I'm a big fan. John

HUNAN, GEORGE STREET, CHINATOWN Claimed to be the only Hunanese restaurant in the North West, it’s a small first floor place in the middle of Chinatown. The food is similar to the better known Sichuan cuisine with extensive use of chilli peppers but, playing safe, the menu also has a fair number of bog standard Cantonese offerings. In fact, almost all the starters were Cantonese. The exceptions were a handful of cold dishes but, to be frank, none had any appeal. So, we just stuck to a main course each and a big helping of boiled rice. The best known dish of the region is titled something along the lines of “Chairman Mao’s red braised pork”. Apparently Mao’s favourite dish from home. They serve a generous portion here – chunks of very long cooked belly pork which just slithered down. Some fried peppers. A thin sauce. Everything very accurately spiced – there was chilli there, that built up a flavour in the mouth. But it never overwhelmed the other flavours – the pork, the star anise, the considerable amount of garlic . It was good, although not as rich a flavour as the version I’ve had at Golden Day in London’s Chinatown. But, hey, that’s a two hour train journey away. On the other side of the table, a whole steamed seabass, heavily sprinkled with salty dried chillis. Surprisingly, it was salt that was the predominant flavour, not the chilli. But even so, the taste of the perfectly cooked fish came through. It was, a very boney fish and a real bugger to eat – particularly if you havnt got particularly excellent chopstick skills. Dishes are very reasonably priced – the pork at £6.80; the fish at £12. Rice, drinks and a tip brought it up to the mid-30s. Does the Hunan tempt me from Red & Hot, just round the corner? No, I don’t think it does – but it made a decent change and it’s a welcome addition to the area.

Actually the name of a nearby fish & chip shop. Have to agree with you, Phil, about the use of "Chef" of a title. Just seems odd - raising it to the sort of status of "Doctor", "Colonel" or "Mr". Still, different cultures have different forms of etiquette.

We north westerners can be touchy buggers at times.

Hmmm. I shallbe Devils Advocate, I think. Not by agreeing that what appears to have been a display of great rudeness is acceptable. Clearly it is not. And it is even less acceptable when directed at a paying customer. I have no time for rudeness, even when on occasions I'm guilty of it myself. That said, folk who write blogs, review restaurants professionally or, simply, post on internet discussion boards are putting their views into the public domain. And, therefore, shouldnt be surprised if the object of their criticism isnt always well chuffed about what's been written.

Cheers, Bapi. Couple of years since we were last there - got snowed in and thought we might be stuck for a couple of days. Staff were most hepful.

Any recent reports from Linthwaite? Mrs H tells me they currently have a decent dinner, bed & breakfast deal on.

If nothing else, with Brydon & Coogan starring, it should be damn funny.

It’s Indian (mainly Gujarati). It’s vegetarian. It’s unlicensed. It’s cracking value for money. It’s Good Food Guide listed. It’s just featured on TV in “Ramsay’s Best Restaurant”. And it’s good. Very, very good. They have two rooms, opening one only at dinner, just for walk-ins. This lunchtime, with just one room open, every chair had a bum on it and probably a similar number were turned away. Nearly an hour’s drive from home, we’re glad we’d made reservations. Planning for the two of us to share everything, we ordered up three starters. Hara bara kebab was peas and cauliflower mashed together, rolled into shape and fried. It was excellent – a soft but non-sloppy texture accurately spiced. The dhal kachori was a complete contrast in texture – again a soft centre of pureed lentils, punchy with chilli - but encased in a piece of chapatti (or rotli as it is known in Gujarati), then deep fried to a very crisp crispness. Our third starter was a chaat – chopped samosa, mixed with potato, chickpeas, onion, drizzled with youghurt and tamarind. This was another really good contrast, the yoghurt and tamarind bringing sweetness that worked well with the considerable savouriness of the other two dishes. There was a good pickle selection served separately – raita, mango chutney, something akin to lime pickle but wasn’t and another, I think, of mainly tamarind juice. On to main courses and, again, we’d gone for a contrast. Although the owners are North Indian, they are rightly proud of their dosas – usually a southern speciality. We went for the simple massala dosa – the best I’ve eaten, it was a masterpiece. Light, crispy, a good filling of very lightly spiced potato & onion. Served separately, a thin lentil based sauce to drizzle over it and a coconut and yoghurt chutney that was absolutely lovely. To contrast, chole – a chickpea curry that was as delicious as it appeared simple. Chickpeas in a thick and spicy sauce. Perfect to go with the kichdi (rice & lentil) we’d ordered as a carb – never had this before and it’s one heck of a delicious revelation. Finally, a couple of rotli helped to mop up the last bits of sauce. Service was bang-on – with the one waiter, who was clearly on top of his game, explaining dishes to customers who seemed hesitant about what to order or, indeed, how to eat a dosa. Cost, including a tip, just on forty quid. Brilliant. Just brilliant. http://www.prashad.co.uk/

Welcome, Marcus. I've read your Chowhound posts and it's good to see you here. It's also good to see you echo some of the issues I'd also identified with the Church Green. I'd held off going for so long as it really hadnt got a good play on the local sites, such as Manchester Confidential. Glad I've been but no great rush to be back (unless someone else was paying) - there's a small handful of other places within easy striking distance that tempt me more (Aumbry and Harvey Nicks to name a couple) However, as an issue of "business", on our visit, every table was occupied. It's obviously still pulling in "destination" punters like me or it's built a good following.

Ah, you got here at last. Welcome. John

Interesting you mention the soup. We were in the area to go to the Conwy Feast (which is quite a nice little food festival) - and heard Paysanne's owner mentioning he was going to be flogging jars of it today. Got chatting and he is obviously quite proud of the product. And, yes, we did buy a jar. http://www.paysannedeganwy.co.uk/fishsoup.htm

1620 BISTRO AT BODYSGALLEN HALL Called in here for lunch. We didn’t want a big meal as we’d had the “full English” for breakfast and then spent the morning nibbling our way round the Conwy Feast. A section of the menu offers some dishes in either starter or “light main course” portions. We both went for the same “light main” – it came as two “parcels” of local lamb. The lamb had been long braised, shredded, formed into two inch diameter balls, wrapped first in bacon then caul, before being reheated. They sat of some thinly sliced cabbage and mushroom. A general success of a lunchtime dish – a rich homely taste to the meat. But it seemed a tad ungenerous with the spirit of hospitality not to have added a couple of new potatoes or something to make a more complete plate. Obviously the bistro has a very different style from the formality of the restaurant in the “big house” but there’s quite a bit on the menu to attract folk looking for a more casual meal. I presume all the likely punters were at the Feast as we were the only ones there.