Harters

You're Michael Winner in disguise, aren't you? Must get meself round the M60 for a nosy at Aumbry.

I like to think of myself as a bloke without prejudice. But I make an exception for underground restaurants. I find them claustrophobic and generally unpleasant spaces in which to eat - and offer you Manchester's Abode by way of evidence.

Yes, with a caveat. I will not discount any available information, whether from guides, review sites, published reviews,or discussion boards - but I will continue to regard it as just another source of information. And I'll add one: In 2010, I will eat more lunches knowing I can stretch the contents of my hard pressed wallet further.

TOPKAPI PALACE, DEANSGATE - BARGAIN LUNCH @ £7.50 £7.50 gets you two courses and a soft drink. Place has been there for donkeys years - certainly back to the 70s when I worked at the College of Building on Hardman Street and the Topkapi was round the corner on Peter Street. A goodly selection of starters from which I picked falafel. Came with "kebab shop salad", pitta and a mayo & yoghurt dip. Equally good selection of good,if simple, mains. Two large kofta kebabs - spicy with a good chilli hit - which sat on rice. More salad. Another pitta, sliced and "artfully" presented on top. The only downside - everything then given a good dousing with that slightly sweet tomato sauce gloop that you seem to get on so many dishes in Turkish restaurants. Always makes me think they've just heated up a tin of Heinz soup. It's a minor irritation for a really good value for money city centre lunch.

SHIMLA PINKS, DOLEFIELD, CROWN SQUARE I usually think of Shimla Pinks as being the bronze medallist of city centre Indians – the runner-up after EastzEast and Akbars. We went along with every intention of eating from the main menu but, like everyone else on this Sunday evening, ended up taking the good looking buffet at £10.95 a head. There was the usual poppadums, and accompaniments, together with some bowls of appetising looking salads. Hot starters were the least successful – a kebab and a chickpea dish were fine but a vegetable bhaji and aloo tikki both suffered from having hung about too long in the warming tray. Mains all looked good – three meat and three veggie. Between the two of us, we sampled four – Harrey Massaley Gosht the most enjoyed. Very tender lamb in a thick spinachy sauce. Well spiced, with a hint of sweetness and a background hit of chilli. Butter chicken was pretty much as expected. Tarka daal was good. Least successful was dish of lamb keema and chicken which didn’t really come together. Steamed basmati rice was fragrant and a good texture; a pilau rice less so. A deep-fried bread was greasy, soggy and just not nice at all. Finally there was an array of desserts. Seemingly, never a strong point in Indian places, it was cheap looking cheesecake, fruit salad and gulab jumun. The waiter was very keen for me to try the latter, telling me that although it looked a very simple affair, much work went into it. It's a dessert I usually enjoy and this version was none too shabby. Service was good with drinks coming quickly. The staff were constantly clearing crockery from tables as well as topping up the serving dishes. No complaints from me about a good value meal

Jan & I should be "game on" for that, Marc. We're back from Spain on the previous Friday. If we can't make it, we'll try to get over to Fraiche soon after.

Marc No, mate. First time. When are you cooking - needless to say, we'll try to be there (but are off to Tenerife for a couple of weeks in January). John

