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Timperley Chris

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  1. So will I. Our meal was decent, but no where near Michelin standard. Fascinating. I had the best meal I've had in two years here recently. A tasting menu worthy of a Frenchman in an oversized white puffa-jacket carrying a 5-pointed flourescent heavenly body if ever there was one! The cute little restaurant doesn't scream 'Michelin' but I thought the food and service certainly did.
  2. My most favouritest scran in the world. Can't wait to try it out.
  3. Is it just me is is anyone else finding Aiden Byrne to be obnoxious, arrogant and a touch insecure? His behaviour appears to be rather odd and I have to say I'm not a fan of anyone who refers to himself in the third person.. "That's a very Aiden Byrne dish... these flavours are typical Aiden Byrne". Wierd.
  4. I'm ashamed to say that it has taken me until yesterday to break my Red Chilli duck. Finding myself alone in Manchester and rather ravenous I thought it was about time to right that wrong. I ordered Bejing dumplings and hot and spicy poached pork (following recommendations on here)with steamed rice. First observation was the portion size - immense. Second observation was how damned fine the scran was! Right from the warm salted peanuts, through to the bucket-sized inferno of chillis, garlic, lettuce and pork, this is the closest thing I have found to food as it is in parts of Hong Kong and southern China. I swilled a bottle of TsingTao and some Chinese tea and left sweating heavily, grinning from ear to ear and only seventeen quid lighter. ACE!
  5. Seriously? If this place gets a star then I'll be a bit disappointed if I don't get one myself for the Sunday lunch I cooked last week!!
  6. Went to St Ives last summer and enjoyed two loooong lunches at Alba. It's been mentioned abve and is certainly worth a visit but the lunch menu represents outstanding value for money. 3 top class courses for £16. From memory the stand-outs were Cod and Puy lentils, Panna Cotta and an excellent, well priced wine list.
  7. I haven't been this excited for a long time. PK is back! I've missed Juniper like an old friend and will have to plan a weekend north of the border with the Missus asap. In the meantime please please please will someone write a review - pictures would be a huge bonus!
  8. It's there on the list, David. Unfortunately, so are so many other places in the area - when we started eating out regularly at the beginning of last year, we said we'd work our way through the Good Food Guide listed places within an hours drive before we widened the net. That's 2008 edition listed places - we doing them pretty much alphabetically (you can perhaps tell I was a clerk before I retired) and are up to "M" at present. Roughly one every couple of weeks. Mumtaz in Bradford is next up! ← I really wouldn't bother with the Church Green. Been a couple of times - once pre recent TV exposure and again since (to give it the benefit of the doubt). Both times faced confused plates of food which were overpriced. The attitude of the place is that 'you should be grateful we have provided you with this world class eaterie round here - and even luckier that you got a table'. Below average I'm afraid.
  9. You've got to love a thread that sways violently from the merits of OFM to the rights and wrongs of town and county boundaries. I was born and brought up in Timperley, Altrincham and after 10 years away in Sheffield (SOUTH Yorkshire, but that's another arguement) returned, happy to be home. It is firmly in the North West - Gordon Burns tells me so every night at 6.30. A part of Greater Manchester and Cheshire as far as I'm concerned, it's the Warrington postcode I cant get on board with. As for my comment about Chorlton, it was in truth meant with tongue in cheek and I agree wholeheartedly with Thom about the quality of produce and eatery available - just that the whole yoghurt-weaving, baggy-jumpered Dad thing bugs me now and again!
  10. ...Ah yes, Chorlton. So desperate to be Didsbury it hurts!
  11. Just found this thread and thought I'd add my two penneth. I really enjoy OFM (except Cocktail Girl who never fails to rile me with her dull tails of oh-aren't-I-fashionable cock and bull). In fact, I've collected and kept every issue since number 8. I even occasionally browse through them when looking for culinary inspiration? Does this make me sad?
  12. ... Oh, and the bread was great! OK I'll stop now
  13. More than a just a pinch I'm afraid! Something I accidentally omitted from my review however, was the fact that there was no service charge or surruptitious 'gratuity' on the card reader - allowing diners to decide for themselves, without pressure, how to respond to their service. This is increasingly rare these days and is another reason The Modern endeered itself to me. Manchester need gaffs like this.
  14. Go for it. There's loads to like about the place and it puts on a better show than most of Manchester's higher end eatieries.
  15. There is something a little unnerving about posting a review when one knows that at least two regulars in these parts have a vested interest in the establishment but here goes nonetheless... Went for dinner at the Modern on Friday night with my wife and we both left having had a lovely evening but wishing for just a teensy bit more from a place which is so very close to outstanding. Arrived at 7.45 and shot straight to the bar. Immediate impressions were that we had definitely chosen the right place for our night out (grown up with small child now, so reliant on baby-sitters and resigned to not being able to eat out at will anymore ). The bar is nigh on perfect. Relaxed, cool great views and decor, good soundtrack and above all top quality drinkswise! I was literally booted awake by a Kick like a Mule cocktail which did indeed contain enough alcohol to kill a small equine mammal but left a wonderful green apple tingle from the calvados. My wife thought her Jayne Mansfield was perfect - champagne and strawberries never goes wrong. The service impressed me all evening. Professional, attentive, but not in-your-face. Never rushed, we were escorted downstairs to our table which enabled wonderful views over God's own city. And so to the food. I began with smoked duck and duck livers with preserved grapes. In short, everything I want from a starter in spring - light, packed with flavour, cleverly assembled, top ingredients simply cooked. Other half enjoyed potted mackerel with pickled cucumber - simple, well made, nicely presented and keenly priced. Mains were, on the face of it, absolute stonkers in terms of size and quality. Every aspect of the dishes we ordered were beautifully presented and superbly cooked. Thoroughly enjoyable in every respect except one - seasoning. Adding salt is possibly the simplest process to take place in a kitchen whether pro or at home - but it's also one of the most dangerous, potentially taking food to a place from which there is no recovery. Personally, if I'm paying 22.50 for a ribeye with bone marrow I would rather the marrow and accompanying chips were under seasoned rather than over - I could always ask for salt and add myself. Our accompanying side of savoy cabbage with cheshire smoked bacon committed the same sin. The cabbage and bacon flavour were masked by too much salt and, unbelieveably for my wife and I, the dish was left unfinished. However, I am at pains to stress that this detracted from our evening far less than it might due to the pieces of meat that were alongside the couple of naughty ingredients. The ribeye was advertised as 8oz but must have been closer to 10 and was an example of its kind. Perfectly seared to medium-rare, soft and flavoursome, it was a perfect match for the unctiousness of the bone marrow - the Missus was more than pleased. I meanwhile was faced with as good a piece of pork belly as I have eaten and was the picture of smugness with every single tooth-sticking mouthfull. The accompanying faggot and mash were superb. A bottle of Aussie Maestro Sangiovese was a heavyweight red but perhaps a little steep at £35? We finished with (excellent) coffees and a shared rhubarb trifle which was in truth rather pedestrian - knew I should have chosen the Eccles cake! Total bill £116 - 50 of which was on alcohol - represented definite value for money. So, the ambience and quality of ingredients is second to none. The beautiful dining room is ideal for romantic couples or celebrating groups and the bar is, well, ace! Portions are generous and the menu truly 'modern'. It's got it all really. Will we go back? Certainly. But please ease up on the salt.
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