Harters

I'll leave Scott to answer for himself. But I'll happily take the position that something once good is no longer good. These things are inherently subjective - they are very much "beauty being in the eye of the beholder". I can well remember food from when I first started eating out in the early 1970s that I would have thought good but wouldnt give the time of day to nowadays. I am of the generation and backgound that happily ate in Berni Inns - going there for celebrations. It was, in my experience then, "good food". Wouldnt think that now. I understand that some folk might think there is a "gold standard" in food which sits there, unchanging, for all time. I would just have to disagree with them.

SAN CARLO CICCHETTI Other than knowing that cicchetti are from Venice and are best described as “Italian tapas”, we weren’t too sure exactly what to expect from this place. It’s in a slightly odd location, tucked away in the side of the House of Fraser store and, with tables in the windows, you’re not instantly sure if you’re looking at punters or window dressing dummies. There’s a fairly extensive menu and it’s pointed out that everything is tapas sized and presented for sharing. And it’s recommended that you start off with 5 or 6 dishes between two of you. It’s just about right – we came away satisfied but not stuffed. Had we gone in with our greedy heads on, a couple more wouldn’t have gone astray. There’s no strict order of eating and dishes come as and when they are ready. It means you’re juggling the food to make sure you eat the hot things before they become cold things. It’s not a style that we particularly like but the quality of the food far outweighs that niggle. There was a pizza fritta – although it seemed more like a standard calzone. A good bread dough stuffed with mozzarella and ham. There was a bruschetta selection – again good bread. In fact, very good bread. A variety of toppings - including artichokes, aubergines and a simple tomato. Straightforward, clear flavours. Sardine fillets also came as a topping for bread and were, perhaps, the star of the show. Although that was a close call – perfectly al dente orecchiette came in a lovely tomato sauce, enhanced with the Sicilian spreadable sausage of nduja and a hefty hit of chilli. You might happily order a second portion of the pasta. Our final dish was another winner – three slices of porchetta (I won the battle for the “seconds”) – a really nice porky flavour, a good layer of fat and very pronounced flavourings of garlic and rosemary. A couple of roast potatoes added to our carb intake. We passed on dessert but did have an indifferent and lukewarm espresso. San Carlo isn’t “fast food” but it is food fast. We were in and out within 45 minutes. It’s also very reasonably priced food – dishes average around seven quid.

Thanks for your observation.

Sorry - not sure I understand your question. Is it what? Do you mean is it an interesting question? Well, yes, generally speaking it is to me - I wouldnt have made the point otherwise. In the context of this discussion, the "useful distinction" is relevent to Michelin awarding its one-stars to categories, as Gary points out. If a pub is awarded a star and then later morphs into being a restaurant, you might well expect it to lose its star as it's no longer in the same category - even though nothing else changes. The fact that this doesnt seem to happen suggests that, in practice, Michelin's talk of its "categories" is just bollocks.

Most of us drink alcohol. Some of us don't. I don't think I have a significantly different restaurant experience than my companion in life does.

And it raises the interesting question as to at what point does a pub stop being a pub and becomes a restaurant? Using my examples upthread of the Harwood and the Royal Oak, I'd suggest the line has been well crossed. These places may well be in buildings that were once a pub. They may even have retained the bar. But no-one is popping in for swift half of mild and game of darts. These are restaurants - so in what category do they achieve a star? Are they measured against other restaurants which are in ex-pubs? Does Michelin have a category for restaurants, say, which are in buildings previously a bank (even if they retain the tellers counter)?

I look forward to the village cafe getting its star very soon, then. In it's "category" (like the Michelin website, I'm not defining what a category is), it "offers cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard. A good place to stop on your journey". I recommend the full fry-up, even though for the £3.80, they no longer include a drink. And the chippy, down the road, should easily get two stars. Well worth a detour, doncha know.