2ND FLOOR RESTAURANT, HARVEY NICHOLLS Sometimes, you know a place is trying hard but it just isn’t hitting the mark. This is one such. The room, which has a good view of the cathedral, is one of those “hard-landscaped” modern rooms – all tiles and high ceilings – that can look the epitome of chic or just cold and hard. It isn’t chic. The service is generally good and formal – the sort of formality that whisks away your wine bottle to be kept somewhere at the opposite end of the room from your table. This is fine if the staff are on the ball and regularly bring the bottle. Not fine if you have to ask for it to be brought. This was not fine. Aperitifs are a fine example of up-selling. There’s no “would you like a drink”. But a trolley is brought with four bottles on it and two glasses – “would you like a glass of champagne”. My wife would. Eleven quid for a glass of non-vintage own label, we found out later. Food’s none too shabby but again, doesn’t quite hit the mark really anywhere. Bread was so-so. A roasted onion one was nice, a seeded one more the sort of thing you might get in Greggs. Roasted onion popped up again in the amuse –a “spuma” of the onion with pickled apple and Lancashire cheese. This was actually rather good – with the sweetness of the onion and the sweet/sharp of the apple. My starter was cured halibut, soused mackerel and potato salad. A few slivers of halibut and a couple of bits of mackerel were tasty enough and a pleasant light start but nothing to shout from the rooftops about. The other starter saw the return of apple and Lancashire cheese. This was in a cauliflower soup, which had a dice of apple and a cheese beignet. My wife declared it to be “OK”. She followed that with Morecambe brill, ham ravioli (in fact a single raviolo) and lightly pickled red cabbage. Each element was pretty good – the fish perfectly cooked; good rich ham in the raviolo and the cabbage presumably intended as contrast. The problem here was that it just didn’t come together as an integrated dish. My main worked much better – rabbit, wrapped in Palma ham. There was some good choucroute; a smear of fig puree and a couple of tiny pieces of something white which must have been the advertised celeriac but which had no discernable taste. There was also a lack of discernable flavour in an Earl Grey panna cotta, which just tasted of “sweet”. It was lifted a little by a couple of slices of mandarin. The other starter was rich and a good finish – roasted peanut parfait, rice crispy crunch , Guanaja chocolate. Basically the parfait sandwiched between triangles of chocolate. Coffee was good. Petits fours average. So, a not too bad meal. And one that would be particulary fine if you have only a small appetite. For those of us with more normal demands, it’s the sort of place that has you wondering if you should stop for a bag of chips on the way home. You don’t, of course, but you probably wish you had.

They knocked Hibiscus back to one star after the move.

Sometime in the spring, David. Certainly well worth a trip for you. Worth it just for the chips!

I reckon that when people say I wish there was a great little place round the corner what they have in mind is somewhere like Damson. Now, its not exactly round my corner but it is only ten minutes away. And as soon as you hear that its owned by Steve Pilling (ex of Sams Chop House in Manchester), you know its going to push the buttons. Theres a short set menu offering two courses for £18.95 and a couple of quid more for a third but we went for the a la carte. Wine list is good and my wife was a particularly pleased to see a range of sherries on offer as shes a bit of fan of a decent fino. I started with pigeon breast, candied walnut and beetroot. It came with some watercress and a nicely sharp dressing which contrasted well with the candied items. Pigeon was cooked to medium and could have done with a tad less as it was on the point of being chewy. The other was a much better bet. Scallops and cauliflower puree are commonplace. As are scallops with black pudding. But here the cauliflower had been lightly curried. And the black pudding turned into crispy croquettes. Scallops were accurately cooked and there was dressing of raisins and apple. Nice. Very nice. We both went for fish main courses. Sea bass; butternut squash risotto; tomato sauce nice piece of fish but the delicate flavour overpowered by the amount of lemon added to the risotto (which also overpowered the sweetness of the squash). The other was a fillet of hake which sat on a mound of salt cod brandade. There was some olive puree, a few scattered roasted cherry tomatoes and a bouillabaisse sauce (presumably menu-speak for a fairly ordinary fish sauce). We shared a side order of superb chips. Desserts were excellent. Prune& Armagnac crème brulee a very festive set of flavours. Yoghurt & buttermilk pannacotta, cranberry compote and stem ginger icecream more festive flavours the sweetness of the pannacotta working well with the sharp cranberries and the slightly spicy icecream. Bill, including for a couple of glasses of wine and a bottle of water came to £73, including a voluntary donation of £1 to very worthwhile homeless charity, Streetsmart money raised locally is used locally. Service was bang on not rushed but no inappropriately long delays in either taking orders or bringing food. At last, somewhere decent to eat in Stockport.

Ah, Jenni, but the humble baked bean evokes so much passion in all brekkie discussions. Like your good self, I'm quite partial to it and often have it instead of eggs. I think it goes well with black pudding - that is a proper black pudding, shaped like a sausage, not your feeble slice of tasteless catering pap. And, as for this bubble & squeak lark, surely that's something just for soft southern bastards, who wouldnt recognise a proper fried brekkie if their life depended on it.

Duerr's is the one I picked up. As the earlier post - it's pretty good.

I've used a Jocelyn Dimblemby recipe for the pastry for years. All butter and including castor sugar. It also includes the zest of an orange and its juice as the liquid. As for mincement, we came over all homely years ago when Delia first brought out her Christmas book. That was the one and only time we've made our own. Now I buy whatever the best Sainsburys has to offer - and add some booze (usually sherry but brandy this year). They are baked and in the freezer - except for the tasting one. It was rather good, I'm pleased to say.