Michelin's move to award stars to pubs seems further evidence that it's relevence to the eating public is declining. Whilst I accept that the ingredient-led Sportsman is, perhaps, an exception, I really can't get my head round the concept that places like the Harwood Arms or the Royal Oak Paley Street are offering star quality food, when I compare with other one star restaurants. To my mind, there's something out of kilter. If those places are worthy of a star, then the UK should have hundreds of one star places. I have not eaten at the Hand & Flowers so cannot judge if its cooking is on a par with other two star holders such as, say, Sat Bains, L'Enclume, Hibiscus or Le Manoir.

Previous trips to Oxton have been to eat at Fraiche, so it was perhaps surprising (not least, to us) that we made the drive to eat at somewhere that hasn’t yet had that sort of acclaim. Or really, any sort of acclaim. But it was the chef, you see, that was the reason. Claire Lara won “Masterchef – the Professionals” a couple of years back – as fellow north westerners we were wishing her success as the programme developed so, really, we just had to go and eat her food. I think it must be difficult for a chef to set out their cuisine when their gaff is the restaurant in a mid-range hotel like the Riverhill. You’re catering for hotel guests and visiting diners and the two groups may well have different expectations. There’s a well priced set menu that will appeal to hotel guests, perhaps constrained by their company’s expenses budget and a better looking carte that touches base with the requirements of the “modern Brit” menu. And it was from the latter that we ordered. There was, almost inevitably, a scallop and black pudding starter. Three plump scallops, perhaps slightly overdone, sitting on their own spoonfuls of pea puree. Alongside, three discs of black pud, topped with a little chopped apple. Nothing to shout from the rooftops about but a good dish just for eating and enjoying. The other starter featured pigeon breast – cooked rare. A little shredded cabbage; a little potato puree; and a light jus. This was spot on and, for me, it doesnt really get more autumnal. It’s a long time since I’ve seen a dish prepared “en papillote” and it must be time for a come-back. Here, a fillet of sea bream, together with juliennes of pepper, carrot leek and fennel, was a lovely light dish. The fish was studded with a couple of pieces of lemon grass and the citrus flavour was enhanced by a good squeeze of lemon which formed the steaming juice. It’s often the case that I order the more girly dish while herself goes for a more butch offering. And tonight was no exception. A decent fillet steak, sautéed wild mushrooms and steamed spinach and, alongside, a “sandwich” of pressed potato and very long-cooked oxtail and a red wine sauce. And, to finish, there’s a proper old-fashioned dessert trolley. Unfortunately, desserts are not the restaurant’s strong point. Trifle was a decent effort with a good sponge but, if you’re going to advertise it as “sherry trifle”, you should be able to taste sherry – and you couldn’t. A chocolate/orange tart was chocolately and orangey but the biscuit base was tasteless and soggy.

And, to my mind, much more of a "real pub" than, say, the Royal Oak Paley Street or the Harwood Arms which are restaurants simply occupying pub premises.

Seems to be still unclear if the website is entirely accurate: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/27/09/2012/345493/Michelin-accidentally-reveals-some-new-stars-for-2013.htm

Correction - Sharrow Bay still has it. It didnt come up on my first search but looking for somewhere else it popped up (maybe it had been a site error that's now corrected). Reassuring.

Looks like Sharrow Bay has lost theirs. I think that's the only change in the north west.

CAVIAR, CHEADLE The Bay Tree closed in the early summer and it’s not taken long for this new Persian restaurant to settle into the premises. Unfortunately, like the Bay Tree, the cooking just misses the mark and you come away thinking “yeah, that was OK but I think I’d rather have had a pizza” . For starters, houmous was houmous, but not a good version. Gilasheh was more interesting. A pretty good concoction of soft chicken livers in a sweet and sour pomegranate sauce, with a touch of cinnamon in there. The sauce was rich and very dark and it not only tasted good but looked good clinging to the meat. There were decent flatbreads for mopping up. We had some torshi which came nicely vinegared but the vegetables were chopped really fine so there was little texture. Mains were a disappointment. Ghomeh sabzi should be a zingy lamb and kidney bean stew, flavoured with coriander, parsley, fenugreek and lime. And it just wasn’t. Nothing unpleasant here but nothing to get excited about – the sort of reaction you might have to, say, an OK shepherds pie. Barg was a decent slice of lamb loin, but it was overly chewy and lacking in a good lamby flavour. There was a nondescript sauce with it – it could easily have something like passata with a blob of harissa stirred through. The rice that came with both mains was perfectly cooked – nice and fluffy.. My partner ordered bastani for dessert – perhaps the best thing either of us ate during the evening. A rich pistachio ice cream. Really lovely.

When Aumbry opened, it was touted as the place that was finally going to bring a star to Greater Manchester (yes, I know we'd all heard that before - several times). Ii's taken a couple of years but I think it may now be ready.

ROSE GARDEN, WEST DIDSBURY The name surely conjures up an image of a chintzy teashop attached to some minor stately home. That image might put some folk off. Equally, the reality might also put some folk off. What you get is minimalist decor and furniture– all plain walls, white tables and the sort of white plastic chairs that have their history in the 1960s pop art movement. Add in almost every table occupied and the result is a very noisy environment, with the sound bouncing off the walls. Beyond that you have a very short, well constructed carte and an even shorter set menu offering two courses for fifteen quid, or three for a couple more. And it’s from the latter that we ordered. I started with a chicken liver salad which I enjoyed eating, once I played hunt the chicken liver. And I do mean that in the singular – the little nuggets of just cooked meat could not have amounted to more than one liver. They were scatted through a handful of mixed leaves which were well tossed with a lovely sharp red wine dressing. A little drizzle of thinned down sour cream added another layer. The other starter was the better bet. The cutely named “chip shop prawns” was a cracker. Two battered king prawns sat on their own disc of mushy pea fritter and were each topped with a couple of mini chips. A couple of blobs of tartare sauce set things off. Really rather good. Hanger steak followed the prawns (on the main carte you have the option between hanger and fillet, at differing costs). A good meatiness here, although as you might expect, a little chewy and scaggy in parts. Also on the plate, three “bonbons” – small balls of long cooked shin, breadcrumbed and deepfried. Really delicious. Fondant potato was OK and the watercress garnish prevented everything from looking too brown. Ballotine of salmon came from the restaurants “fishy special of the week”. It was a tad overcooked but nothing major to fuss about and it tasted fine, with some mixed herbs running through the centre of each slice. It sat on a pea risotto which was, in the usual way of British restaurants, overly claggy. What was a nice touch was the inclusion on the plate of a couple of triangles of prawn toast – just as you might have in a Chinese restaurant. They brought a welcome bit of crunch. There’s fierce competition amongst the restaurants in West Didsbury and I’ll happily eat at 5 or 6 of them, all within a couple of minutes walk of each other. Rose Garden is a very worthy addition.

GROSVENOR ARMS, ALDFORD, CHESHIRE Doesn’t time fly? I’d never have thought it was three years since we last ate here but my notes confirm it is. Things don’t seem to have changed, except that it’s clearly busier. Lunchtime saw us scratching round for a free table. Other than that, there’s still a good looking menu and staff who are friendly and know what’s what about serving pub food. Life had interrupted our plans for the day and we only had time for a main course. But they were pretty good. There were two Gruyere, spinach, potato and olive cakes – think veggie fishcakes for appearance. Tasty and pretty good for a veggie fishcake. They were coated in walnut crumbs fried to a nice crispness. So far, so good. They sat on a butterbean casserole – beans, a well flavoured tomato sauce, topped with strips of roasted red pepper. It worked well. The burger was a good ‘un. Half a pound of decent beef, topped with bacon, cheddar, lettuce, onion, tomato and gherkin. It was a big lad. Too big, in fact, for the soft pappy bun which proceeded to fall apart as soon as I picked it up. Alongside, decent chips –proper chip sized chips and none of your fries or “fat” chips. A dollop of creamy coleslaw and another dollop of a slightly too sweet tomato chutney completed a very full plate. Good effort and I thoroughly enjoyed it – even if some of the more gloopy bits fell off the bread onto my shirt.