I really wanted to like Spire, not least for it’s Good Food Guide summary of “beguilling contemporary food”. However, it wasn’t and I didn’t. It’s a small and crowded room with just about enough space between the tables for you not to feel the staff have their arses in your face when serving the next table. But only just. Menu offers seven or eight choices at each course. A small loaf of foccacia was quickly brought, with the drinks. And some butter and olive oil for dipping. I started with tempura squid and Moroccan noodles. Moroccan noodles? Yes, Moroccan noodles. That’s Morcoccan noodles as in noodles with a sweet chilli sauce. They were OK in themselves but as close to North African cuisine as a pork chop. Squid was fine – nice batter; good bit of frying. My wife had parsnip and honey soup. This was pretty good – the parsnip showing through and, in spite of the honey, not overly sweet. Her veggie theme carried through to her main – celeriac and rosemary gratin. She declared it “very nice” – I thought it looked (and tasted) as though it would be improved by having the aforementioned pork chop on the side. It just seemed to be vegetarian cooking of the nut roast school. Not often I order steak these days, but nothing else was really working for me. A decent sized piece of indifferently flavoured sirloin – but it had been accurately cooked. Classic accompaniments of tomato & mushroom. And a few fat chips. I've had worse at a Beefeater - but I've had as good. Best dish of the evening was my dessert – a lemon pannacotta, with lime ice-cream and excellent homemade shortcake. Bill, including a couple of glasses of wine, bottle of water and an espresso, was just under £59. If I lived nearby, I’d probably be a fairly regular visitor but it’s not worth the 45 minute drive. And it was one those places that you just wonder how on earth the Good Food Guide gives this a 4.

The Spanish brother in law watched - El Gato was the one he'd want to visit of the two. I take it Bapi was the enthusiatic punter commenting on the place?

Going for dinner to Harvey Nicks next week. Since Mrs H & I are now both retired we are regarding this meal as the "office christmas party". Will report back. I'm also a big fan of Glamorous - probably the current best of the Cantonese in the city centre?

Thanks for the post, Bapi. I see it's only 40 minutes away and have added it to my ever growing "to visit" list. Co-incidence that your opening post on the thread mentions the Weavers Shed - we've that upcoming shortly (after Christmas and then a couple of weeks slumming in Tenerife).

What might be reasonable? Penzey's website doesnt show international shipping charges. What would it cost to ship to the UK? I would have thought it would be significantly more than either Seasoned Pioneers or Spiceworld and, therefore, making it completely uneconomic to deal with them. I also wonder if we would have any import restrictions on goods coming from outside the EU.

Seasoned Pioneers is probably the premier UK online supplier.http://www.seasonedpioneers.co.uk/

Lunch at the Clog & Billycock. As with the other Ribble Valley Inns this presses all the dining pub buttons for me. There’s a heavy reliance on local ingredients, good pricing and friendly and eager young staff. What’s not to like? There were several of us for lunch so I didn’t keep track of all the dishes but I didn’t hear a word of complaint about any. I went for a “seasonal special” by way of a starter – warm pheasant salad with orange and pomegranate dressing. This did exactly what it said on the tin – there was warm pheasant, perfectly tender and with good flavour; there was salad - dressed and with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and orange segments. Main was a slow baked pigs trotter stuffed with black pudding & chicken. Trotter was OK but the stuffing was much better. Came with some mash and a good gravy. It also came with some unadvertised roast squash – which made my separate order of cauliflower cheese somewhat unnecessary. Menu has a good range of traditional desserts, including pancakes but I stuck with cheese. Three decent slices – Blacksticks Blue, Singletons and Leagrams Curd – with bread, biscuits, butter & chutney

David Of course, you won't be able to find proper andouille sausage here in the UK but what you're after is a smoked sausage. I've used the ones made by Mattesons and always available in the supermarket. Yes, I know you would normally rather starve than eat Mattesons but it does work for Louisiana dishes (I've also used it for a Carolina "low country boil" but that's another story)

Might 21212's absence from the GFG be about timing of when it opened and inspection dates?

L'Enclume to get 2. Northcote to keep 1.

PS Unless there was another one, the flood was due to a burst pipe on the first floor. I know cos we were due to go that weekend and got cancelled.