They asked us the same last month. We said not to explain (as the "souvenir" menu left on the table was sufficiently comprehensive in its descriptions). But they explained anyway.

WINGS The original Wings was in Cheadle Hulme and I remember good Cantonese food there. But, in spite of it moving to the city centre some years ago, this is the first time we’ve been to the new place. They didn’t get off to the best of starts with me – the website describes them as being “one of the very few 5 star restaurants in Manchester”. Without any attribution, this can only be their own bit of meaningless puffery. However, once you get yourself past that, you find that you’ve got a very elegant restaurant, with excellent staff and a good looking menu that, unlike the identikit places in Chinatown, manages to keep the offerings down to only few pages. Oh, yes, and the food’s bloody good. There’s prawn crackers to nibble on with an aperitif and a couple of nice things to dip them into – one a sweet soy mix and the other a very poky thick chilli affair. We kicked off with a couple of mixed dim sum platters. One offering steamed items – the more obvious har kau and sui mai along with a lovely scallop dumpling and chei chow fun kor ( I had to look that one up afterwards to find it’s a meat and nut dumpling). The other plate was more suited to my partner’s vegetarian leanings whenever she’s in an east asian place – and was the better of the two. There was a mix of steamed dumplings with a couple of fried items so texture was more interesting. Unusually, she chose a meat main course – crispy chilli shredded fillet steak. A lovely dish with thin strips of steak and a touch of a sweetish, chilli sauce clinging to the meat, much as a toffee apple gets its crispness from the sweet coating. I was intrigued by the Hakka yam and belly pork hotpot, apparently a well known traditional dish of the Hakka people in Guangdong. Truth be told, I wasn’t that keen on it. Certainly the pork was good and the sauce was good. But it was the yam that let it down for – somewhat bland and a very soft texture that easily fell off the chop sticks and ended up dissolving into the sauce, turning it into something of a sludge,. Maybe that’s what’s supposed to happen. We took a side order of vegetables in garlic sauce. Nice crisp pak choy but insufficient garlic sauce to make it zing. Needless to say, rice was good. Unlike many of the places in Chinatown, there were no Chinese folk eating. I guess ethnic diners are not what Wings is about. Doesnt mean that there isn’t good food there. Doesn’t mean that at all. I reckon this is probably the best Cantonese in the city centre – in my opinion, of course.

I see the restaurant at the Midland gets itself into the 2013 Good Food Guide.

Much as I'm a fan of the Good Food Guide (and usually send it the contributions I also post here), you do sometimes wonder what on earth they've been up to. For example, the 2012 issue credits The Manchester Midland Hotel French restaurant with a 2 - only the same score as a decentish pub down the road in Cheshire and the same as the cafe at a nearby art gallery. 'Tis a nonsense. I was also gobsmacked to read that the North West restaurant of the year was Grenache at Worsley which was only average food and less than average service. Frankly piss poor in comparison with many other places at which we've eaten in the region. No doubt, they actively touted customers to fill in the nomination forms - just as we witnessed happening at Nutters in Rochdale a couple of years back.

When we were there in February, one young guy was working his first shift. I thought he was excellent - very professional, yet appropriately friendly. He should be an asset.

Maldon is sea salt

Well, we didn't get there in 2010 but flights are now booked for next month. Mrs H's job is to find the hotel. Mine is to find three dinners, in the central area. Botin will be one (see post #14) but are there any updated recommendations - not particularly looking for Ferran-esque places or tapas (we'll sample the latter at lunchtime). Thanks

No - apparently it's a larger grain than table salt and smaller than sea salt. And doesnt have iodine in it - which, Google tells me, is present in some American table salts. I have no idea whether Irish (or UK) table salt contains iodine, or whether it matters.